SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA
 NIGELLA

Photograph by James Merrell

INGREDIENTS

500g packet spaghetti
275g pancetta or lardons
2 teaspoons olive oil
60ml dry white wine or vermouth
4 eggs
50g Parmesan, freshly grated
black pepper
60ml double cream
freshly grated nutmeg
Serving Size : Serves 2 (or 4 on less intimate occasions)
METHOD

1.Put a large pan of salted water on to boil for the pasta. Cut the pancetta into 1 x 1.5cm cubes. If the pancetta has its rind on, cut it off – and use a bigger piece of pancetta, as the amount I’ve specified is for the prepared cubes – and put the rind in a pan with a film of oil and cook it gently to render down.
2.Then in a large pan that will fit the pasta later, cook the pancetta cubes in the oil until crispy but not crunchy. Chuck over them the white wine or vermouth and let it bubble away so that, after a few minutes, you have a small amount of salty winey syrup left. Take the pan off the heat.
3.In a bowl, beat together the eggs, Parmesan, cream and some pepper. Cook the pasta more or less according to the packet instructions, but since you want it kept al dente start checking it 2 minutes before the wrapper says it’s done. Lower in a cup and remove approximately 125ml of the pasta water before draining. Put the other pan, the one with the bacon cubes, on the heat and add the drained pasta, tossing well to coat with the syrupy pancetta. Add a little of the reserved pasta water to lubricate if necessary.
4.Take the pan off the heat again and add the eggs and cheese mixture, swiftly tossing everything to mix. Grind over some more pepper and grate over the nutmeg, carry proudly aloft, and dive in.
5.Serves two hungry people, much too much in love to say goodnight (with apologies to Fats Waller).



REVIEWS

Creamy and simply delicious - thanks.

Coocie

I tried this for my Mother-in-Law and the family and they loved it. It is the best carbonara i have tried and very easy to make! Tash

Tash_711

this is my number one 'break up' recipe, whenever one of my friends have their heart broken, we make a massive batch of this, grab a bottle of red & pig out straight from the pan. yummm

kayleyann

Dont let the (Roman society for the protection of carbonara) see it, I once had two of its menbers in my restaurant who explained it to me with much gusto i have never us'ed cream again. Much Love T

teaboy

Adorable!

varblaseke

absolutely wonderful and SO easy to make! what a treat.

anniekateRSA

A little bit of heaven...and all the more so for being so easy to make!

hitch78

That sounds yummy!!! my kids love spaghetti so I'm definitely cooking that tonight. thanks

moanasina

Just finished eating and it's delicious ! Serves four if you're not starving. I used to make it without cream but this way it's a lot tastier. Replaced the wine/vermouth with apple and lemon juice, works !

Deacon

It's kind of funny to find this recipe on an UK website, in the "Romantic" section - I know for sure most Italian women wouldn't consider it this way! :D Just... A couple of hints from my country: (double) cream is a taboo in (real) Italian cuisine; and I've never heard of nutmeg in Carbonara, though it IS interesting to me. ;) Maybe most of us don't even use wine, but that's really up to who's cooking; some even put onions, some different kind of pork, some cook the egg more and so on, 1000 variations. :)

eu_85

This was my first attempt at making carbonara, and the result was really wonderful. Used maple smoked bacon instead of pancetta (in a rush!) and it was lovely. Will definitely do this again :-)

cookingpanda
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