Spaghetti Carbonara

I received a lovely email recently, from a lady called Sharon.  She wanted to let me know about a local restaurant group: The Partner Venues.  They run four restaurants in the West End and Glasgow City Centre and give out a magazine, with recipes from the restaurants, to their customers!

I’d never heard of it, but was happy to receive a copy of the magazine to have a gander/drool over the recipes.  There are a few that I have my eye on, including the hot chocolate fondant recipe (I’m not even allowing myself the indulgence of that, till I’ve put some time in at the gym!).  One recipe stuck out for me though… almost as indulgent as the hot chocolate fondant, but also ridiculously easy looking to make.  And a dish that I’m a BIG fan of, in all it’s decadence… Spaghetti Carbonara.

I, along with many other people who don’t come from Italy, had been under the impression that there was cream in this dish.  I’ve definitely had it served to me in the past with cream in it, but this is considered Blasphemy in the Art of Italian Cooking.  The creaminess actually comes from the beaten egg & cheese that is mixed in at the end.

It’s such a simple dish, yet it is so flavoursome and rich.  Sharon said “Quite often people are scared to start cooking if they aren’t very confident in the kitchen, but we believe these recipes suit everyone.”  If you consider yourself an un-confident cook, then this one will certainly boost your ego!

I’ve just printed the recipe exactly as it shows in the magazine.  I used smoked bacon instead of pancetta, dried parsley instead of fresh, and trebled the recipe as I was making it for 3 (greedy) people.  The plates were all clean and I got lots of that wonderful praise I love so much 🙂

Have a go and let me know what you think!

Recipe – Spaghetti Carbonara

1 portion dried spaghetti per person

50g smoked pancetta

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 garlic clove

Handful of flat leaf parsley

1 egg

30g parmesan or pecorino

Salt and black pepper

Dice the pancetta, grate the parmesan,

finely chop the garlic and pick and shred

the parsley.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil with two

teaspoons salt. Add the spaghetti and cook

until al dente.

Heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat,

add the oil and the pancetta and fry until

lightly golden.

Add the garlic and parsley and cook for a

few seconds, then remove from the heat

and set aside.

Drain the spaghetti well, tip into the frying

pan with the pancetta, garlic and parsley,

add the beaten egg and half the grated

parmesan cheese and toss together well.

Season to taste with a little salt and black

pepper.

The heat from the spaghetti will be sufficient

to partly cook the egg, but still leave it moist

and creamy. Serve in warmed pasta bowls,

sprinkled with the rest of the cheese.

However remember it is important that you

don’t serve raw egg dishes to children, the

elderly or anyone who is pregnant.

 Enjoy! 😀 x

18 Comments

  2. Wendy

    Oh, my utter favourite in terms of pasta recipes….and now you have made me think of it, the planned bowl of soup for tonight’s supper is just not hitting any buttons with me. I am going to blame you for my dieting failure. Naughty girl! 🙂

    1. noblenourishment

      Ooops hehehe! Soup is lovely, but Carbonara is much more comforting! Just do what I do and tell yourself it isn’t as bad as having a fish supper/McDonalds etc. You’ll feel less guilty instantly 😀

  4. hopeeternal

    Thanks Catherine. I’d really love to do the School of Art/Rennie Mackintosh ‘trail’ so Glasgow is definitely on my wish list.
    h/e

  5. MaryMoh

    My daughter would love this. She ate from an Italian restaurant and came back and tried to cook it from a BBC recipe. It was very delicious but I think it was to rich with cream. Now I know..shouldn’t add cream…just egg and cheese. I have to tell her. Thanks very much for sharing.

  6. Travel Food Phil

    Love this recipe, it’s one of the first that I used to get myself confident in the kitchen just like you said, although I got mine from Nigella. So easy and delicious and I love the sounds of restaurant that gives out recipes, great idea! You’ll have to make sure you do a post on that so we can all read about it.

    1. noblenourishment

      Nigella is wonderful, I got her “Kitchen” book for Xmas and have bookmarked at least 10 recipes for the immediate future! Yes, I’ll be sure to do more posts on it, Phil 🙂

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