Another classic simple recipe that shows Italian cuisine’s respect for its ingredients.

Taking the extra effort to source high quality ingredients will deliver noticeably better results. High levels of starch in your dry pasta will yield creamier emulsions. Here we have used spaghetti from Pastificio dei Campi. They are remarkable enough to write a separate brief review after the recipe. Using guanciale, a cured pork cheek typical in central Italy, will give the deeper and more intense pork flavour that we expect in carbonara. Guanciale also has a higher fat content. As it cooks, this fat renders providing a clear textural contrast to its crispy meat. As a final tip, we think it is better to purchase eggs with high carotene content, yielding ‘orange’ yolks. The sauce will look more appetising.

Spaghetti alla carbonara

Course: Main, AntipastoCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Ingredients

• 320g pasta

• 240g guanciale

• 5 egg yolks

• 60g Parmigiano Reggiano

• 40g Pecorino Romano

• black pepper

Directions

• Start with the guanciale. Trim its skin off (usually covered with pepper which might burn when frying), then chop into small cubes.
• Take a medium size pan and add the guanciale (start with a cold pan – it will render more fat).
• Fry at medium heat until it is nicely browned and crispy.
  
• Meanwhile, separate the eggs into a medium size bowl.
• Give it a quick stir using a fork and set aside.
• Finely grate parmesan and pecorino.
• Combine the cheese with the egg yolks and add a generous amount of pepper (black pepper is one of the main flavours of Carbonara and it should be noticed).
• At the end, incorporate 3tbsp of rendered fat of guanciale to infuse the sauce with its intense aromas.
• Cook your pasta in plenty of salted water following the indications on the packaging regarding the time.
• Strain but remember to reserve around 250ml of water.
• Transfer the pasta immediately to the egg mixture and stir vigorously.
• Add some water as you go, you should achieve an emulsion that covers the pasta nicely (since the pasta is hot, the water will evaporate faster making the consistency of the sauce drier, therefore don’t be shy when adding water).
• Add drained guanciale, stir again and it is ready to plate.
• Grate some parmesan on the top and serve.

Pastificio dei Campi – a short product review:
It is a new brand of pasta for us. It is an Italian brand from Gragnano – the Campanian village famous for its dry pasta. Extruded through bronze dies, what makes the texture of the pasta rough (coarser) and thanks to that the sauce coats the pasta better.
Their spaghetti are perfect for carbonara. They are thinner than other brands, which adds to the creamy textural feel of the dish.

If you are trying to find their pasta, you can get it online through Souschef. We have also got the conchiglione from Pastificio dei Campi. You can expect to see recipes in the future where we make use of them.