Do you want to expand your pasta repertoire? Then The Pasta Book by Gennaro Contaldo, Jamie Oliver's Italian mentor, is for you. We can already share the recipe of this classic spaghetti carbonara with you.
Preparation time 10 minutes
Ingredients for 2 persons
- 3 large free-range egg yolks
- 40 g Parmesan, plus extra to serve
- sea salt and black pepper from the mill
- 1 piece of 150 g pancetta, preferably free-range or organic
- 200 g spaghetti
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- extra virgin olive oil
Get started
- Put the egg yolks in a bowl, grate in the Parmesan, add a pinch of pepper and beat with a fork. Cut any hard pieces of rind from the pancetta, keep them aside and cut the meat into pieces.
- Cook the spaghetti al dente in a large pot of boiling salted water. Use the rind to grease a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat (this will give extra flavor, but you can also use a teaspoon of oil).
- Crush the garlic clove with the palm of your hand, throw it in the pan and let it cook for a minute to give the fat taste. Stir in the pancetta pieces and cook for 4 minutes, or until crisp. Fish the garlic clove from the pan.
- Drain the spaghetti and set a cup of the cooking water aside. Toss the pasta with the pancetta to absorb the delicious flavour, then remove the pan from the heat. Add a splash of cooking water, toss again, add pepper to taste and pour in the egg mixture – the heat from the pan is just enough to gently cook the egg rather than fry it.
- Toss everything together and if necessary add a splash of cooking water to make the carbonara deliciously smooth. Serve with some extra grated Parmesan and a pinch of black pepper from the mill.
This recipe is from The Pasta Book by Gennaro Contaldo, €9.99.
