Pasta Carbonara

Pasta carbonara is one of the easiest and most craved pasta recipes out there. Traditionally from the city of Rome, theories suggest that this dish was invented for the charcoal miners in the 19th century, but other theories say that it most likely was invented by a restaurant that has the same name (La Carbonara restaurant)

Either way it is a delicious plate of pasta. Here is the recipe, hope you guys enjoy it and try to remake it at home.

Recipe

Time: 20 minutes (12 minutes cooking 8 minutes of prep)

Yields: 2 to 3 servings

Ingredients:

· 1 tablespoon of olive oil

· 2 egg yolk

· 1 whole egg

· ¼ cup of pasta water

· ½ cup grated parmesan cheese

· ½ cup grated pecorino romano cheese

· ½ tablespoon of ground black pepper.

· 85 gr of Guanciale, pancetta or bacon. Guanciale is cured pork cheek and jaw

· 250 gr of dried pasta.

Instructions:

1. Fill a pot with water, add salt and heat it up until it boils, once it boils it is time to add the pasta. The cooking time depends on which type of pasta you are using, so I recommend cooking for the time that is suggested on the packaging.

2. Preheat a medium pan to medium heat, drizzle in one tablespoon of olive oil and throw in 85 gr Guanciale. Cook it on medium low heat until it renders most of its fat and it is golden brown, this should take around 10 minutes.

3. In the meantime, crack two eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. Put the 2 yolks in a bowl and crack in one whole egg. Add half a cup of pecorino romano, half cup parmesan cheese and one tablespoon of cracked black pepper. Beat everything together and set aside.

4. Once the pasta is cooked, transfer the pasta to the pan where you were cooking the Guanciale. Sauté the pasta with the cured meat for a minute and turn off the heat. Pour in the egg and cheese mixture and stir vigorously. It is super important to stir vigorously and continually to prevent the egg from scrambling. Stir the pasta for a minute and add in a quarter cup of pasta water. Continue stirring for another 30 seconds and serve.

This recipe can also be made with bacon, or any other type of fatty cured meat. Pasta carbonara is traditionally made with Guanciale, but outside of Italy it is not easy to find it, and when you find it, most of the times it will be pretty expensive.

Easily, you can make this recipe vegetarian, just swop the cured meat for your favourite mix of veggies. I made a vegetarian recipe using a mix of shitake and oyster mushrooms.