Classic Carbonara

Name: Classic Carbonara
Yield: 1 person
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 100 g spaghetti; 50 g Pancetta; 1 egg; 30 g pecorino romano, grated; Freshly ground black pepper

patrick_huynh @cook_16166272

Sweden, Malmö

Carbonara is the ultimate comfort food, mostly because it’s delicious and really easy to make! It requires only 5 ingredients (minus the salt and water for boiling the pasta). Traditionally, guanciale is used (a type of cured pork cheek), but pancetta is much easier to get from grocery stores so I prefer to use it. I also like to use linguini instead of spaghetti, but it’s up to you!

patrick_huynh @cook_16166272

Saved

Ingredients

10 (mins)

1 person

100 gspaghetti
50 gPancetta
1egg
30 gpecorino romano, grated
Freshly ground black pepper

Saved

Steps

10 (mins)

1

Bring a pot of water to the boil add salt (it should be salty like the sea) and cook spaghetti fully, 7-8 minutes.
2

While the pasta is cooking, start the pancetta on cold pan and put on medium heat. Starting with a cold pan helps the fat in the pancetta render down. This should take around the same amount of time as cooking the pasta.
3

Whilst the pancetta and spaghetti cook, mix the egg, pecorino and black pepper in a bowl and set aside. This is the final piece of our sauce.
4

Once the pasta is cooked, the pancetta should also be sufficiently browned. You should also have a few tablespoons of fat which rendered out of the meat, which we want to leave in the pan. If the pancetta isn’t brown yet, take the pasta out of the water so it stops cooking and set aside, saving some of the pasta water.
5

Once you’re happy with the browning on the pancetta, add the pasta into the pan with the pancetta and toss so the pasta is coated with the fat. The residual water on the pasta will cause the oil to spit a bit but this is expected. Add in a few tablespoons of pasta water to help the sauce emulsify further. Take off the heat.
6

Finally, we have to let the pasta cool slightly before adding in the egg mixture, otherwise you’ll get scrambled eggs. I like to do this by tossing it for around 15 more seconds after taking off the heat. It should feel hot to the touch but not burn you. Add in the egg mixture and mix into the pasta. The cheese will melt and a cohesive sauce will develop! Finish with more pepper and pecorino to taste.