Easy Spaghetti Carbonara
Spaghetti Carbonara is one of the tastiest spaghetti dishes and one of the most popular in a restaurant. The purists have their own ideas about what a good Carbonara should consist of but my Carbonara is really tasty and really easy to do .
Ingredients
The ingredients for this will do about 4 people you just need to adjust your amounts for the number of people this will serve.
- About half a packet of either dried or fresh spaghetti. If you are using fresh spaghetti remember it cooks a lot quicker than the dried spaghetti. Always fish a bit of spaghetti out of the boiling water with a fork (being very careful not to burn yourself) and taste it to make sure it’s soft and ready.
- 1 large packet of cubed smoked bacon or preferably Pancetta
- 1 teaspoon of lazy garlic or 4 cloves of finely chopped garlic if you prefer fresh.
- olive oil
- Carton of single cream
- Medium packet of button mushrooms washed and patted dry with kitchen paper. Or sliced if you prefer.
In a large pan put in about a tablespoon of olive oil. Put the heat on low to medium and gently fry the Pancetta. When the Pancetta is nearly cooked add the garlic and the mushrooms and stir well for about 5 minutes until the mushrooms are starting to cook. You can slice the mushrooms if you wish and therefore you don’t need to cook them so long. DO NOT cook too long or the mushrooms become mushy. Turn off the heat and leave the pan to one side.
In another pan fill with boiling water to about 2/3 full and add half a teaspoon of salt. Once the water is boiling add your pasta and cook until soft or ‘al dente’ if that’s how you like your pasta. Drain the pasta and transfer to the pan with the bacon and mushrooms. Stir well.
Once the spaghetti and the bacon and mushrooms are all together turn up the heat to a medium setting and slowly add the single cream stirring all the time to coat all the pasta. The whole tub of cream should go in as you are stirring all the time until there is very little liquid left in the bottom of the pan because the pasta has absorbed the cream. Serve immediately and enjoy.