A trip to Italy last month taught me that the best pasta dishes are the simplest ones that use just a couple of ingredients, cooked to perfection. The quality of those ingredients is really important – and that’s something we English do seem to get wrong at times.
I confess that before my trip to Italy last month, my idea of a good pasta meal was the ASDA £2.50 deal on a tub of sauce and packet of stuffed fresh pasta of your choice. My other half’s preferred flavour is carbonara, but the tub of gloopy white stuff you get from the supermarket is world’s away from the ‘proper’ carbonara I was served in Italy.
So began my hunt for the perfect Italian style carbonara dish, with which I could impress my dearest on my return from the continent.
I started by asking my Italian friends for their advice, not realising the huge can of worms I was opening…
I really hadn’t realised quite how disgusting they find most of our English food – not just our pasta, but our coffee, bacon, cheese and bread all came under fire. They held particular scorn for our method of making a sandwich by spreading margarine on pappy, white sliced bread and then filling it with tasteless cooked ham and watery tomatoes – doesn’t sound the most the most appetising, I admit. Their take on the sandwich, which I became quite partial to, is a focaccino (that’s a bap to you and me) filled with simple, quality ingredients such as soft sliced cheese, juicy tomatoes and zingy basil leaves or salami.
They escorted me to the local supermarket and sent me home well equipped with various cheeses, salamis, pancetta, dried pastas and wine, along with this recipe. It’s so easy even I could memorise it, and having now tried it out twice I can confirm its brilliance:
Spaghetti alla carbonara
250g spaghetti or linguine
100g pancetta
2 organic eggs
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Grated pecorino or parmesan cheese (optional)
1. First cook the pasta in a large pan of lightly salted boiling water, using the times stated on the packet as a guide. I used a good quality Italian brand of dry linguine rather than spaghetti, as it holds the sauce well without being too heavy. It’s important not to overcook the pasta, so when there’s still a couple of minutes left to go on the timer try a piece to see if it’s ready – it should be al dente (still have some bite) when you drain it.
2. While the pasta is cooking chop up the pancetta and fry lightly in a pan with tiny bit of olive oil.
3. Then beat the eggs in a small bowl, adding a dash of water to loosen the mixture and some freshly ground black pepper. (You don’t need to add salt as the pancetta is so salty)
4. As soon as the pasta is ready, drain it in a colander, turn off the heat and pour the pasta back into the warm saucepan.
5. Add the pancetta and the egg mixture and stir well. The heat of the cooked pasta is enough to slightly cook and thicken the egg mixture, creating a simple but very tasty sauce.
6. Serve on warm plates and sprinkle with a little grated parmesan or pecorino cheese to serve. (My friend swears this dish doesn’t need any cheese, but I think my English palate craves it.)
7. Best accompanied by a large glass of Chianti!
My next mission is to learn how to make a proper espresso-style coffee on the stove, complete with the creamy stuff on top – all without the aid of a coffee machine. My Italian friend says it’s simple but I’m not so sure - I’ll let you know how I get on…
