It can be made with other pastas like fettuccine or rigatoni, but traditionally it is always made with spaghetti. Basically it is made with only four ingredients, pasta, pancetta, cheese and eggs.
Simple, just like that!!! But, like with all their recipes, the Italians use only the best ingredients and that of course will always give the best results. The Americans add cream to their carbonara and I suppose that is ok, but why fiddle with a winning recipe. If you cannot find pancetta, use a well-cured piece of bacon. The cheese that you will use is fresh parmesan, nothing else.....no cheddar please!!!
Although I can eat a huge bowl of this quite happily, I am trying to reduce our portion sizes in this household, but to make it less noticeable I have to come up with some nifty tricks sometimes. So I served a small portion of this delicious Spaghetti Carbonara on a grilled Portabello mushroom with a simple salad to accompany it. My family was happy, no one even noticed that they only ate halve their normal portion of pasta.
Spaghetti Carbonara
Ingredients
250gr dried spaghetti
200gr diced pancetta or good quality bacon - cut into small pieces
about 1 cup of finely grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs
olive oil
1 tbs olive oil
parsley - finely chopped
freshly ground black pepper
Place a big pot of water on the stove and bring to the boil. Add enough salt to make it taste like seawater. Add the pasta and cook for 10-12 minutes or according to instructions on the packet.
In the meantime, heat a pan and add the olive oil to it. Add the chopped pancetta and cook until crisp. Keep one side. While you are waiting for the pasta, beat the 2 eggs and the cheese together with a whisk. Drain the pasta and add the beaten egg and cheese mixture and then the crispy bacon and parsley. Serve immediately with more grated parmesan and lots of black pepper.
Grilled Portebello Mushrooms
4 giant Portebello Mushrooms, cleaned with a dry kitchen towel
about 2 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic- finely chopped
Melt the butter and garlic together and drizzle over the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and place under a hot grill until cooked.
Spoon the spaghetti carbonara on the top for a very attractive meal.
20 comments:
Spaghetti Carbonara - one of my favourites - in combination with grilled mushrooms - I'll take it!
love this idea. i do like spaghetti carbonara but always thought something was missing - now i know the mushroom ;o)
Nina, thanks for making spaghetti Carbonara healthy with the portebello mushrooms and darling small servings.
Sam
How smart!
Great idea pairing the two.
LL
That's a great trick to reduce our carb intake Nina. It also a very tasty twist.
There are no words for your creations!
You're brilliant Nina! I'm stealing this idea. Thank you!
Such a delicious and fantastic photographer.. I love your blog.
What a clever idea - I am so glad to be back in the blog world, if only to see what's cooking in your kitchen.
This sounds wonderful and what a clever way to cut down on serving sizes!
nina i love so much carbonara !! thanks Pierre
What a great way to serve the carbonara - not only does it cut down on serving sizes, it looks beautiful and I'm sure the mushroom tastes delicious with the pasta!
I LOVE THIS! You are so creative Nina.
I love this cute trick that you used! I am always looking for ways to get my family to reduce portion sizes. Great idea! Especially when the mushrooms are accompanied by such a delicious pasta dish. You are so right about the ingredients for carbonara. Since there are so few, if they are not quality it definitely shows!
Serving spaghetti carbonara on grilled portabello mushrooms is a great idea! What a meal!
Now that is a clever idea - - I've always thought spaghetti carbonara lacked mushroom flavours ;-) Sadly though hubby would not fall for this portion reduction trick - he'd simply guzzle three or four mushrooms!!
Carbonara is one of our favorite ways to enjoy pasta. Cream? Never! but, those mushrooms are going in next time I make it!
A fabulous presentation...a total meal. Love the nests!
Nina..This is gorgeous!!!What a great idea!
Beautiful! I've always complained about small mushroom pieces in my carbonara pasta, and this is just the way to enjoy mushrooms. As for the serving size, clever as it is, I just might take more than seconds of this lovely food!
Post a Comment