Spaghetti Carbonara

It's Carbonara Day today and to celebrate I'm sharing my version of the quintessential Italian dish. There are only a handful of ingredients, and absolutely NO cream allowed. This is the real deal people. No shortcuts, and no weird additions. I'm always so confused when I see carbonara on a menu with chicken or peas or mushrooms. The Italian in me just seizes up and cries 'NOOOOOO!'. Probablyyyy a bit dramatic, but you get the picture haha! I love my carbonara the way the Italians intended it to be with pecorino cheese, egg yolks, guanciale, al dente spaghetti and lots of pepper.

This recipe serves four nicely but can easily be halved for two people.

Ingredients

340g spaghetti

4 egg yolks, beaten

150g guanciale, diced (or pancetta/bacon)

1 and 1/2 cup pecorino romano, grated (or parmesan)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method

Begin heating a pot of salted water on high heat until boiling. Add spaghetti and cook as per instructions (usually 8 or so minutes)

When pasta has been in the water for a couple of minutes, add a drizzle of olive oil to a frypan and add guanciale

Fry off for 2-3 minutes, until beginning to colour

When your pasta is almost al dente, collect pasta from pot with tongs and add to the frypan to finish it off. DO NOT STRAIN your pasta, you need the water!

Add egg yolks, pecorino, salt and pepper to taste and about a 1/3 cup of pasta water. Combine with tongs until spaghetti is coated in that delicious glossy carbonara sauce and serve right away.