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Fettucine Carbonara

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Prep time Cook time Difficulty Views Rated (2) Recipe #
5m 30m 1-Piece of cake 43
5 stars
2
2031
Forked by islaygirl on 4 January 2012 (0 descendants)
Forked from claire (2 ancestors)

Description (Some HTML is OK)

Authentic Fettucine Carbonara - no cream, please! This is easy weekday supper food. It has a reputation for being heavy and unhealthy, but it's just a piece or two of bacon with an egg , some pasta, and a handful of parmesan. So it's not steamed broccoli, but it's a heck of a lot better for you than take-away. I've given the proportions for a single serving, just multiply by the number of diners. This is great by itself, eaten out of a big bowl in front of the tv. For slightly fancier occasions, it's nice with a simple rocket and/or spinach salad with a sharp vinaigrette.


Ingredients

Makes 1 serving

  • For each person
  • 200 grams Fettucine (spaghetti is OK too)
  • 1 egg (if you want it extra rich, use two egg yolks per person and save the whites for something else, like meringue)
  • 1 slice streaky bacon
  • 30 grams FRESH GRATED parmesan - no green cans!!!!
  • A small splash of olive oil
  • fresh cracked black pepper and salt to taste
  • Optional - sliced mushrooms, frozen petits pois

Preparation (Some HTML is OK)

If you're serving a salad with this, get it all ready before you start, because Carbonara needs to be served immediately.

Get the pasta on the boil (don't forget to salt the water) and chop the bacon into 1/2 inch pieces. Throw it in a big, heavy-bottomed skillet or pan along with the sliced mushrooms, if you're using them. You can use a splash of olive oil to get the bacon cooking faster, but I just start in on low heat to render enough fat out of the bacon to act as the cooking oil before I turn it up to medium high and I never seem to have a problem. While the bacon is getting brown and the pasta is cooking, stir the egg(s) and parmesan together in the serving bowl. If I remember, I warm up the serving bowl by filling it with hot tap water for a couple of minutes, but if you forget, don't worry. If you're using the peas, add them to the pasta when it's about halfway done.

When the pasta is al dente, drain it and then set the colander back over the pasta cooking pot, because you might want a couple of spoonfuls of the pasta water that drains out. Make sure the bacon is nice and crispy (don't take it off the heat!) , and then quickly dump the pasta in with it and use tongs or two forks to toss everything around. If some of the pasta gets a little toasty or even starts to stick to the bacon pan a bit, so much the better. Finally, everything goes into the big serving dish to be tossed around again in the egg-and-parmesan mixture. Really get into it! The heat of the pasta and bacon cooks (the technical term is 'coddles') the eggs and cheese into a creamy sauce and you want every noodle completely coated. Finally, add another small handful of grated parm, plenty of fresh black pepper, and if it seems a little too sticky, add a splash of the pasta water you should have saved from before.

Serve as quickly as possible in warm pasta bowls. See? Who needs cream?

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Comments (2)

  • forkstar said on 29 Apr 2010:

    Always make carbonara like this, a million times better than any cream-based nonsense :)

  • offmessage said on 05 Jul 2010:

    Had this for tea last night and it was gorgeous; the kids loved it too.

    offmessage forked this on 5 July 2010 He tried it and rated it 5 stars


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