In tonight's installment of Chrislove is fucking exhausted from dissertation writing and has no idea what to write about Dinner with Chrislove, I'm making...drumroll...spaghetti alla carbonara! The BF and I were talking earlier in the week about carbonara, and it gave me a craving that can only be satisfied one way.
Carbonara, of course, is a Roman dish that is said to have gotten its name from the copious amounts of black pepper that resemble flakes of coal (it is said to have originated as a dish consumed by coal workers). There are competing theories as to the origin of the dish, however. Wherever it came from, it's one of my favorites--easy enough and rich enough to be a perfect end to a very long week.
Now, last year for Kitchen Table Kibitzing, I wrote about a vegetarian riff on a standard carbonara using zucchini and fresh herbs. That's a great weeknight dish because of its relative lightness compared to the "real" thing, but sometimes I want the classic. Not that this is necessarily a super traditional version, as you'll see, but it's close enough for my tastes. Follow me below the fold...
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Please come in. You're invited to make yourself at home! Join us beneath the doodle...
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Carbonara is creamy, but absolutely no cream is needed to make it. The ingredients for the "real" stuff are few and basic: pasta, fatty pork, cheese, eggs, black pepper.
This version is pretty classic, except for the pork product. It is very common to use bacon in American versions of carbonara, and I am tonight. Traditionally, of course, guanciale (pork cheek) is used, with pancetta (pork belly) being an acceptable substitute. I've had it both ways, and either makes for a delicious carbonara. Both of these Italian pork options are unsmoked. As a smoked pork product, bacon does change the flavor profile of the dish, which is why, if you look up any carbonara recipe that uses bacon, the comments are dripping in
OUTRAGE over the
TERRIBLE AWFUL BASTARDIZATION of carbonara. It's quite controversial stuff.
Now, I could stop what I'm doing, drive to Central Market, and pay $20/pound for guanciale just to satisfy everybody's Italian grandmother. Or I could use the bacon in the bottom of my fridge because I'm not rich and my air conditioning is too good to leave (and because Murka and freedom and red, white, and blue). I think I'll opt for the latter tonight. I could blanch the bacon to tame the smokiness, but...nah. I happen to like the smoked flavor, so sue me. Bacon it is...or, as I like to call it in these situations, smoked pancetta!
Now that that justification is out of the way... :)
Whichever pork product you use, you'll need about four ounces, give or take, cut into bite-sized pieces. No need for olive oil, really. The bacon is going to render and give off a lot of fat, and I have no intention of draining any of it, because that's how I roll. Just cook it on medium to medium-high heat until it is just cooked and much of the fat has rendered off.
While the bacon is cooking, you should be cooking the pasta in salted water. Spaghetti is typical (hence "spaghetti alla carbonara"), but my favorite pasta to use for this is actually bucatini. Tonight, I'm using spaghetti alla chitarra, or "guitar spaghetti," which is kind of a squarer version of spaghetti. It holds sauce well, which is something I'm after tonight. I'm using about six and a half ounces, which I've found is perfect for this amount of sauce.
While all of this is happening, whisk together two whole eggs (some recipes just use yolks, although I've never seen a reason not to use the whole thing), a generous amount of freshly (and coarsely) ground black pepper, and cheese. In all, I'm grating 3/4 cup of cheese--I'm finishing off my romano, and the rest is parmigiano. Pecorino is often used in this, but I'm just using what I have on hand. Whisk half of the grated cheese into the egg mixture and reserve the other half.
Ideally, you should time it so the bacon and pasta finish cooking at about the same time. Once you're at that point, add about 1/4 cup of starchy pasta water to the bacon, turning up the heat. This will help the sauce come together.
Drain the pasta and add it to the pan, coating the noodles with the sauce.
Then, take the pan
off of the heat and pour the egg mixture directly onto the noodles, stirring vigorously. The retained heat will cook the eggs just enough without scrambling them. Works like a charm every time. This seems to be what trips people up the most about carbonara, but as long as the pan is off of the heat and the sauce is poured directly onto the pasta, it will turn out perfectly, no scrambling.
Add the rest of the cheese and the carbonara is done. Except for a very healthy grind or two of additional black pepper (between the pork, cheese, and pasta water, no additional salt should be necessary). Easy, easy, easy. Proving once again that it's the simple things.
This serves two normal people...or one Chrislove.
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April 25, 2015
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In the wonderful diary John Fugelsang slams Bobby Jindal's New York Times op-ed as bigoted by the gorgeous Egberto Willies, Gordon20024 remembers "one L" and the whackiest definition of racism...or non racism...in this priceless comment. It is the definition the GOP has used ever since--which explains a lot!
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