Egg yolks, hard cheese and crisp pancetta emulsified off the heat into a silky sauce for gluten-free spaghetti. No cream anywhere.
Prep
10 mins
Cook
18 mins
Servings
4
Per serving
£1.95
Difficulty
medium
Carbonara is a technique more than a recipe: the heat of the pasta cooks the yolks and nothing else. Gluten-free spaghetti sheds less starch than wheat pasta, so this version leans on an extra yolk and well-salted cooking water to get the sauce to cling.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, both cheeses and plenty of black pepper together in a bowl until you have a thick, sandy paste. Set aside.
Put the pancetta and oil in a cold, wide frying pan and set it over a medium heat. Fry for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fat has rendered and the cubes are crisp and deep gold. Turn off the heat.
Starting from cold renders the fat properly instead of scorching the outside.
Cook the spaghetti until just tender, one minute short of the packet time. Lift out two ladlefuls of the starchy cooking water before draining.
Whisk about 4 tablespoons of the hot cooking water into the egg mixture, a little at a time, so it warms through and loosens to a pourable cream.
Tip the drained pasta into the pancetta pan, off the heat, and toss so every strand is coated in fat. Wait 30 seconds for the pan to stop sizzling, then pour in the egg mixture and toss constantly for a minute until it turns glossy.
If the pan is too hot you will get sweet scrambled egg. If in doubt, move the pan onto a cold surface first.
Loosen with more cooking water until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, then serve immediately with extra pecorino and pepper.