Carbonara is the one of the most common dishes that the whole world envies Italians. It takes few ingredients, but they must be of excellent quality to create this simple and tasty dish. I believe that every family has its own recipe and this one is mine, but the ingredients always remain the same: cured pork cheek, Pecorino Romano cheese, black pepper and eggs. Someone uses Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano as well. I prefer to use only Pecorino Romano cheese and also I don’t salt the cooking water of pasta, because cheeses and cured pork cheek are enough to season this tasty first course.
Serves: 4
- 400 grams vermicelli pasta
- 8 egg yolks
- 110 grams Pecorino Romano cheese
- 280 grams cured pork cheek
- Fresh ground black pepper
Method
Bring to a boil the water. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks. Add the Pecorino and the pepper. Brown the diced cured pork check in a hot pan until it becomes golden and crisp. Drain it and set aside the pan with the remaining fat. Drop vermicelli pasta and cook for about 11 minutes. Heat the remaining fat with a ladle of pasta cooking water and sauté the pasta in the pan for three minutes. Mix often. Remove from heat and mix the vermicelli with the eggs cream that you have slightly diluted with a few drops of pasta cooking water. Stir with the cured pork cheeck and serve with a handful of black ground pepper and grated Pecorino cheese. Decorate with other cured pork cheek cubes.