5 ingredients or less: Creamy Carbonara
Posted 2 years ago
Wed 10 Aug, 2022 12:08 PM
This recipe is perfect for a quick, midweek meal!
Only needing ingredients that you’ll already have in your cupboard, this recipe is perfect for a quick, midweek meal!
Before you start cooking, here's a few reminders:
- Pop open a window in your kitchen to let fresh air in
- Keep fire doors closed at all times, even while cooking
- Always ask a flatmate to keep an eye on your cooking if you need to leave the room
Ingredients:
- 3 egg yolks (the yolk must be separated from the whites)
- 60g parmesan cheese, grated
- Pasta shapes or spaghetti (your choice!)
- A small packet of pancetta or a few pieces of bacon chopped up (your choice!)
- Black pepper
Method:
- Cook your pasta for 6-7 minutes over a medium heat. The pasta should be almost cooked but with a slight bite to it.
- In a separate pan (we recommend using a wok or deep pan for this), add your pancetta or bacon and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes until brown and crispy. There’s no need to add oil to the pan when using pancetta but we’d recommend a couple of sprays of cooking spray if using bacon.
- While the pancetta/bacon is cooking, add the egg yolk and grated cheese to a bowl and mix until it makes a paste. Add black pepper to season.
- Drain your pasta but save a mug full of the pasta water (it’s important that you save your pasta water as this will help make your carbonara creamy).
- Add your pasta to the pancetta/bacon and mix well.
- Add the mug of water to the pasta and pancetta/bacon and keep stirring over a medium heat. After a few minutes, the water should have a white/shiny look to it – this means it is starchy. When it looks like this, take it off the heat.
- Add the egg yolk paste to the pasta and keep stirring to avoid the eggs curdling (this is when it looks a bit like scrambled eggs). Do this off the heat.
- After 1 minute, add the pan back onto a low heat and keep stirring until creamy and cheesy. If it becomes dry, add more water.
- Once you've finished cooking, be sure to wipe down and clean all the surfaces ready for the next person and turn all off appliances.
- Enjoy!