The pasta carbonara of your dreams
What to do if you’ve got a whole bunch of beautiful free range eggs? You make fresh pasta, that’s what. And then you go on to make a savoury, egg-heavy carbonara sauce. (You might as well do the thing properly.)
Ingredients:
For the tagliatelle:
- Cake flour: 200 g
- Free range eggs: 2
- Free range egg yolks: 2
For the carbonara sauce:
- Extra virgin olive oil: 1 tablespoon
- Wood-smoked diced bacon: 250 g
- Free range egg yolks: 4
- Pecorino cheese: 100 g, plus extra for serving
- Butter: 100 g
- Tagliatelle: 400 g, cooked al dente
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
To make the pasta, place the flour onto a clean surface and make a well. Crack the eggs into the well. Using a fork, gently whisk the eggs, slowly bringing the flour into the centre. When the flour has been incorporated, the mixture will take on a dough-like consistency.
Knead the dough for 5 minutes or until smooth. Shape into a ball, then wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into four portions, using one portion and covering the remaining dough with clingfilm.
Set the pasta machine to its largest setting and pass the first portion of dough through the machine 4 or 5 times, folding it over itself each time. Use extra flour to ensure a smooth result.
Set the machine to the next smallest setting and continue passing the pasta through each of the settings once. Once the second smallest setting has been used, place the pasta on a floured surface, dust with more flour and leave it to dry out slightly (10 minutes) – it should feel like leather but still be pliable. Repeat this process with the remaining pasta portions.
For cut pasta, attach the pasta cutters to the machine. Using the tagliatelle cutter, pass through the first dried pasta portion, followed by the remaining sheets of dough.
Hang the pasta ribbons for 30–60 minutes, then arrange the strands into balls, ready for boiling.
To cut the pasta yourself, dust each sheet of dough with flour and fold over several times. Slice 1 cm-wide strips for tagliatelle or 3–4 mm-wide strips for fettuccine. Cook in salted boiling water for 2–3 minutes or until al dente, then drain.
To make the carbonara, heat the olive oil in a pan and add the bacon. Cook until slightly crispy. Beat the eggs and cheese together, then season to taste. Add to the pan with the butter and melt. Add the cooked pasta and quickly toss the pasta with the sauce using tongs. Add 3 tablespoons pasta water or more if the sauce is too thick. Serve immediately with extra pecorino.