Recipe Fridays: Carbonara… again! BUT BETTER

Longtime readers may remember that I posted about carbonara once less than a year ago.  Ever since I read that recipe – I had substituted bacon for the guanciale or pancetta because my pockets aren’t that deep, but the idea of guanciale (cured pig jowl!  I love cheeks of most animals!!!)… really stuck with me.  Well, my pockets aren’t deeper now than before, just that I’m more willing to spend a little more on some things and eat a little less of others in order to make way for those pricier ingredients.  As I mentioned here (with pictures!), I recently stopped by Murray’s Salami in Grand Central Market and picked up both pancetta and guanciale. 

I stress that you CAN absolutely make a DELICIOUS carbonara using bacon (which I did and loved).  You could probably use a fatty piece of pork, even (it just needs to have fat that will render out when you heat it)!  Whatever works for your budget and tastebuds – I just wanted to share my latest discovery, guanciale (pronounced, I think, gwahn-cha-luh). 

At Murray’s Salami, guanciale is sold by the piece.  Since I asked for a half pound, the very nice counterman picked out a smaller piece for me – about the size of my palm, while the others were easily 2 and 3 times that big.  I cut off about half of it and chopped that into lardons, then put it in my heavy bottomed skillet (which isn’t necessarily a good idea for carbonara, as it retains heat very well) and popped it over low, very low heat, letting fat render out and each piece almost deep fried in its own fat.  I almost want to cry tears of joy reading that; when I felt they were cooked through, I tried a piece, and all I can say is: little deep fried pieces of porcine heaven.  Wow.  This is like, the highest form of pork rinds (deep fried pork skin) – fried in its own fat!!! – airy little pieces of true piggy essence.  I had to restrain myself from eating the entire pan, standing over it while waiting for my pasta water to boil.

In case you don’t know how to make carbonara, the recipe is here.  You can see I added peas…

Small bit of guanciale or pancetta (or bacon or any fatty pork, really) chopped into small bits
1-2 eggs (1 to 1.5 eggs for each serving)
freshly grated pecorino romano, parmagiano reggiano, piave cheeses (I used all three because I have them on hand, but one or any combination or similar cheeses should be fine!)
freshly ground black pepper
spaghetti cooked al dente
frozen peas (optional)

This is a recipe where timing is everything.  You have to move fast or you will wind up with scrambled eggs.

While the meat (guanciale/pancetta/bacon) is crisping up in your pan, boil the water for the pasta. 

Once the pasta is about a minute or two BEFORE al dente, turn off the fire and add the pasta (dripping wet is okay, you’re going to add some of that pasta water in as well!) to the hot pan with the crisping meat (once the meat is done, of course). 

In the meantime, beat the egg(s) with the cheeses and pepper. 

Add a half cup or so of the pasta water to the pot; gently simmer until water is mostly gone. 

Add frozen peas to pan, stir around. 

When water is all gone, turn off the flame, pull the pan from the heat (to the counter on a potholder or a not-hot burner). 

Pour the beaten egg mixture into the hot pasta WHILE STIRRING CONSTANTLY!!!  If you don’t stir, you will wind up with clumpy scrambled eggs.  I actually didn’t do as good a job this 2nd time making carbonara as I did the first time, even though I had more eggs last time!!!  (You can see some eggs starting to coagulate in the bottom of the next picture.)

But oh my word, that was DELICIOUS.  I just stirred it all around as much as possible, coating each strand to create its own “sauce” and so infused with porcine deliciousness it was… I almost cried from how good it was.  That’s a theme this week (though I haven’t posted about the restaurants I went to this week yet, I have almost cried from the goodness of some dishes). 

The rest is easy: I served it in a bowl I’d warmed in my toaster oven (since I didn’t want to fire up the regular oven just to warm one bowl), with more cheese grated on top, and a crack of freshly ground black pepper. 

LOOK HOW GOOD THAT IS.  Ahhh, and thankfully, I made just a touch too much so I have the leftovers for dinner… 🙂  I can’t wait!!!  Anyway you make this, it’s a winner, and I foresee getting very fat this winter from making this quick-n-easy weeknight meal many, many times over the coming months.  I will become an expert yet!!!  No egg clumps at ALL next time, even though are delicious as well 😉

HAPPY EATING~!!!