Carbonara

The Daddy stopped by home today to have lunch with me - what a nice surprise!  Tabitha was already down for her nap, but I made some carbonara for us two.

Of course, true carbonara does not contain any cream.  True carbonara gets its luscious creamy quality from parmigiano reggiano and eggs.  

Carbonara

To make carbonara for two (large serves, naturally), you need 3 - 5 rashers of best quality free range streaky bacon (depending on the size, mine are around 20cm long pieces, I use 5 of them), along with one egg and three yolks (you can use two eggs if you prefer, instead), one good cup of finely grated parmigiano reggiano, and some freshly ground black pepper.  You also need 260g dried penne or other pasta.

Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water (around 4 litres of water and 2 heaped tablespoons of coarse salt).

Meanwhile, fry the bacon (chopped into 1 inch strips) in a fairly hot frypan.  Do not add any fat - the bacon fat will render out, leaving you with a good amount of hot dripping!  Cook the bacon until lightly crisped in places.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and return to the cooking pot (not over heat any more).  Add the bacon and its grease, and stir through.  Add the cheese, and stir through to melt.  Add the eggs, lightly beaten, a little at a time, stirring well.  The residual heat from the pasta will gently cook the eggs, resulting in a creamy, thickened sauce.

Stir through some freshly ground black pepper (sometimes I use freshly ground nutmeg, which definitely works) and divide between two bowls.

Mis en plas - pasta, grated parmigiano reggiano, salt for pasta water, bacon, eggs.  This cooks so quickly - really, it's hardly cooking - that it makes sense to have everything ready to go at the start:

 Bacon cut into pieces - this is Fernleigh Farms bacon, which I have raved about here many times before.  I buy loads of it at the farmers' market, then freeze it in little bags of 5 rashers, which is just the right amount for carbonara or to have with French toast or pancakes at breakfast.

The bacon needs to cook until it is just starting to get crispy around the edges, for maximum flavour.  Putting it into a cold pan, then heating to medium/high heat until done, seems to work for me - the lower heat as it heats up gently cooks it and renders out the fat, then the high heat at the end does the crisping part:

Glorious, delicious hot dripping.  If you are so inclined, you can pour off a couple of tablespoons into a clean small dish, to cool and eat spread on toast later.  Dripping is a love-or-loathe thing though, I concede, so I won't be offended if you turn up your nose at this idea.

Tumbled out into a large bowl.  Oops I forgot the pepper...

Ahh that's better:

Perfect with a glass of wine - the cheese, egg and bacon call for something relatively full-bodied, so either a heavier white or a light to medium red seems to work.  Of course, Champagne works too - I am of the opinion that Champagne sort of goes with everything...