Tag: guanciale

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An attempt at spaghetti carbonara

Having recently tried the La Famiglia Rana Spaghetti Carbonara and been a little disappointed, I decided I would make my own. I realised that though I have made creamy pasta a lot, I hadn’t made a carbonara for some time. Most of the time when making creamy pasta, I would use crème fraîche, though of course a true carbonara uses eggs and has no cream. 

I recently looked up the “proper” recipe for carbonara and decided I would have a go at making one.

I got some pecorino cheese and parmesan. Usually when I make pasta I use pancetta, but a true carbonara uses guanciale.

I cooked the guanciale in a hot pan, when it was browned, I added the cooked spaghetti, then added two beaten eggs and the cheese. I mixed the eggs, cheese, and spaghetti. Adding some of the pasta water, to make more of a sauce, and then seasoned with black pepper.

However, it didn’t quite go to plan and the sauce split.

spaghetti carbonara

It was nice, but wasn’t wow!

I might have to try again…

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Rigatoni Carbonara from the Grano Pasta Bar

The other day when I was visiting the Bristol Harbour Festival I saw that there was a new food stall in St Nick’s market. It was a pasta stall; it replaced the Chilli Daddy stall. I thought to myself I wouldn’t mind trying that. I use to avoid pasta in restaurants as more often than not it was overcooked and too soft. However more recently I have had better experiences.

So, needing lunch a few days later I headed off to the Grano Pasta Bar to try out their pasta. I don’t think I have ever had pasta from a street food stall before, so this was a new experience for me. In the back of the stall, you could see them making and forming the fresh rigatoni pasta.

All the pasta was cooked to order and they had about six choices. I went with the carbonara, other choices included pesto and ragu.

You could watch them cook the food. After a short while my box of pasta was ready and I took a seat to eat it.

This was not a huge portion, but perfect for a light lunch. The pasta was cooked perfectly, and I have to say that the carbonara sauce looked and tasted authentic, no cream here.

My only criticism was that I thought it was a little too salty. I realise that the guanciale is cured and salty, but I think overall the dish was little over seasoned for me. However, would I go again, I think I probably will.