Agostina’s Carbonara
Almost half a century ago, my grandparents built a house in Italy near a small village on Lake Garda. This is where I spent most of my summers. Agostina is my grandparents’ former housekeeper, and pretty much every time I go to the village, our paths will cross. We will talk about this and that, la nonna, i bambini, and on one occasion we spoke about pasta. Agostina was sitting on a bench by the village port with another elderly lady. I squatted in front of both and said, “Now is the moment of truth. How do I make a real Carbonara?” – in German we say: two lawyers, three opinions. In Italy, this seems to apply to Carbonara recipes. Do you use butter or olive oil? Do you use the entire egg or only the egg yolk? Do you add panna (cream) or would that be a sacrilege? Conciliator that I am, I could have opted for a compromise, but after several trials, I decided in favour of Agostina’s recipe.
4
servings8
minutes12
minutes20
minutesIngredients
200 g 200 pancetta or bacon strips (vegetarian option: sundried tomatoes instead)
4 4 egg yolks
150 g 150 grated Parmesan or Grana Padano
400 g 400 linguine or bavette
1 1 cl white wine
Olive oil
1 tbsp 1 freshly ground black pepper
Salt
Directions
- Finely dice the pancetta or bacon strips.
- While you heat the water for the pasta, heat a splash of olive oil in a small frying or saucepan and brown the pancetta or bacon for a couple of minutes, then deglaze with white wine and turn off the heat.
- Once the water is boiling, add the pasta. Then separate the egg yolks from the egg white in a large bowl and – using a fork – whisk the egg yolks with the grated cheese, adding lots of freshly ground black pepper, until the cheese has fully merged with the egg yolks into a thick yellow cheese-egg-cream (hereafter "TYCEC").
- Before draining the pasta, retain a cup of pasta water.
- Drain the pasta when ready and immediately pour into the bowl with the TYCEC This is the most delicate moment: you must be swift and bold and mix the steaming hot pasta with it quickly and firmly, adding one or two splashes of the pasta water, thereby nicely coating the pasta in the creamy sauce.
- When done, add the bacon and mix it all again. Serve quickly. Add a pinch of salt if you like, but a good pancetta or bacon will provide sufficient saltiness.
- As a vegetarian option, replace the bacon with diced sundried tomatoes.
- I prefer a glass of crisp white wine with it over a glass of red, but that is once more a question of taste.
Equipment
- Large pot
- Small frying pan or saucepan
- Large bowl
- Grater
- Fork
Notes
- As a vegetarian option, replace the bacon with diced sundried tomatoes.
- I prefer a glass of crisp white wine with it over a glass of red, but that is once more a question of taste.