Carbonara - Rigatoni (Rigatoni alla carbonara)

Chef's notes#

• The quantity of the ingredients can be adjusted to your preference.
• If guanciale is too difficult to find in your area, you can substitute with pancetta.
• I make the dish slightly different from what others may do, when it comes to incorporating the pasta water and cooked guanciale, but the result is the same.

Details#

• ⏲️ Prep time: 15 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 20 min
• 🍽️ Servings: 2

Ingredients#

• 150-200g pasta (rigatoni or spaghetti)
• 5 large egg yolks
• 80-90g guanciale
• 30g grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions#

1. Start boiling a pot of water for your pasta
2. Cut the guanciale into thin pieces about 1cm thick
3. Brown the guanciale pieces in a pan for about 10 minutes on a medium flame
4. While the guanciale is cooking and the water is heating, crack your eggs and separate out the yolks into a bowl
5. Add the grated cheese to the egg yolks and mix together, add the black pepper and mix until uniform and creamy
6. Salt the boiling water and add the pasta, cook to "al dente" as per the box directions (I usually subtract a couple minutes from what the box says)
7. Once the guanciale is browned, turn off the flame and let the pan sit and cool down
8. After the pasta has been cooking for 5ish minutes, scoop a small amount into a glass and let it cool down
9. Once the pasta is cooked, strain it and add to the guanciale pan and mix the pasta, guanciale and its oil all together
10. Add a small amount of the cooled pasta water to the egg and cheese mixture and mix to render it less thick
11. Pour the egg and cheese mixture into the pasta and mix
12. Optionally sprinkle grated Pecorino Romano on top of pasta and serve