Creamy pasta without adding any cream! Carbonara is the very classic Italian pasta dish, anyone can easily make at home and enjoy at anytime.
The ingredient Guanciale can be replaced by bacon, ham, and vegetables to make millions of different version of carbonara-like pasta. I love the simple flavor of bacon, cheese, and eggs!
| item | amount | weight |
| bacon | 8 thin slices | 200 g |
| handmade pasta | served for 2 people | 200 g |
| cheese | 1/4 cup | 40 g |
| garlic | 5 cloves of garlic | 30 g |
| egg | 2 whole eggs | 120 g |
| olive oil | 1/8 cup | 30 ml |
| black pepper | 1/2 tsp | 2.5 g |
| sea salt | 1/4 tsp | 1.5 g |
| reference | 1 cup = 250ml | 1 tbsp = 15ml, 1 tsp=5ml |
- shred the cheese: use a grater to shred some cheese
- use egg yolk only: separate the egg white and the egg yolk
- mix cheese and egg yolk: beat the egg yolks and mix with cheese, add some black pepper
- slice and chop the garlic
- chop the bacon in small pieces
- render bacon fat
- start from low heat with a clean pan, put bacon directly, no oil needed at this stage, let the bacon fat melt out
- add garlic, add olive oil, have the garlic flavor slowly getting in the bacon oil
- cook handmade pasta
- have a pot of boiling water, add a pinch of salt, put the pasta inside
- the pasta is freshly handmade, it only takes 1 minute to cook; that’s also why we render the bacon fat first
- if we use market available pasta, normally we cook it first, it takes 8 to 10 minutes to cook thoroughly
- oil the pasta with bacon flavor
- when the pasta is ready, turn the heat off, add the pasta into the pan, let the pasta absorbed and coated with the bacon oil first
- add some pasta water to create a sauce base
- add yolk and cheese mixture
- this is the most important step of cooking this dish, we have to prevent making scrambled eggs
- remove the pan from the heat source of stove
- add the yolk and cheese mixture into the pan, use the remaining heat to melt the mixture
- we’ll have the creamy texture without adding any cream!
- add more tasty touch
- add some broccoli as garnish
- grater some cheese over the top
- add some black pepper to complete and perfect the whole dish
SERVING AND ENJOYING
This classic carbonara can be served as a quick lunch or dinner. It can be easily made at home and enjoyed at anytime you want. You’ll be amazed by its savory flavor and creamy texture. Enjoy it!
nadia lo 