The Real Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe
I love a good dish of Spaghetti Carbonara but unfortunately it’s also very hard to find “the real deal” in many restaurants. Making carbonara at home is super easy but there are some steps that are important to remember if you want your Carbonara to be delicious:
Never cook the egg! Yes, carbonara is eaten with raw eggs and these should not be cooked
Use guanciale if you can instead of bacon - you can find guanciale in most local Italian shops or markets
Do not use any type of cream or milk
These are the basics of real carbonara and you can find the full recipe below, I really hope you enjoy it and can feel a bit of that Italian vacation feeling.
Prep Time: 8 Minutes
Cooking Time: 10 Minutes
Ingredients for 2 Portions
Spaghetti - 200 g (not too thick and not too thin - something like Barilla n5)
Guanciale - 70 g (sliced)
Eggs 3 - just the yolk
Pecorino Romano - 40 g
Black Pepper / Salt
Pasta Cooking Water - around 1 Tbs
Preparation:
Start by cuting the guanciale into squares and placing it in a pan. The guanciale should not harden by frying too much, but should soften gently, releasing all the "fat" it will need to sauté the spaghetti in the pan. This will take about 2 minutes at medium heat. Turn off the heat and leave the guanciale there.
Meanwhile place a large pot with water and coarse salt on the stove to boil the spaghetti. When the water boils, throw them in.
Now comes the trickies and most important part. In a bowl mix the egg yolks with most of the pecorino (leave 1 teaspoon for seasoning) and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon of the pasta cooking water to avoid the “omelet effect”. The cream should be soft but at the same time full-bodied and velvety. Intense in color so not too pale.
Drain the spaghetti al dente (cook for one minute less than it says on the box) directly into the hot pan of guanciale (keeping the cooking water aside). Then add 2 - 3 tablespoons of the pasta cooking water. Saute everything together for 1 minute on high heat.
Finally turn off the heat and remove the skillet from the stove and pour the yolk cream sauce over the spaghetti WITH THE HEAT OFF. Mix a few seconds, toss with pecorino cheese, with 1 to 2 tablespoons of boiling cooking water to add creaminess, and pepper!