The second classic Italian dish after the famous spaghetti bolognese is carbonara pasta. And today it is she who will become the heroine of our article.
Pasta alla carbonara is a classic Italian dish (Pasta alla carbonara), which is spaghetti with a round small section, more than 15 cm long and about 2 mm in diameter. The pasta is mixed with unsmoked salted pork cheek, egg sauce, parmesan cheese, black pepper and salt. The sauce comes to readiness from the heat of the cooked pasta.
The dish was invented in the middle of the twentieth century by Italian chefs. Like most recipes that are classics of world cuisine, the circumstances of the creation of carbonara remain vague. And there are several stories about this. One of the theories is that the word "carbonara" comes from the Italian charcoal stove, which is called "carbonaro" in Italy. On it every day a hearty dinner was prepared for the miners, namely: carbonaro pasta. Some prefer to believe that this dish was first served to people who are part of the secret society "Carbonari". It is known for certain that the carbonara paste was printed in the edition of Elizabeth David's famous book Italian Cuisine, which was published in 1954 in the UK. Until this moment, there is no information about Carbonar, from which its creation dates back to the post-war hungry years - the end of the 1940s.
How to cook carbonara correctly
Despite the fact that spaghetti carbonara is a fairly simple dish to prepare, it has its own characteristics and secrets.
- First, there must be a certain number of eggs. Because they form the base of a juicy sauce and glue all the ingredients together with thin spaghetti. The eggs are brought to the desired readiness only from the heat and heat of the cooked pasta. That is why it is important to determine the number of eggs needed for a given volume of spaghetti. Basically, there are 3 pieces for 400 g of spaghetti. eggs.
- Secondly, the cheese most often used in Rome is pecorino romano. However, according to the chefs, pecorino makes the sauce too harsh, and if you reduce the amount, the carbonare will lose its richness. Therefore, experts recommend using a combination of cheeses -? cups of pecorino and 3/4 parmigiano reggiano.
- Thirdly, there is a garlic aroma, about which culinary experts differ. Some culinary masters recommend frying the garlic in slices, while others add it raw and finely chopped to the sauce. The second option is motivated by the fact that garlic, combining with hot pasta, heats up slightly and reveals its aroma, which gives the dish a special piquancy.
How to cook carbonara at home?
An excellent dish of haute Italian cuisine "spaghetti carbonara" is absolutely not difficult to perform and you can cook it yourself at home, even without having any special culinary experience. This sauce will turn ordinary pasta into a delicious and festive dish and will be a win-win option on any table. At the same time, it will take a minimum of time to prepare them.
There are many variations of recipes for making carbonara sauce. In this article, we will offer several varieties of this dish, and we hope that you will like at least one recipe and you will add it to your culinary piggy bank.
1. The classic recipe for making carbonara
Silky, tender and incredible taste - all these epithets are addressed to ordinary pasta! But only on condition that it is, without exaggeration, the great Italian pasta carbonara. She has long stepped over the border of her homeland and conquered the whole world, becoming one of the most popular dishes in both restaurant and home cuisine.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 386 kcal.
- Servings - 6
- Cooking time - 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- Durum wheat spaghetti - packaging
- Pancetta - 250 g
- Raw yolks - 4 pcs.
- A mixture of pecorino and parmesan - 200 g
- Olive oil - 4 tablespoons
- Garlic - 2 wedges
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Salt to taste
Preparation of the classic carbonara:
- Bring the water to a boil, add 2 tbsp. butter and boil the spaghetti until cooked through. For the cooking time of pasta, see the manufacturer's packaging. Usually, 100 g of spaghetti is boiled in 1 liter of water.
- Meanwhile, cut the pancetta into strips or sticks and fry in a preheated pan with 2 tablespoons. butter until the transparency of fat. At the same time, make sure that the pancetta does not dry out. Then remove from heat and let cool so that the egg white does not curl as it is added.
- Grate the cheese on a fine grater.
- Beat the eggs into a container and beat well with a fork. Add half a serving of grated cheese, 2 pinches of black pepper to the egg mass and mix everything well. For the sauce to acquire a smooth texture, heat it, stirring gently, over boiling water where the pasta is boiled.
- Pour the sauce into the skillet with fried bacon and heat it up a little, stirring constantly.
- Discard the finished spaghetti in a colander, and do not crush the water too much to maintain the temperature for thickening the sauce.
- Put the hot spaghetti in a skillet and stir quickly with the sauce.
- Place the carbonara on a platter and sprinkle with the remaining cheese mixed with freshly ground black pepper.
2. Carbonara with bacon
Given our genetic love for lard, we think that carbonara with bacon will be to the taste of many. This dish will decorate both your daily meal and every festive feast, and the exquisite combination of spaghetti and bacon will bring you the recognition of an unsurpassed culinary specialist.
Ingredients:
- Spaghetti al dente (slightly hard) - 450 g
- Bacon - 100 g
- Parmesan cheese - 50 g
- Chicken egg - 3 pcs.
- Olive oil - 4 tablespoons
- Garlic - 2 cloves
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Salt to taste
Cooking carbonara with bacon:
- Cook the pasta in salted water until cooked, adding salt and 2 tbsp. oils. Then, fold it in a colander.
- Heat 2 tablespoons in a skillet. oils. Place medium diced bacon and finely minced garlic clove in it. Fry them, stirring continuously for 4-5 minutes.
- Place the hot pasta just removed from the heat into the pan with the fried bacon.
- Add 3 raw eggs to the pan, beat with a whisk or fork, and mix well.
- Immediately, pepper the products, sprinkle with finely grated Parmesan cheese, mix again and serve the food to the table. On a plate, if desired, you can still sprinkle the carbonara with grated cheese.
3. How to cook carbonara with ham and mushrooms
Famous Italian chefs to this day "break their spears" trying to decide: is it worth adding mushrooms to the preparation of carbonara? But, unfortunately, they still have not come to a common opinion. So why don't we try it? Then you will be able to form your own opinion on this matter.
Ingredients:
- Egg noodles - 250 g
- Onions - 1, 5 pcs.
- Garlic - 2 cloves
- Fresh champignons - 100 g
- Ham - 100 g
- Cream 25% - 200 ml
- Hard cheese - 200 g
- Eggs - 4 pcs.
- Butter - 25 g
- Salt to taste
Cooking ham and mushroom carbonara:
- Dip the egg noodles in boiling lightly salted water.
- While the noodles are cooking, wash, peel the caps, dry and cut the mushrooms into strips. Cut the ham into medium-sized pieces. Peel and finely chop onions and garlic.
- Then melt the butter in a frying pan, in which fry the onions with garlic until transparent. Then add the ham and mushrooms.
- Whisk the egg yolks with cream and finely grated cheese. Pepper, salt and whisk the mass to taste.
- Add the egg and cheese mixture to the pan, stir and keep everything on the stove for a few minutes.
- Add the hot noodles to the skillet, stir in the sauce and place on a plate.
4. Cooking carbonara with cream
Before presenting the next recipe for pasta, we note that opinions about the presence of cream in carbonara sauce among professional chefs are very different. Some argue that cream was never included in the classic Italian recipe, while others insist on the opposite opinion. But we nevertheless decided to present this option, but the choice, as always, is yours.
Ingredients:
- Pasta - packaging
- Bacon - 150 grams
- Eggs - 2 pcs.
- Cream - 100-150 ml
- Parmesan or pecorino (a mixture of cheeses is possible) - 100 grams
- Olive oil - 1-2 tablespoons
- Garlic - 1 wedge
- Green basil - a couple of twigs
- Salt to taste
- Nutmeg - 0.5 tsp
- Ground black pepper - to taste
Making a pasta with cream:
- Start cooking pasta and sauce at the same time. To do this, take a pot of drinking water, add salt, boil and lower the spaghetti to boil.
- For the sauce, finely chop the garlic and dice the bacon, which sauté in a heated skillet in olive oil.
- In a separate bowl, combine eggs, cheese, cream, ground pepper, chopped basil, and nutmeg. Whisk everything lightly.
- Put the cooked pasta in a colander and transfer to the pan with the fried bacon.
- Pour the egg sauce over the spaghetti, stir and turn off the heat.
- The creamy carbonara paste is ready. Serve on warmed plates or sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese if you wish.
5. Cooking carbonara with chicken
This dish, strictly speaking, cannot be counted among the classic national Italian cuisine, since, spaghetti carbonara, the use of chicken does not imply. And cream is not added either, since it makes the dish much fatter. The classic recipe contains only: bacon, eggs, cheese and, of course, the spaghetti themselves. But it’s not in vain that they say: “if you cannot, but you really want to, then you can.” This is exactly the case with this recipe. And why not prepare a culinary masterpiece - carbonara pasta with chicken?
Ingredients:
- Durum wheat spaghetti - 300 g
- Chicken fillet - 200 g
- Parmesan cheese - 50 g
- Cream - 100 g
- Garlic - 1 clove
- Egg - 3 pcs.
- Olive oil - 3 tablespoons
- Sesame seeds - 15 g
- Salt to taste
Cooking with chicken:
- Add 1, 5 tablespoons to boiling water. butter, salt and put the spaghetti to simmer until al dente.
- Wash the chicken fillet, dry with a paper towel and cut into strips.
- Peel and chop the garlic.
- Heat a skillet, and over medium heat, sauté the chicken and garlic in olive oil. Cook the food for no more than 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the meat from drying out. Then add salt and cream, which simmer at the lowest possible temperature to prevent curdling.
- Prepare the sauce. To do this, beat the eggs with a whisk, add salt, sesame seeds and parmesan grated on a fine grater.
- Now put all the products together. As soon as the spaghetti is ready, put them in a colander, and then in a pan with chicken and garlic. Pour the egg sauce over everything and simmer the food for 2-3 minutes on low heat.
6. Carbonara with seafood
Seafood has always been distinguished by its exquisite taste, giving dishes a beautiful appearance that can please the eyes of any esthete. If you are one of the seafood lovers and appreciate all the charm of "sea creatures", then this dish will surely become one of the "specialties" for you.
Ingredients:
- Figured pasta (shells, dumplings, spirals, horns) - 250 g
- Seafood cocktail - 200 g
- Garlic - 1 clove
- Cream 40% - 250 ml
- Tomato puree - 150 g
- Olive oil - 15 ml
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Salt to taste
Cooking pasta with seafood:
- First, defrost the seafood, drain all the liquid, rinse under running water and pat dry with a paper towel.
- Fill a saucepan with water 2/3 parts and boil it. Season with salt and pour in 1 tbsp.olive oil to prevent the paste from sticking together. Dip the spaghetti into a saucepan and cook for as long as indicated on the manufacturer's packaging.
- Peel the garlic, chop finely and fry in a pan in 2 tablespoons. olive oil for about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the seafood shake to the skillet and simmer for 1 minute.
- Then pour in the tomato puree and cook the sauce for 2-3 minutes to allow the liquid to boil slightly.
- After - salt, pepper, pour in the cream, and boil them, stirring continuously.
- Put the finished spaghetti in a skillet to the sauce, stir thoroughly and serve the dish immediately, otherwise the pasta will cool down and the sauce will thicken.
As you can see, there are a lot of recipes for making carbonaru pasta. And each of them is good in its own way. So you have the opportunity to surprise your family with new shades of this dish, because You probably, the main secret of the super-hostess, have already understood!
Watch the video recipe and tips on how to cook carbonara pasta correctly (Celibacy lunch with Ilya Lazerson):
