Valentines' Recipe - Penne alla Carbonara

Well, It's February the 14th. Now, if you're like me, you picked out the perfect gift and card and nailed the whole nine yards. But while in the supermarket today, there were dozens of men lining up to buy crap flowers, worse cards and generally prepare to inflict mediocrity on their significant others.

I'm not gonna judge, all I will say is a knockout meal can resurrect it all. And a homecooked meal is SO much better than a restaurant. But what to cook? Well it's in the title so I assume you already know that.

What you'll need



Can you tell where I shopped? ;)


Shown above is:

• De Cecco Dried Penne Rigate (IMO the best dried pasta you can get easily)
• Eggs
• Butter
• Button Mushrooms (optional)
• Cubetti Di Pancetta
• Double Cream
• Parmesan Cheese

You'll also need a large pan to boil the pasta, a big frying pan, a colander, cheese grater and that's about it.

Method
Firstly, put a pan of water on for the pasta. You should be boiling your pasta in quite a lot of water (5L per 500g of pasta ideally, but we want starchy water so around 3L should be fine). Salt well. Now chop the Mushrooms into quarters, I use 5 or 6 per person, use as many as you like, or leave them out if you don't like.

Next, seperate an egg, and stick the yolk in a bowl. I used two yolks as mine were a bit small, 2 large yolks should be perfect for 2 people. You can add the whites as well but it will be a little less luxurious, and there is a tiny chance more you'll get scrambled egg. Add cream into the eggs.

Mix it together and you should have an off-white mix (I used 75ml of cream to achieve this for one person, 100-150 should be fine for 2) Then grate in Parmesan and mix so you have a wallpaper paste consistancy. (use as fine a grater as you can as it'll melt quicker - I didn't have a very fine grater to hand). Grind in a load of Black Pepper, and you should have something like the below.

Add a little olive oil to a pan, heat to medium-high and add a knob of butter. Fry the Pancetta for a few minutes until it starts to crisp, add the 'shrooms and fry until it looks like the below. Grate some more parmesan to add to the sauce and for garnish.

Take the pan off the heat but leave the heat on, and by now, the pasta should be cooked. Drain it but be quick, and drain it BACK INTO THE PAN. The key to this sauce is saving the starchy water from the pasta so make sure you save it.

Now, here's the tricky bit:

• Frying pan back on the med/high heat
• Pasta into the frying pan, quick stir
• Eggy paste mix on top of the pasta
• Pasta water into the sauce bowl to get all the goodness, then on top of the pasta+sauce (c50Mls to start off with)
• Stir well
• Throw in a handful of cheese and give it a stir. If it's too watery keep it on the heat and keep stirring, if you don't have a good sauce add more of the pasta water.

In pictures:

Stir well and you're done!

Plate it up immediately with some shavings of parmesan loving placed on top. I was cooking for just me though, so I just chucked more grated parmesan on top.

Not the best one I've ever made, but one loses concentration when photographing step by step, so cut me some slack :)

Serve as below, but with the object of your affections replacing University Challenge.

And that's it! However, I have a few tips (including variations and wine tips below - so feel free to read on!)

Tips, suggestions and variations

Wine

• This is a rich, creamy sauce so you need something with a touch of acid in there to cut through that richness. I went for a rosé, as it was in my fridge. I would go for a nice Pinot, such as La Gioiosa Pinot Grigio, which is around £7, available nationwide. A really nice Chenin Blanc would also work. HOWEVER - this dish is perfect for a bit of bubble as the sharp acidity is a perfect foil to the rich pasta. Lindauer Special Reserve is cheap, delicious, a cute off-pink colour, and DELICIOUS. Biscuity and dry, it's real show-stopper at a great price.
• If you want champage, my choice would be Louis Roederer Brut Premier NV - Rappers may drink Cristal, but this stuff is from the same house, just as good, and at a fraction of the price. My favourite bubbly by far, this stuff is a decadent delight - for bonus points serve in the bath.

Variations

• This isn't a traditional carbonara, but it is delicious and foolproof, so I don't care. If you don't want the pancetta, a good alternative is smoked bacon, and you can make your better half a bacon bap in the morning, to show them it's not just about Feb 14th.
• Parmesan Cheese is the traditional choice, but I quite like Grana Padano too, as it's a little milder. Any hard cheese will do, even Cheddar, which has a lovely sharpness.
• Creme Fraiche instead of the cream works well and reduces the richness, but you will need more of the water to thin it down, and personally I prefer cream.
• Spaghetti and Rigatoni are good alternatives to Penne. If you want to throw this together even quicker, fresh pasta from the supermarket shortens the time even more, but you'll have to do more of the prep in advance to avoid over-cooked Pasta.
• This can be accompanied with a few slices of Garlic Bread, but be warned, Pasta, Bread and bubbly is enough to make anyone feel fat, bloated and ugly, so WATCH YOUR PORTIONS. Especially if you are planning on a bit of bedroom athletics later.
• To follow, some fresh fruit (melon, banana, berries etc), more of the wine and a hot bath together will cap it off.

I hope you all have a fantastic valentine's day, wherever you are and whoever you're with. @MsDriftedSW and I will be apart unfortunately, so if anyone wants to join my pity party, come over to Salford, bring Scotch. ;)

Much Love,
Lodz.