Spaghetti Carbonara

BBC Food's recipe for spaghetti carbonara





Review

I am no cooking expert but even I found this recipe easy to follow the amount of detail that each step goes into makes it really easy to follow and the detail makes you feel confident in what you are doing with the dish. Also the fact that the recipe has few steps makes irt look a lot less daunting.

Another reason that this is a particularly good recipe is because it teaches you the jargon as you do the recipe for example

“Aim for 'al dente': cooked, but retaining some bite in the middle.”

This recipe also aims to teach you while you cook. When it asks you to separate the yolks from the whites it gives you the method to do so.

A downside to the recipe is that it includes loads of ingredients that many people wouldn’t have heard of and it doesn’t include where you would be able to find them. I for example had to ask around for pecorino cheese so don’t choose this recipe if you are hoping to just pop down the shops for these ingredients for a quick meal.

The final product was very good. I think this was mostly due to the fact that this recipes was so easy to follow. The final dish was light and creamy and it doesn’t take long to cook so as long as you have all of the ingredients it would give you a great evening dinner.

By Jamie Murray


Spaghetti Carbonara written by BBC Food
Find it here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1052/ultimate-spaghetti-carbonara#


Ingredients

• 100g pancetta
• 50g pecorino cheese
• 50g Parmesan
• 3 large eggs
• 350g spaghetti (De Cecco is very good)
• 2 plump garlic cloves , peeled and left whole
• 50g unsalted butter
• Maldon salt and freshly grated black pepper

Method

1. Cook the spaghetti. Bring a large, deep pan of salted water to the boil. Plunge spaghetti into the water, stir well and cook, following pack instructions. Aim for 'al dente': cooked, but retaining some bite in the middle. Take a few strands out of the water with a spaghetti spoon or tongs 1-2 mins before the end of the cooking time and bite into it. Repeat until you think it is properly cooked.
2. Fry the pancetta. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan. When hot, tip in the pancetta or streaky bacon. Fry over a medium heat until the fat in the meat has melted down into the pan and the meat has turned lightly golden. Be careful not to crisp the pancetta too much; it will be cooked a little bit more later on in the recipe. Remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Prepare the sauce. Crack 2 of the eggs into a mixing bowl. Separate the yolk from the third egg: gently crack the side of the shell and, using both hands, slowly open it into two halves over a separate bowl - you want to keep the yolk in one of the halves. Tip the yolk from one shell half to the other and repeat until all the egg white has fallen into the bowl below, taking care not to crack the yolk on any rough shell edges. Tip the yolk in with the other eggs and beat together, along with the cream, the cheese and some seasoning.
4. Combine the dish. Add garlic to the pancetta and return frying pan to hob. Fry over high heat for 1 min or until garlic is cooked and pancetta warmed through. Meanwhile, drain spaghetti. Tip back into the hot saucepan off the heat. Pour egg mixture over pasta, followed by hot pancetta, garlic, any fat and oils. Toss quickly and thoroughly with spaghetti spoon or tongs. Mix until it has thickened to a smooth, creamy sauce. Serve with extra cheese and freshly ground pepper.