Pasta carbonara: recipe with ham and cream. Basic cooking tips

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Italian cuisine somehow imperceptibly and unobtrusively conquered the whole world. This is probably due to the fact that her dishes are versatile. To taste, they suit everyone: from an absolutely undemanding person to an inveterate gourmet. Thanks to Italian cooking, pasta has ceased to be a boring everyday life and has acquired the status of a respected dish. Especially if carbonara pasta is on the table: the recipe with ham and cream guarantees that the dinner will be tasty and savory.

Delicious carbonara

Initially, the dish was prepared quite differently than we are used to. Firstly, unsmoked and well-s alted cheek meat, made according to a special recipe, was used for the sauce. It was called Guanchile. Non-meat eaters substituted sun-dried tomatoes, zucchini andother vegetables. Secondly, the sauce for carbonara pasta included a sheep's, well-aged cheese: pecorino romano. In addition to the fact that it is extremely difficult to find it in the Russian expanses, the product has a very specific taste, even for Italians who are used to it. Thirdly, there was no cream in the original recipe. So the consistency of the dish was thicker and tougher.

However, everyone wants to eat them. Therefore, an "adapted" carbonara pasta was invented. The ham and cream recipe is easy to make and the ingredients are available in every country. And the taste has become more pleasant and soft, without lamb flavor. According to the rules, the cheese component should be parmesan. But in fact, you can take your favorite option from hard varieties.

Pasta carbonara: recipe with ham and cream

The cooking steps are simple. Even a novice hostess can master them:

1. A few garlic cloves finely minced. Italians do not recommend pushing.
2. A quarter of a kilo of ham is cut very small - into cubes or strips.
3. First, the garlic is fried for a short time - just until the smell appears. This must be done in olive oil. But you can also use sunflower, only unflavoured.
4. Ham is then poured in and fried until the fat is rendered.
5. A pack of spaghetti is being cooked in parallel. The time for this process is one minute less than what is marked on the package, so that the pasta turns out “al dente”.
6. At the same time, prepare the sauce for carbonara pasta. in a bowl4 yolks are mixed (proteins are removed), half a glass of fatter cream, pepper and 50 grams of finely grated cheese. No need to whisk!
7. The sauce is mixed with hot spaghetti - it should "reach" a little to their temperature.

Ham is laid out last. This beauty is sprinkled with parsley or basil and eaten immediately: when cooled, it will no longer be carbonara pasta. The recipe with ham and cream, by the way, allows the use of bacon, bacon, smoked brisket and other delicacies. The only condition is that the meat component does not have a too bright taste, otherwise it will clog the notes of the sauce. If you are interested in the simplest recipe for pasta carbonara with ham, you can simply exclude eggs from the list of ingredients. Only they usually bring grief to inexperienced housewives, curling up in lumps. Although, of course, the taste will be a little different.

Private Version

Each housewife has her own carbonara pasta. A homemade recipe may include a wide variety of spices, selected according to family preferences. But there are often additional ingredients that are not provided for in the original recipe. One of the most interesting ideas is mushroom.

Ham is cut similarly to the first recipe. The second component is immediately prepared: a can of canned champignons is opened, decanted and slightly squeezed. In a frying pan, mushroom straws are first allowed for a very short time. As soon as she begins to acquire a "tan", ham is poured. While everything is fried, spaghetti is boiled. The moment the meatit becomes a little ruddy, cream is poured in - a third of a liter per 200 grams of ham. With stirring, they evaporate to a certain thickening. Then pepper, s alt are added, but the yolks are not needed. It is better to season with Italian herbs. The final touch is the assembly of the dish. Pasta is laid out in a nest, sauce is poured into the middle, everything is generously sprinkled with grated cheese.

Taste harmony

It is important not only to prepare the dish, but also to serve it correctly. Italians often pour raw yolk directly into the plate. Be sure to sprinkle with black pepper and fresh herbs on top. As an addition - a vegetable salad seasoned not with sour cream, but with butter. The best drink for the dish is dry wine, red wine.

Tips from the authors of the dish

For a successful implementation of the recipe, it is worth considering some subtleties. Firstly, the sauce hardens rather quickly, and is delicious only hot. And it does not tolerate heating. So carbonara pasta is laid out on heated plates. Secondly, before introducing the cream into the sauce, they should also be slightly warmed up. But not too much so that the yolks do not curl. Thirdly, to obtain a characteristic bright yellow hue of the gravy, the yolks are separated from the proteins four hours before cooking, added and covered with food polyethylene.