Carbonara

[OnThePrittStick]

Best quickest most delicious easiest carbonara recipes please for midweek meal

I have eggs spaghetti pancetta single cream cheddar Parmesan - am I all set or missing a secret ingredient? Thank you

perfect carbonara

I fry some pancetta (or bacon) in a non stick pan while cooking the spaghetti, drain the spaghetti not too thoroughly so there's a bit of cooking water left and then put the pancetta in the pasta pan. Sometimes add a clove of garlic and some dried chilli in with the pancetta while it's cooking.

Then add a beaten egg with black pepper, swirl it round so it coats the pasta and cooks, add unfeasible amounts of parmesan and eat. On my own as no one else like it!

No cream, no cheddar. It's not definitive but it's very tasty...

Here's a really quick version - minus the pancetta but that can easily be added in :)
www.eatdrinkcook.co.uk/incredibly-creamy-easy-pasta-sauce/

I like to saute some finely chopped onion, shallot or spring onion (what ever is in the fridge) in a drop of oil until translucent then add some chopped pancetta, bacon or even leftover ham. Whisk a couple of eggs into the cream and season well. Cook the pasta and before you drain it reserve a mug of the cooking water, drain pasta, return to the pan and add eggy mix stir through along with plenty of the cheese and add as much of the reserved water as needed to create a yummy sauce. Not authentic but tasty.

I've never heard of reserving the cooking water before, but just googled this and sounds like a good idea! Thanks for recipes

I'm not a Jamie fan but it was a tip I picked up from one of his programmes

Feedback: did guardian recipe crosby linked to, including using the pasta water, but with the addition of a splash of cream at the end. Amazing! So good with loads of black pepper