Easy spaghetti carbonara

Unlike my husband, I like spaghetti carbonara. The best carbonara that I’ve ever tasted was Sofitel Hotel’s (now called Centara Hotel) in Hua-Hin, Thailand. I worked there for more than 2 years in the past that’s why I can say I was an expert of their carbonara :)

Anyway, I only attempted to cook it exactly 2 weeks ago. After my curiosity was awaken by the Italians during our Roman holiday back in December. I must admit that tasting authentic Italian foods prepared by true-blooded Italians was a great experience! How can those Italian women stay slim from eating 3x daily…and I mean eat irresistable foods!

But I’m not going to make this entry long rather I just want to share my simple spaghetti carbonara which recipe was taken from an Italian recipe book my husband gifted me last Christmas. It’s called ‘ItaliE: Cultuur en Keuken’ (Italy, Culture and Kitchen) p. 142

Ingredients:

  • 400 g spaghetti
  • 4 eieren (eggs)
  • 4 tbsp double creme
  • 50 g Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 50 g Pecorino, grated
  • 150 g pancetta (my slices were about 1/2 inch:width)
  • 15 g butter
  • salt
  • fresh black pepper

Kook de spaghetti al dente in een grote pan met licht gezouten kokend water. Roer intussen in een kom de eieren, room en kaas met wat zout en peper door elkaar. Bak in een grote koekenpan de pancetta knapperig in de boter. Giet de spaghetti  af en doe hem druipnat in de koekenpan. Schenk de kaassaus erbij. Haal de pan  van het vuur en schep de spaghetti om met de saus tot de eieren beginnen te stollen maar nog romig zijn. Schep de pasta op voorverwarmde borden en strooi er peper over.

Cook the spaghetti al dente in a big pan with salted boiling water (or according to the packaging.) Mix in a bowl eggs, creme en cheese with salt and pepper.  Fry the pancetta in butter, until turn crispy. When al dente and with a pasta tong,  take spaghetti from the boiling pan and transfer to the pancetta pan taking some liquid along. Quickly and while continue mixing , add the cheese sauce. Take the pan out the fire and continue mixing until the egg forms thick sauce. Season with pepper and salt and serve immediately.

Buon appetito!

January 25th, 2010 by Thess
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Beef fillet with mushroom gratin

Christmas Eve dinner was easy last year. Easy or I should say easier because I only prepared a 3-meal course rather than the usual 5.  This is what we had for the 2nd course (main).

I was lucky enough to have found a 4-piece pack of beautiful Argentine beef for this Gordon Ramsey recipe.  Got it from his ‘Secrets’ book p. 73. By the way, this book has got stars award from users (see Amazon.com)

Both my husband and I aren’t really fond of steaks. But I’ll surely prepare this recipe again because it’s just glorious! So far, Gordon Ramsey hasn’t let me down…4 stars to you Gordon ;)

What you need: serves 4

*original ingredients and my alteration, see *Notes*

  • 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed (I used a young Chinese garlic head)
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 100 g wildmushrooms (such as ceps, girolles, blewits, morels) trimmed and finely chopped. *Note:  I was able to find only girolles that day and it was perfectly fine.. even if you use only one sort of mushroom)
  • 100 g chestnut mushroom, chopped (did not use)
  • 2 tbsp white wine. * Note: I used Alsace Pinot *
  • 1 tbsp each finely chopped parsley, chervil and chives  *Note: this was sans chives, local grocer ran out*
  • 4 tbsp double cream’1 large egg yolk
  • 4 fillet steaks, about 180g each/4 cm high *Note: my steaks were irregular in shape, so don’t panic*
  • 2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • sea salt and ground black pepper (more…)
January 9th, 2010 by Thess
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