Anna's Carbonara

Sometimes tricky but always delicious

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• About 6 slices of streaky smoked bacon (you can also use smoked lardons)
• 1 clove garlic (optional)
• 1 whole egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 5 tbsps single cream
• Two handfuls grated parmesan
• Black pepper
• About 150g linguine (measurements for two people)

Method:

1) Cut the bacon into strips about 1cm wide.If you’re using the garlic, slice it into four. Fry both in the olive oil until they begin to crisp up, then remove the garlic. It will flavour the oil, which is important in the sauce. Set the pan aside.

2) Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.

3) In a bowl beat the whole egg, egg yolk, parmesan and a good grind of pepper together.

4) Now here’s where things get complicated. Once the pasta has cooked, drain it, reserving some of the water in a bowl.

5) Return the pasta to the pan and -off the heat- add the bacon and the garlic scented oil.

6) Then pour over the cream/egg/cheese mixture. Stir briskly.

7) What happens is that the egg cooks with the residual heat of the pasta. The sauce needs to be silky, clinging to the pasta. If yours doesn’t look like this, for a matter of SECONDS return it to the heat. If you let the sauce get too hot, the egg will cook too much and you’ll end up with scrambled eggs. If the sauce looks too thick and not glossy enough, add a spoonful or two of the reserved pasta water to loosen it up.

And there it is. Tricky but fast. And once you get it right, you’ll never get it wrong. Serve with more parmesan.

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