This is an easy
dish, provided you have the right ingredients and follow scrupolously
the few though fundamental rules in its realization.
First of all, the egg. It does not have to cook at all. Very very
wrong, then, is to put the seasoned pasta in the frying pan on
the
stove (TN: putting the drained, seasoned pasta in a pan on the stove is
called "ripassare" in Italian). The heat of the cooked pasta and
of the guanciale is quite enough: at most, in order to add creaminess,
one can
use the water vapors from the boiling pasta - as explained further
below - or "ripassare" quickly the pasta in the
frying pan still warm on the stove but WITH THE GAS OFF.
Then, the pasta: the best option would be to drain it thoroughly
WITHOUT the use of a strainer, so as to to keep it moistened with a bit
of its cooking water.
The guanciale (TN: this is fat from the cheek of the pig - just imagine
streaky bacon without the streaks of meat, just fat): it does not have
to become too crunchy. At least, not too quickly. The fire must rather
be gentle: it must just gently warm it, so as to help it melt as
much as possible.
Finally, the pepper: most abundant, as if it were raining ("come se
piovesse", in Italian). This is quite crucial, as the black pepper of
La Spezia (TN coastal town in the Liguria region of Italy) recalls the
soot from the coal, from which the name of this dish comes from (TN:
the Italian for coal is "carbone").
|
|
Difficulty:
average
Time of preparation: approx.
30 minutes
Equipment: One pot for the
pasta, one rather wide frying pan, chopping block, a knife, one serving
bowl,
one cheese grater. Ingredients for four persons:
1/2 kg of spaghetti
150 g of guanciale (hard skin removed)
little extra virgin olive oil
2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks
roman
pecorino cheese
abundant black pepper to be milled at
the moment.
Procedure
Put a pot with plenty of water on the stove. Cut the
guanciale into small cubes of approximately 1 cm of side (a third of
an inch). Break the eggs and put eggs and egg yolks in the bowl which
will contain the seasoned pasta: add the grated pecorino to taste and
the black pepper, mixing quickly and thoroughly with a fork. Place the
bowl on top of the pan with the water as if were its lid, for about
half a minute, and keep stirring the mixture, so that it will become
creamier.
Heat the guanciale in a frying pan the with a little oil and leave it
to shallow fry on gentle heat, so as to to make it *sweat * as much as
possible.
In the meantime, as soon as the water boils cook the pasta and
drain it making sure you do not drain it completely, and reserving a
bit of the cooking water. Put the pasta in the bowl with the
egg/pepper/pecorino mixture, add more grated pecorino and combine
thoroughly, so that the heat from the water and the guanciale will
coagulate the eggs and - if necessary - add a little bit of the
reserved cooking water to help coagulation. If you wish, add some
more grated pecorino at the end.
|