Spaghetti Carbonara II 28-Jun-2011

Categories: main-dishes Tags: spaghetti carbonara italian-cuisine eggs pasta

An alternative preparation of Spaghetti Carbonara.

This alternative is from a Williams-Sonoma catalog.

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1.5 cups finely grated pecorino romano cheese (plus more for serving)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 6 ounces diced guanciale or pancetta
  • salt, to taste (the romano cheese and the guanciale/pancetta are pretty salty already)
  • 6 ounces dried spaghetti
  • freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

  1. in a bowl, whisk together eggs and romano cheese

  2. Heat oil in a skillet to medium, fry up the guanciale or pancetta until browned and fat has rendered. (Here, the W-S recipe does not call for draining the fat from the meat, just setting it aside instead. I’d suggest getting rid of at least some of the fat.)

  3. bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook until al denté. Drain, reserving about 1 cup of the cooking water.

  4. slowly whisk 1/2 cup of pasta water into egg-cheese mixture.

  5. return skillet to medium heat and rewarm. Add the pasta and 1/4 cup reserved pasta water; toss to combine. Remove pan from heat. Pour in egg mixture; toss well to combine.

  6. Season generously with ground black pepper.

  7. Serve at once, do not let the eggs cook too much (like not at all!)

Comments

Spaghetti or vermicelli are long, thin pasta. Sometimes it’s easier to deal with them if you break them into thirds before cooking them.

I think useful additions to the spicing would be basil and possibly even a touch of peppermint, although way not traditional.

Variations

First time - October 03, 2011, at 07:19 PM

  • 1/2 cup parmesan instead of romano
  • maple flavoured bacon instead of pancetta
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 3 ounces frozen corn kernels
  • 1 can sliced mushrooms

  1. whisk the eggs, parmesan and spices together.

  2. sautee the chopped onions, garlic and mushrooms until the onions have turned translucent. Set aside.

  3. cut up the bacon and fry until done. Drain on paper towels.

  4. boil the pasta and corn together.

  5. pour 1/3 cup hot pasta water into egg-cheese-spice mixture before combining.

  6. omit the water from the final combining step.

!Notes:

  • This would probably have been a better without the maple flavoured bacon and onions – the final dish was more sweet than savoury.

  • It definitely needed more cheese.

  • I think the eggs need to set more, so tossing everything together on the heat and letting the eggs cook more would be beneficial. 3 eggs is also way too much for the amount of pasta used. Another recipe called for 2 eggs to a pound of pasta; since here I only used 6 ounces of pasta, 2 eggs would definitely be better than 3.