Fettuccine carbonara

There are some nights when you just need a meal on the table in 15 minutes. Fettuccine carbonara is one such meal. While many cafés have served it with cream, traditionally it uses just a few simple ingredients and no cream. We add some rocket for a bit of extra zing. Dinner done.

PASTA CARBONARA

Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 10 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 egg, beaten
• 60g / ½ cup of grated parmesan
• 1 pinch of black pepper
• 2 tsp of flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 cup of rocket (arugula) leaves
• 20ml / 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic, smashed (skin on)
• 200g / 6 oz of bacon, small diced (if you can get it in a block it works really well)
• 40ml / 2 tbsp of white wine
• iodised salt
• 320g / 12oz of long pasta such as fettuccine, spaghetti, linguini, or spaghettini (angel hair pasta)

Method

1. Put a large saucepan of water on the stove to boil.
2. In a bowl, combine the egg, parmesan, pepper, parsley and rocket, and set aside.
3. In a large frying pan, heat the oil then add the smashed garlic and cook until fragrant and golden.
4. Remove the garlic from the oil, then add the bacon and fry until cooked to your liking (crispy or slightly softer). Once cooked, add the wine to the pan then remove from the heat.
5. In the meantime, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook, as per packet instructions, until al dente.
6. Strain the pasta in a colander (keeping a quarter of a cup of the boiling liquid aside incase it is needed for the sauce) , then place the frying pan back on a medium heat.
7. Add the strained pasta to the frying pan, then toss the bacon through the pasta.
8. Add the egg mixture to the frying pan and turn off the heat immediately. Stir the egg mixture through the pasta and bacon, adding a splash of the cooking liquid if you need it to help stir through the egg and bacon.
9. Serve immediately.

TIP
Ask your deli to cut the bacon from the block (loin) as you can dice it yourself at home to your preferred thickness. Rashers can be quite thin.