In the Kitchen with Kanta: Bacon Carbonara

Ingredients

• 250g bacon or ham
• 50g cheddar cheese
• 50g parmesan
• 3 large eggs
• 350g spaghetti
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 50g unsalted butter
• Sea salt and black pepper

Method

Put a large saucepan of water on a high heat to boil. Finely chop the bacon having first removed any rind. Finely grate both cheeses and mix them together. Beat the eggs in a medium bowl and season with a little black pepper. Set everything aside.

Add 1 tsp of salt to the boiling water, add the spaghetti cook at a constant simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until it’s just cooked.

Chop the garlic with a knife; while the spaghetti is cooking, drop the butter into a large frying pan or wok and, as soon as the butter has melted, tip in the bacon and garlic and fry them together. Leave to cook on a medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the bacon is cooked. Keep the heat under the bacon on low. When the spaghetti is ready, lift it from the water with a fork or tongs and put it in the frying pan with the bacon. Don’t worry if a little water drops into the pan; and don’t throw the spaghetti water away yet.

Mix most of the cheese in with the eggs, keeping a small handful back for sprinkling over. Take the pan of spaghetti and bacon off the heat. Now quickly pour in the eggs and cheese. Using the tongs or a long fork, mix the spaghetti and egg mixture so that is thickens but doesn’t scramble, making sure everything is coated. Add some of the cooking water from the pasta (several tablespoons).

Serving

Serve immediately with a little sprinkling of the remaining cheese and some black pepper. If the dish does get a little dry before serving, splash in some more hot pasta water and the sauce will be restored.