Pasta Recipe #2: Spaghetti Carbonara

Today I'll present a typical Italian dish which is known and loved all around the world: Spaghetti Carbonara! I love this dish and I always prepare it following the traditional recipe (i.e. without cream, cheddar cheese and using pork cheeck instead of bacon). It can seem very simple since it has few ingredients, but the steps to prepare it are really important in order to obtain a good result!

Ingredients (2 people)

• 200g spaghetti
• 1/2 small onion
• 2 eggs (*)
• 100g pork cheek (**)
• 30g pecorino cheese (***)
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

(*) the traditional recipe says to use only the egg yolk. I usually put the white in order not to waste them.
(**) it is possible to use bacon instead. The important thing is to use the sweet one (non smoky).
(***) it is possible to use parmesan if you can't find pecorino. However, it's better to avoid any other kind of cheese.

Directions

1. Put enough water to boil spaghetti inside a sauce pan and switch on the cooker.
2. Chop the onion and fry it in a bit of oil for a couple of minutes. Add the cubed pork cheek and let it fry for other two minutes.
3. Pour spaghetti in the water as soon as it reaches the boil, after adding a pinch of salt. It is important not to add too much salt, because the sauce is already tasty. Then stir the pasta from time to time in order not let it stick.
4. In another pan put the eggs and scramble them. Then switch on the cooker at low temperature and start mixing the eggs, adding a pinch of pecorino and waiting to add the following pinch until the previous is melted. It is important that the cooker is not set at high temperature in order to obtain a creamy compound and not scrambled eggs with cheese! Then add the pork cheek mixture and continue stirring so that the eggs don't become solid.
5. Drain spaghetti and add them to the sauce. Then mix until they are well blended with the sauce. It is important to stir spaghetti as soon as they are added to the sauce, so that it doesn't become solid and unable to mix with the pasta.
6. Enjoy your carbonara!

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Do you like carbonara and how do you usually prepare it?