Spaghetti Carbonara is one of our absolute favourite quick dinner dishes. I saw a unique method of warming a thick paste of eggs, Pecorino and a little of the rendered Guanciale oil in a bain-marie on Bobby and Giada in Italy at Trattoria Santa Palato. They claim that the eggs won’t scramble as easily because you have more control over the heat with the bain-marie. I am not sure that is true, but it does make a super creamy and delicious sauce.
Spaghetti Carbonara
Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a pasta course.
Ingredients:
- 100 g Guanciale, thinly sliced
- 250 g spaghetti
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 100 g Pecorino, finely grated
Directions:
- Cook the Guanciale until crispy, and reserve the fat.
- Heat a pot of water for the pasta. In a heat-proof bowl, combine the egg and Pecorino until you get a thick paste. Put the bowl of eggy cheese over the lightly boiling pasta water and whisk until smooth. Set aside, away from heat.
- Cook the spaghetti until al dente. Use tongs to move the pasta from the boiling water and add it to the warmed egg mixture and mix rigorously until you achieve a smooth sauce, adding pasta water as needed.
- Serve sprinkled with the crispy Guanciale and more cheese if desired.
Creamy, salty and absolutely delicious!
Notes:
- This recipe uses Pecorino exclusively, but I have seen Pecorino and Parmesan used in various ratios.
- There are many versions of this recipe on line this is just one of them. The authentic Carbonara NEVER uses cream.
Kitcheninspirations 
Love this dish, and it’s been ages since I’ve made it. Neat technique — need to try that.
BTW, just want to say we’ve just posted our last blog post. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your blog, and I’ll still be visiting. But we’ve got a lot of activities lined up that will be occupying my time, so my visits will be much more sporadic in the future. Best wishes to you.
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Interesting idea heating up the egg and cheese paste, although personally I’ve never really had an issue with scrambling the eggs I might give it a try. Just wondering about the black pepper… ?
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I use a pretty similar method, but warm up the bowl in the oven. If you add the eggs to the hot frying pan with the guanciale together with spaghetti that’s just off the boil, there is indeed a risk of scrambling. You use less eggs and more pecorino than most recipes I’ve seen. Parmigiano is often used, but never in the original (as it is a dish from Rome and there pecorino romano is used). You are right of course about the cream, but you missed the black pepper.
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I think it’s so fun to make carbonara. It’s magical.
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Quick and very yummy!
angiesrecipes
http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com
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Yum!! Your method makes such an ultra-thick, creamy sauce!!
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