A homemade tagliatelle carbonara ready in just 15 minutes is wonderfully different to the shop bought sauces and cheaper too! Some people use eggs and cream, others eggs and butter and some just eggs. I've opted for the middle one of eggs and butter as it's not as rich as the cream version but still tastes great.
Put a large pan of lightly salted water on to boil. Beat the eggs together in a bowl, season with freshly ground black pepper and stir in most of the cheese.
3 eggs, 1 dash black pepper, 100 g Parmesan cheese
Put the tagliatelle into the pan and cook as per the packet instructions. Steam the broccoli over the top for the last 4 -5 minutes.
350 g tagliatelle, 500 g broccoli
Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Using the back of a knife, press down on the garlic bulbs. This helps the flavour to be released. Add to the frying pan along with the bacon or pancetta or leftover gammon and fry the meat, stirring often until it it crispy. The leftover gammon won't crisp up in the same way as the bacon, just fry it for 2 minutes to heat through. Remove the garlic cloves with a slotted spoon and discard. The garlic flavour will be left.
50 g butter, 2 cloves garlic, 200 g unsmoked bacon
Keep the heat on low and when the tagliatelle is cooked, scoop out a small cup of pasta water and put to one side then drain the rest and empty the pasta into the frying pan with the meat. Toss it all together and make sure the pasta is well coated in the butter.
The crucial moment. You need a couple of minutes undisturbed. Take the frying pan off the heat and quickly pour in the eggs and cheese. Toss it furiously together and once it begins to thicken, add a splash of the pasta water to loosen it, add more water until you get the desired creamy consistency.
Toss it again and serve immediately with the remainder of the cheese sprinkled on top and some more freshly ground black pepper. Serve with the broccoli or other reen vegetables or salad
Notes
Tagliatelle Carbonara is a great dish for using up any leftover gammon or ham you might have from a Roast Gammon.
Tips and Variations
Adding the eggs and cheese. The biggest mistake people make is too much heat. Even though it might seem odd, before you add the egg and cheese mixture, you need to remove the pan from the heat. The heat that is already in the pasta will cook the eggs. We are aiming for a silky smooth sauce. A few splashes of the pasta water will help loosen the sauce and create that silky texture. This is because the pasta water contains startch from the pasta.Variations. Instead of bacon, or ham, you can also make a carbonara with chicken. Make sure the chicken is properly cooked before adding in the pasta.Extra Vegetables In order to make this dish go further, you can add peas or mushrooms. Fry the mushrooms up with the bacon and add the peas to the pasta water for the last few minutes to defrost and cook.
Serving Suggestion
I like to serve this tagliatelle carbonara with a side of broccoli to add extra colour and nutrition. You could also serve it with a green salad or other green vegetables such as green beans.
Storing Carbonara
Carbonara can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can re-heat it but because it already has the egg and cheese mixed in, it's best only re-heated in a microwave. It doesn't freeze well due to the eggs.