the ultimate

For me, carbonara is one of those tasty but naughty recipes that I never really get round to making. For starters, I never have cream in the fridge, and rarely parmesan. But after making my chicken leek and bacon pie earlier in the week, I had some cream left over - the perfect opportunity to whip up this recipe!

You will need...

Pancetta or bacon

Parmesan

1 onion

2 eggs (one whole egg and one yolk)

150ml single cream

1 Clove of garlic (or puree)

Spaghetti

Contrary to popular belief, spaghetti carbonara is so simple to make! Just follow these easy steps, and keep a cool head...

To start, chop up the bacon, garlic and onion... I cheat and use frozen chopped onion - it saves so much time and effort! I also use garlic puree instead of the real deal, again its a pretty good cheat. I use a small squirt as its pretty strong! In terms of how much bacon (or pancetta if you like), I use about 4 or 5 rashers, but feel free to use as much as you like!

Cook until nice and crispy!

While the onion and bacon is cooking, mix together the cream, eggs and 25g (or so) parmesan. I use one whole egg, and then just one yolk - ditch the whites of one egg. Mix together in a jug and season with black pepper. 

Pop your spaghetti on to cook!

Once the bacon and onion mixture is cooked, take off the heat add to your cream mixture. Drain the spaghetti, and stir through the cream and bacon mixture (everything in together). There is no need to cook the spaghetti with the sauce - the heat of the cooked bacon and spaghetti and the heat of the pan will 'cook' the sauce enough. If you cook it, it will turn to a dry scrambled egg type affair!

Dish up into bowls and top with more parmesan. Serve with garlic bread!

Enjoy!