"Ingredients:
spaghetti
cream (I use a 20cl carton of semi épaisse)
shredded ham (instead of using bacon bits or having to chop the ham yourself!)
parmesan (ready grated)
salt & pepper to taste
1 egg yolk
Whilst cooking the spaghetti, heat the cream gently in a pan, then add the shredded ham and the parmesan and salt & pepper if needed. Drain the spaghetti and serve on to plates. At the last minute add the egg yolk to the cream mixture, blend in and serve over pasta.
This is for two people.
It's really quick and doesn't involve frying bacon and what not."
Well, it was really quick, didn't have parmesan but used emmental instead, and allumettes de jambon (that's diced ham to you and me). Fed it to the kids for tea and the verdict was "better than the stuff you get in the jar".
I have to disagree with this one, for a couple reasons: first of all, traditional carbonara doesn't call for cream at all, that was a later addition and unnecessary; but mostly, normal carbonara is already easy enough without simplification. Yes you have to make bacon. How hard is that? So try this:
ReplyDeletewhile the pasta is cooking, make bacon, and in the same pan, cook up some onions and frozen peas. and while that's cooking, grate a bunch of parmesan into a bowl and add a few egg yolks. When the pasta is ready dump it into the cheese and stir it up real fast so the cheese melts and the yolks distribute. Then add the bacon/veg. If it's not creamy enough, add some of the pasta water.
How hard is that?
Too hard, obviously.......who cares if it's traditional, as long as it's easy?
ReplyDeletebut my point is that the traditional is just as easy as the recipe you've given, except for the difficulty of cooking bacon :)
ReplyDelete...and the extra eggs to seperate, and grating Parmesan, I hate grating stuff, I always lose lots of skin too.....and I like the cream, as far as I'm concerned that's the only reason to actually make this instead of opening a jar!!
ReplyDelete