This recipe makes the most delicious Carbonara I’ve tasted for a long while and it’s so easy to make, even the most disastrous of cooks probably couldn’t get it wrong. I’d love to live in the River Cottage one day but until this happens, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipe is good enough for me.
The recipe says to serve five to six people, however it literally just did enough to serve 6 very hungry, quite pissed, people and I chucked a handful extra of everything in too – so I would say add a quarter more of the ingredients for 6 with incredibly large appetites. I also substituted the unsmoked ham with bacon and I think this made it even better.
I made garlic bread to mop up the cheesy sauce with and that too was pretty damn tasty. Take two fresh French baguettes, lots of butter and crushed garlic. Mash the butter and crushed garlic up together with a fork and cut the garlic bread into ciabatta style slices. Spread the garlic butter over the slices and grill for a couple of minutes – this should be enough garlicy bread to ward your worst enemy off.
In my excitement about eating it I forgot to take a picture. So this one will do.
Ingredients (to serve 5-6)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
400g unsmoked ham, cut into very small strips
500g spaghetti (I used linguine)
4 egg yolks
400ml double cream
200g parmesan
Method
1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, salt it well and throw in the pasta.
2. While the pasta cooks, put the Parmesan, egg yolks and cream into a very large bowl. Season and whisk together.
3. As soon as the pasta is cooked, drain it, then tip it into the bowl. Add the ham and quickly toss everything together using two forks. The egg will be cooked by the heat of the pasta, and the creamy sauce will cling to the strands. Serve straight away, with more grated Parmesan if you like.
{ 0 comments }