Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe
by Nicola Lando
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Easy
Carbonara is a rich pasta dish which originated in Rome. The cheese sauce is an emulsion created by mixing egg yolks with grated hard cheese and black pepper. You can choose between pecorino (which will give a much sharper tang) and parmesan, or go 50/50 by using both.
The star of this dish is guanciale, a type of cured meat prepared from pork cheeks. You might be familiar with pancetta in carbonara, however guanciale has a long curing process, resulting in a melting, silkier texture and more intense flavour.
We’ve used lots of mixing bowls to make this recipe work for everyone. However, it’s worth noting that if your guanciale pan isn’t very thick bottomed and cools quickly, you could add the egg mix straight to the pan. If it’s too hot, the eggs will cook and scramble, so it’s worth using a separate bowl in this instance.
Although the recipe might look lengthy, it’s actually extremely simple, just be sure to read to the end before you start!
Ingredients for carbonara Serves: 2
- 100g guanciale
- 60g parmesan or pecorino cheese, finely grated
- 1 large egg
- 3 egg yolks
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp fine salt
- 200g spaghetti
- 25g butter
- 2 cloves garlic, bashed with a knife and peeled (each clove should remain in one piece)
Method for carbonara
- First prepare the ingredients. Cut the guanciale into ½ cm slices, and then slice into batons ½ cm wide. Cut into 1 cm lengths.
- In a small bowl, mix together the grated cheese, egg, egg yolks, and black pepper.
- Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add 1 tbsp salt and the spaghetti. Cook for 9-10 minutes or until al dente.
- Whilst the pasta cooks, fry the guanciale. Place a wide heavy-based pan over medium heat, and add the butter, guanciale and garlic. Fry for 8 minutes until the guanciale becomes crisp and much of the fat renders out. Tend to this very closely as it cooks, keeping moving the guanciale around in the pan and adjusting the heat – initially over medium-high heat, and then reducing to low to prevent the guanciale from burning as it crisps. Take care as it could spit. Lift out and discard the garlic when it browns. Move the pan off the heat and leave to cool for a couple of minutes.
- Drain the pasta, and when the guanciale pan looks cool enough not to spit, add the pasta and mix well. Tip the pasta and guanciale into a large mixing bowl. Add the egg mixture and mix well, until the cheese melts and the spaghetti is coated in a glossy sauce. Serve.
About the author
Nicola Lando is the co-founder and CEO of Sous Chef, where she has spent more than a decade sourcing, tasting and selecting specialist ingredients, cookware and tableware from producers around the world.
She trained at Leiths and later completed a stage at a Michelin-starred London restaurant, experiences that helped shape Sous Chef’s original mission: to give home cooks access to the same exceptional ingredients used by professional chefs.
Today, Nicola leads much of Sous Chef’s product sourcing and ingredient selection, working directly with producers and travelling internationally to food fairs, farms, mills and manufacturers. She tastes thousands of products each year and has built deep expertise across storecupboard ingredients, olive oil, condiments, spices, preserved foods and specialist cooking ingredients.
She holds an olive oil sommelier certification from ESAO in Spain, Imperial Executive Education’s Certificate in Nutrition for Health: Evidence-Based Tools and Strategies certificate; as well as studying Food Safety and Control at University of Greenwich.
Nicola also writes recipes and ingredient guides for Sous Chef, combining practical cooking experience with first-hand knowledge from producers, suppliers and specialist food makers. Her work focuses on helping cooks understand how to choose better ingredients, use them well, and get more flavour from their cooking.
