Pasta carbonara: recipe, cooking procedure, photo

Carbonara sauce is one of the most recent inventions of Italian culinary experts. It was first prepared in the middle of the last century, but it has already gained popularity all over the world and is considered one of the best masterpieces of Italian cuisine. It is served with spaghetti or pasta, as its creamy garlic taste perfectly complements the taste of pasta. The recipe is based on cream, egg yolks, garlic and cheese, thanks to which the sauce acquires a unique taste and aroma. Fried bacon and some other ingredients give it additional shades. To appreciate the unique taste of carbonara sauce, there is no need to go to an Italian restaurant and leave a lot of money there. Carbonara sauce can be made in your own kitchen. Moreover, any housewife can cope with this task if only she knows a few important points.

Cooking features

The products that make up carbonara sauce are quite accessible, if you don’t strive to maintain complete identity and don’t try to get Italian-made products. The cooking technology is also not too complicated, but it still has several features, without knowledge of which you should not start preparing the dish.

They say that an unlucky housewife can hide her flaws behind the sauce. However, this trick will not work if mistakes were made when preparing the sauce itself. If you try to use low-quality and stale products for it, this will certainly affect its taste and aroma. In the end, it will not save, but, on the contrary, will ruin the main dish.
Raw eggs, or rather their yolks, are used to prepare the sauce. The heat treatment they undergo during the brewing process may not be sufficient to ensure their safety. Therefore, you can only use eggs for sauce that you are sure are safe. For example, you can purchase them from a farmer you know, especially since in this case they will be even healthier than store-bought ones.
To prevent the sauce from turning into an omelette during cooking, it is better to brew it in a water bath, constantly monitoring its condition. As soon as it thickens and turns yellow, it should be removed from the heat.
The sauce most often includes bacon, which is fried in a frying pan. If it is quite fatty, there is no point in using oil for this, since it will increase the energy value of an already high-calorie dish.
Use the sauce hot, adding it to equally hot pasta. In this case, the dish must be stirred. Only in this case will it turn out homogeneous, without lumps. Otherwise, pasta with carbonara sauce will look unappetizing.
It is not customary to add salt to carbonara sauce. It is considered sufficient to salt the water in which the pasta is cooked.
Do not rinse the pasta before adding the sauce so that it does not cool down. Thanks to this, they remain saltier.

Serve hot pasta with carbonara sauce. If you sprinkle the dish with fresh herbs, it will only benefit from it.

Classic carbonara sauce recipe

Compound:

cream – 0.2 l;
egg yolks – 4 pcs.;
Parmesan cheese – 100 g;
bacon – 0.4 kg;
garlic – 2 cloves;
Italian herbs - to taste.

Cooking method:

Cut the bacon into small pieces.
Chop the garlic with a knife.
Fry the bacon in a frying pan until some of the fat has rendered out. If there is not enough fat in the bacon, you can pour a little olive oil or other odorless vegetable oil into the pan.
Add the garlic to the bacon and fry everything together for a few minutes until the garlic begins to change color.
Remove the pan from the heat. Sprinkle the herbs over the bacon and stir.
Grind the cheese on a grater with small holes.
Separate the yolks from the whites. The whites are not required, but the yolks should be beaten with a whisk.
Add the yolks to the cream, beat with a whisk or mixer until a homogeneous mixture is obtained.
Place the cream and yolks in a water bath. Heat on it, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes thicker and acquires a yellowish tint.
Remove the container of cream from the water bath, add the grated cheese and mix well.
Add bacon, fried with garlic, to the mixture. Stir again.

After this, it remains to mix the sauce with the boiled pasta. Remember that both the pasta and carbonara sauce must be hot.

With mushrooms

Mushrooms are popular in cooking in different countries. They are used for preparing first and second courses, salads and snacks.

Mushrooms also found their place in Italian recipes, slightly changing the taste of the sauce:

200 grams of ham;
150 grams of fresh mushrooms;
150 g cream 20-25%;
200 grams of grated parmesan;
several sprigs of basil and oregano;
olive oil;
salt.

First of all, wash the mushrooms, removing darkened spots if necessary, and cut into small cubes. We also cut the ham.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the mushrooms and ham over medium heat. After a quarter of an hour, pour in the cream, reduce the heat and simmer under the lid, stirring with a spatula. It will take 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse and finely chop the greens.

When the sauce has simmered a little, you need to salt it and add the prepared herbs and grated cheese. Stirring, cook for a minute until the sauce thickens due to the melted cheese. Afterwards, you can serve it with pre-boiled pasta, arranged in portioned plates. You can decorate with fresh chopped herbs.

On a note. Italians do not use cream in the sauce - only egg yolks. They began to add cream, experimenting with the composition of the traditional sauce. The sauce with cream is more delicate.

Carbonara sauce with onions and ham

Compound:

ham – 0.2 kg;
chicken egg (yolks) – 2 pcs.;
onions – 100 g;
garlic – 3 cloves;
cream – 100 ml;
hard cheese – 100 g;
vegetable oil – 50 ml;
fresh herbs - to taste.

Cooking method:

Cut the ham into small cubes.
Chop the garlic cloves with a knife.
Peel the onion and cut into small pieces.
Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add onion and garlic to it and fry them until golden brown.
Add the ham cubes to the pan. Fry until it is browned.
Place the yolks in the cream, first separating them from the whites. Beat with a whisk or mixer. Brew the sauce by placing it in a water bath.
Chop fresh herbs.
Finely grate the cheese.
Add ham with onions and garlic to hot pasta and stir.
Add the sauce and stir again.
Sprinkle with herbs and cheese.

This recipe is easier to prepare the sauce, but it will be slightly different from the original carbonara.

Options for replacing main products

It is best to use Parmesan for the sauce. Previously, Pecorino cheese was used. This is an Italian cheese made from sheep's milk. It is very aromatic, has a salty, even bitter taste, and a little spicy. Therefore, it is difficult to find a replacement for him. Parmesan does this job well. But, if you don’t have it, you can replace it with another hard cheese. It should be salty, slightly bitter and melt well at high temperature. This is necessary so that it completely dissolves during mixing. You cannot use soft cheeses, such as feta and cheese. They have a salty taste, but are not suitable for this dish; they will only spoil the final version.

There is no substitute for bacon. It is this that gives the sauce its specific taste. The only option is pork belly with cheeks. This meat is quite fatty; lard will be released when evaporated. Many believe that the original version of the dish used pork cheeks. It is better not to use meat without fat; the sauce will be too dry.

Carbonara with seafood (shrimp)

To diversify the taste of a well-known sauce, you can replace the bacon with shrimp. You need 300 grams of peeled seafood.

Next you will need:

egg (chicken) – 2 pieces;
oil (olive or sunflower) – 70 milliliters, necessary for frying;
cream (20% fat) – 100 milliliters;
hard cheese – 100 grams;
garlic in the amount of 1-2 cloves;
spices are added to taste and desire.

So, step by step preparation of carbonara sauce at home:

Usually shrimp are sold ready-made. To bring them to taste, you just need to put them in boiling water. You can take it out almost immediately, wait a maximum of one minute. You can add a little lemon juice to the water, add a bay leaf, and add salt if desired. Or add a pinch of ground black pepper and dill to boiling water. It is better to use it fresh and finely chop it first.
Then you need to remove the shrimp and drain off the excess liquid. Once warm, peel and chop. If using king prawns, remove intestinal strings. Crush the garlic or cut into small pieces. Heat a frying pan, add a little oil. Place the prepared shrimp in the pan and add the garlic. The shrimp should be golden and the garlic should change color. Usually 5 minutes is enough for this.
Mix the yolks, taken separately from the whites, with the cream. Instead, you can use thick sour cream alone or mixed with milk. It will not replicate the taste of cream, but goes well with other products. Heat the mixture in a water bath. Once the sauce has thickened, remove from heat. The color should turn yellowish. Prepare the cheese by finely grating it. Add to the yolks with cream. Mix well. Add the fried shrimp to the resulting mixture, stirring the sauce again. You can season freshly cooked pasta with it.

The classic sauce recipe does not contain cream. This variation of the dish uses them. But you can refuse them. You need to boil the egg mixture in a water bath, immediately adding chopped cheese to it.

Carbonara with chicken

You can make Carbonara sauce more dietary. To do this, use chicken fillet instead of bacon. This is already a greatly modified recipe for a classic dish, but, nevertheless, it is very popular. It is easy to prepare and does not involve eggs, which speeds up the creation process, but does not make the dish less tasty.

To create the sauce you will need:

chicken fillet – 350 grams;
garlic in the amount of 3 cloves;
cream (20% fat) – 300 milliliters;
onion (leek) – 1 piece;
hard cheese – 100 grams;
salt and pepper - to taste;
sunflower or olive oil for frying.

Cut the onion into half rings and place in a heated frying pan. It is better to use a small amount of oil. Prepare the chicken fillet by cutting into small pieces. When the onion becomes a little translucent, add the chicken to the pan. Continue frying, stirring. Salt and add pepper. Chop the garlic with a press or knife and place in a frying pan. You can add thyme if desired. There is no need to chop, put in sprigs. When the chicken has a golden crust, you can pour the cream into the pan. After a couple of minutes, turn off the sauce, it is ready.

Be sure to serve hot!

Carbonara sauce with shrimp

Compound:

peeled shrimp – 0.3 kg;
fresh dill – 50 g;
chicken egg (yolks) – 2 pcs.;
olive oil – 50 ml;
cream – 100 ml;
garlic – 1 clove;
Parmesan cheese – 150 g;
ground black pepper - a pinch.

Cooking method:

Finely grate the cheese.
Separate the yolks from the whites.
Finely chop the dill.
Boil the shrimp for 2-3 minutes, adding dill and pepper to the water. If desired, the water can be salted so that the sauce does not turn out too bland.
Finely chop the garlic.
Cool the shrimp and cut them into small pieces.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan, add garlic shrimp and fry them for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Whip the cream together with the yolk and brew the sauce by placing it in a water bath.
Add about 2/3 of the grated cheese to the sauce and stir.
Mix the creamy egg mixture with the shrimp and garlic. Add it to the hot pasta and stir.
Sprinkle with remaining cheese and serve.

Despite the fact that a slight deviation from the classic recipe was made in the preparation of carbonara sauce, it fits into the traditions of Italian cuisine. This recipe is sure to please those who love seafood.

Cooking secrets

Each dish has its own subtleties and cooking secrets. Pasta carbonara is no exception. They are as follows:

Amount of Eggs – The main ingredient of the sauce is the eggs, which are needed to help the other ingredients stick to the spaghetti. In order to bring them to the required degree of readiness, you only need the heat from the boiled spaghetti. It is for this reason that it is very important to correctly determine how many eggs you need for a certain amount of pasta. If you take a standard portion of spaghetti (400 grams), you will only need 3 egg yolks.
Cheese - in the homeland of the dish, a cheese called Pecorino Romano is used. But according to most cooks, one cup of this cheese makes the sauce taste very strong. And if you add less cheese, the sauce will not have such a rich taste. Therefore, they recommend combining several types of cheese: peccino romano (a quarter cup) and parmigiano reggiano (three quarters cup).
Garlic - in this case, the opinion of the chefs is also not unanimous. Some of them recommend frying the garlic cloves, while others recommend chopping them and adding them raw to the sauce. The latter explain their opinion by the fact that when the garlic comes into contact with the spaghetti, it will heat up, due to which its aroma and taste will be fully revealed.