Pasta carbonara

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A classic Italian dish

In partnership with Barilla Canada

There’s something about pasta!  Not only are pasta dishes typically delicious (yeah for carbs!), but they are often quick to pull together and so satisfying that a small portion is enough to fill you up.  (Having said that, larger portions are equally lovely!)  When we need a meal in a hurry, we tend to stick to Greek pasta staples like spaghetti with olive oil and mizithra or manestra.

Recently however we teamed up with Barilla Canada and tried our hand at an Italian classic, pasta carbonara.  This meal, rich but not too heavy, came together in approximately 30 minutes and used simple ingredients,  creating a dish which is so flavourful, we are sure it will make a frequent appearance in our homes.

Helpful hints
Key to simple dishes is quality ingredients.  Certainly, you should use the best quality parmesan cheese you can find, fresh eggs, a top notch pancetta and of course, excellent pasta.  We were thrilled to be using the Barilla brand of pasta for this recipe, both for its high quality and wonderful flavour.



In the recipe we state that you should add some of the pasta water into the egg and cheese mixture.  Doing this will help prevent any curdling of the eggs which could occur if you tossed the egg and cheese directly into the hot pan.  This is similar to the technique we use when making avgolemono, to help prevent the egg from curdling.


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Pasta carbonara

Our take on a classic Italian dish!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Pasta and pancetta, Pasta carbonara, Pasta with cream sauce

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Mia Kouppa

Ingredients

• 450 grams spaghetti
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 cup grated parmesan (95 grams)
• 140 grams pancetta chopped into 1/2 inch chunks
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp chili flakes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 – 2 tbsp grated parmesan, optional

Instructions

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the salt.  Cook spaghetti according to package directions.
• While the pasta is boiling, in a small bowl mix together the egg yolks and the grated parmesan cheese.  Set aside.
• In a frying pan or skillet, large enough to accommodate all of the spaghetti, heat the olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the pancetta, garlic and chili flakes to the frying pan and cook until the pancetta is golden brown and crispy.  Turn the heat to low and remove the garlic from the frying pan.
• Once your pasta is cooked, carefully remove a cup of the pasta water from the pot and stir it slowly into the bowl with the egg and the cheese while you are whisking.  
• Carefully set aside another 1/2 cup of pasta water and then drain the pasta.
• Add the drained pasta to the frying pan which contains the pancetta and the chili flakes and stir well.  Pour in the egg and cheese mixture and stir well.  If the mixture is too dry, add the additional 1/2 cup of pasta water that you reserved and mix.
• Serve the pasta carbonara with some additional grated parmesan to be added, if desired.
• Enjoy!

Notes

This is a great, easy dish and a wonderful way to get dinner on the table quickly.  We used spaghetti for this recipe, but you can use any type of pasta that you like.