Heston Blumenthal's Carbonara

Carbonara

I really enjoy Heston Blumenthal's recipes especially from his book Heston Blumenthal at home.  You don't have to use the full amounts of oil, but we don't really eat this way all the time.  We indulged.  Onions, chilli and peas were added for flavour, colour and texture.

Ingredients:

40 g salt

75 g olive oil

2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1 red chilli, deveined, deseeded and finely chopped

250 g lean bacon

400 g spaghetti or pasta

6 medium egg yolks

100 g parmesan cheese, grated, plus extra for serving

250 g frozen peas

black pepper

Fill a large saucepan with 4 kg cold tap water and add the salt.  Cover with a lid and place over a medium-high heat to bring to the boil.

In the meantime, put the olive oil, onions, garlic and chilli into a large frying pan and place it over a medium-low heat for 5 minutes before adding the bacon.  Cook for a further 5 minutes or until the onion has lightly caramelized.

Once the water comes to the boil, add the spaghetti/pasta and stir it every few minutes to prevent it from sticking together.  

After approximately 7 minutes, whisk the egg yolks and parmesan together in a bowl and add a ladle of the pasta water.

 
A minute or so before the spaghetti/pasta is cooked, take the bacon and onions off the heat and add the frozen peas.

Drain the pasta and return it to the pan.  Add the contents of the frying pan along with the egg and cheese mixture, and mix together.  Allow to sit for 2 minutes.  Season with freshly ground pepper to taste.

Stir thoroughly to incorporate everything, then serve with more parmesan sprinkled on top.

Yum!

Enjoy!