This is one of my favorite dishes, it’s pretty easy to make but it needs just a couple of tips not to turn out to a disaster!

A little bit of history.. This dish is very old and popular in Italy (and there are different versions)
Some say that it was invented from some miners, the name “Carbonara” comes from “carbone” (charcoal) as they where all covered by charcoal dust and the spaghetti turned to be dusty and black. Nowadays the grounded black pepper replaced the dust obviously!
If you like spiced food, be generous with pepper!

Ingredients (serves 2)

- 300g spaghetti (usually the common quantity of spaghetti should be around 100g each person.. But for me is too small quantity so I serve at least 150 or 200 depending on the hunger )
- 250g diced bacon
- 3 eggs (1 full egg and 2 egg yolks *tip: one egg yolk each person + 1 full egg each 2 person, if you serve more than 2, just make the calculation!)
- ground pepper
- 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated (at least!!)
- 150g butter

Equipment:
- 1 large sauce pan with high borders for pasta
- 1 small frying pan
- 1 large bowl
- 1 fork or whisk
- 1 pasta fork (utensil used to drain out spaghetti from the water, usually made in plastic or metal. If you don’t have one, just use tongs)

This sauce is very quick to make. Usually it takes the time you cook your spaghetti!

(check the tutorial “how to cook pasta” in the previous post)

When the salted water is boiling and you put the spaghetti in, put the frying pan over a medium heat, pour in the butter and the bacon and make it crispy and golden brown.
In the large bowl, whisk the eggs with a lot of Parmesan cheese (about a cup) and ground pepper, it makes a creamy sauce. Add just a couple of teaspoons of cold butter and set aside.
When the bacon is crispy just turn down the heat to minimum, to keep it warm.
When the spaghetti are ready al dente, DON’T drain them with the colander, this preparation needs a different process to be done and it’s where it’s tricky.. Using a pasta serving fork or tongs, drain out a little quantity of spaghetti and put it in the bowl with beaten eggs and STIR QUICKLY AND IMMEDIATELY, it avoids to scramble the egg (the worst case scenario for a Carbonara is having the eggs scrabbled!), do it again and again until you finish your spaghetti. Don’t drain them too much, just leave some cooking water on to soften the sauce (I said SOME, don’t put too much water or you’ll eat spaghetti with egg stock and it would be disgusting!!!)
Now pour the bacon and butter over the pasta and stir again to combine.
Add some more parmesan and ground pepper, stir again, serve and eat immediately.

Enjoy!

Here we are! Let’s start with a basic tutorial about cooking pasta.. Trust me when I say that it’s definitively easy!
What you need is just a large sauce pan with high borders, water, rock salt and, pasta, of course!!

Whatever the kind of pasta is, the process is the same:

- Fill the pan with cold water until is almost full, you have to leave a space of about 5-7 cm from the top, and bring it to the boil

- when the water is boiling add the rock salt. Be careful with it, I use about 4 pinches of it but I suggest you to start with 3, let it dissolve, taste the water and decide if it needs more salt.. Remember that you can add salt later (as in the sauce or once is plated) but you CAN’T remove it..

- when the water is boiling add the pasta and stir immediately. Pasta doesn’t cook with cold water or if it’s not boiling.
If you are cooking short pasta as for maccheroni or similar, just stir a couple of times, if you are cooking spaghetti, please don’t brake them to fit in the pan, just stay there and gently push them in the water as they start to get a little soften. Do it quickly or you’ll have spaghetti half cooked and half raw and we definitively don’t want it, right?

- respect the timing! Usually, spaghetti al dente takes 6 to 8 minutes, in Italy we serve at 5 either.. But please don’t overcook them!!!!
Short pasta may take to 12 to 15 or more, depending on the kind of pasta, but just follow the timing reported on the label.
Pasta is ready and “al dente” when it makes a little resistance when you bite it. It doesn’t have to be too hard or sticky to your teeth.. With the experience you’ll be able to understand when it’s done without using a timer!

- when the pasta is cooked just pour it in a colander in your sink and it’s ready to be added to the sauce.

A common, quick jet easy way to eat it, (especially when you’re in a hurry) is to make “pasta in bianco” that means that you may just cook pasta, add a splash of olive oil or a table spoon of butter, parmesan cheese, and eat it!

Enjoy!