Tag: home cooking

Meg's Perfect Spaghetti Carbonara

Meg’s Perfect Carbonara

bakesbymeguk1 Comment

I would like to say as a disclaimer I am not Italian, and I apologise if this recipe does not represent a traditional carbonara. I am merely a super-fan of the Italian cuisine who happens to have made a delicious carbonara recipe. As a word of warning, this is probably the richest carbonara you will have, owing to the use of an egg and an egg yolk per person, so be prepared to be very full if you make this. This is not your everyday carbonara – you have been warned.

You may find it odd I only use parmesan and no pecorino, but I actually prefer an all parmesan carbonara (again, sorry) – so feel free to half & half pecorino & parmesan if you so wish. The thing I will definitely stick to tradition for is the guanciale. If you can get your hands on it I reaaaally recommend using guanciale. It adds a much deeper flavour than pancetta and really elevates this dish. I get mine from Eataly usually, but I’ve also ordered it from Lina Stores who ship nationwide! This is the product of endless carbonara trial & errors, until I found the perfect egg/egg yolk/cheese etc. balance. I am finally here sharing with you my perfect, foolproof carbonara: the dinner to wow anyone made in under 30 mins.

Meg’s Perfect Carbonara

Serves 2 (hungry people) | 20 mins prep & cooking

Ingredients

200g pasta of your choice (my personal faves include paccheri, rigatoni & linguine)

150g Guanciale chopped into chunks (or pancetta if you can’t get your hands on guanciale, but the guanciale really adds the ‘wow’)

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

75g grated parmesan (or half pecorino, half parmesan)

Freshly ground black pepper (you won’t need much if you’re using guanciale)

Method

  1. Cook your pasta in a pot of water salted like the sea for 2-3 mins less than instructed on the packet.
  2. In the meantime, add your guanciale to a cold frying pan and bring up to medium/high heat. This renders out he fat giving you extra crisp and completely not flabby fat (ew). Drain any excess oil and set aside off the heat until the pasta is ready.
  3. Beat your eggs, egg yolks, parmesan and freshly ground pepper until combined. Add 3-6 spoon fulls of pasta water (this depends how loose your like your sauce, 3 spoons will be a drier sauce) to your egg mix one by one, beating the whole time to temper your eggs and help prevent scrambled egg pasta
  4. When the pasta is done, transfer it to your guanciale pan and return to medium heat being sure to reserve the pasta water.
  5. Add a ladle of pasta water to the pan and cook until almost disappeared. Check if your pasta is cooked to your liking, if still a little too firm repeat this stage.
  6. Once the pasta is cooked, take the pan off the heat and add your egg mix to the pan while constantly moving the pasta. Keep tossing the pasta while moving between off the heat & on low heat (this helps you keep more control of the cooking, and stop the eggs scrambling)
  7. Continue this process until the sauce has thickened and clings to the pasta. Exactly when the sauce is done depends on how you like your carbonara, but you need to cook long enough for the eggs to be cooked thoroughly. You can add some extra pasta water here if you want your sauce a little looser.
  8. Serve with extra parm and some freshly cracked black pepper
Garlicky anchovy pasta

Speedy Garlicky Anchovy Pasta

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Even when I don’t have much time to cook, I refuse to sacrifice deliciousness. I created this pasta for such situations. I used strong flavours to make it exciting despite its simplicity (think salty, anchovy-y, tomatoey goodness). It uses mostly store cupboard ingredients too so not only is it quick to cook, you might not even need to go to the shop. As the cooking of the pasta is finished off in the sauce, the sauce ends up feeling very luxurious and clings to the pasta. This truly is a speedy dinner as the sauce is cooked in the time it takes the pasta to cook.

Speedy Garlicky Anchovy Pasta

Serves 2

15 mins prep + cooking

Ingredients

150g linguine or spaghetti (or any pasta really, but it works well with a long pasta)

1.5 tbsp olive oil

6 anchovy fillets in oil, roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves thinly sliced (or 2 large cloves)

Juice 1/2 lemon

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp butter (or more to taste)

4 tbsp grated parmesan (or more to taste, plus extra for serving)

Handful of parsley chopped

Panko breadcrumbs to serve (if you can get your hands on lemon & black pepper breadcrumbs, get those!) see the note for how to make the breadcrumbs a little fancier

Method

  1. Add your pasta to salted boiling water and cook for a few minutes less than the packet says.
  2. Meanwhile, add your oil and anchovies to a frying pan on medium high heat and cook until the achovies dissolve.
  3. Add the sliced garlic and cook until lightly golden
  4. Add the lemon juice to the pan and cook until mostly evaporated.
  5. Add the tomato puree and cook for a few minutes, stirring regularly until the colour darkens slightly. Take off the heat until the pasta is ready.
  6. Once the pasta is cooked, put the frying pan back onto medium high heat and transfer the pasta over being sure to reserve the pasta water. Add 100-200ml of pasta water to the frying pan and bring to a boil, stirring often, until reduced to almost nothing. Repeat this process until the pasta is cooked to your liking.
  7. Take the pan off the heat and add the butter & Parmesan. Stir through and add more butter/Parmesan to your taste. Add the chopped parsley.
  8. Serve with more parm and the breadcrumbs sprinkled over

Note: If you have time, I definitely recommend sprucing up your bread crumbs a little. In a frying pan heat up 1 tbsp oil + 1/2 tbsp butter with 2 minced cloves of garlic. Fry until golden, then add breadcrumbs (NOT panko) and fry those until evenly golden.