Spaghetti alla Carbonara

The Italian take on bacon and eggs! This simple pasta dish originates in the Rome region, and is, along with spaghetti bolognese, perhaps the most well known of pasta dishes. The key to this dish is putting the eggs in at the right moment and mixing quickly enough so that you are have a sauce and are not left with scrambled eggs!

Ingredients

8 rashers of bacon or pancetta

200g spek blocks (1 pack)

1 clove garlic

400g spaghetti

2 eggs

50g  parmigiano reggiano cheese

freshly ground black pepper

a sprinkle of olive oil

Method

Peel the garlic clove and cut into 3 or 4 slices. Fry in a little olive oil in a frying pan, until the garlic starts to turn golden. Remove the garlic from the pan and discard.

Fry the bacon/pancetta rashers in the garlic infused oil until golden and turning slightly crispy. Remove from the pan and chop into small pieces.

In a separate pan, fry the spek blocks until crispy, and remove any excess oil.

Crack the 2 eggs into a bowl together with most of the parmesan and the black pepper. Beat this mixture well.

Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet until it is al dente. This should take about 10-12 minutes. Scoop out a cup full of the pasta water and keep this aside. Drain the spaghetti and then add to the frying pan where you fried the bacon. Toss the spaghetti in the bacon fat.

Remove the frying pan from the heat source and add the egg mixture. Stir furiously to coat the spaghetti with the egg. The residual heat of the spaghetti will cook the eggs. Add a little of the pasta water that you kept aside to loosen the sauce a little.

Add the spek blocks and top with the remaining parmesan and you are ready to go!

Serve immediately, with some a mozzarella and tomato salad and some crusty bread.

Note - no milk, no cream no onions. These are not found in authentic spaghetti carbonara (OK, neither is the garlic to infuse the oil, but heh, who ever said this recipe was authentic!!!) If you want to be really authentic, swap half of the parmesan with the same amount of pecorino romano. This is a salty cheese made from sheep's milk, and is very popular in Rome.

Buon appetito! Enjoy!

DID YOU KNOW?

There are many theories as to where this dish got it's name. Carbonara means coal burner in Italian and many believe it was a favourite dish of coal miners due to its easy of preparation. Others believe that the carbonara name comes from the black pepper that is generously sprinkled in the dish.

DID YOU KNOW?

Spaghetti Carbonara became especially popular in Italy during and after the second world war, when the American GIs had a surplus of bacon and eggs as part of their rations, and were happy to swap these with the Italian inhabitants!