So we're gonna do a traditional
carbonara done the right way but we're gonna hack the recipe and we're gonna
put in some wonderful British asparagus and a little squeeze of lemon juice and
oh my lord it's really really good! This is on the specials board today! You've
got the pasta, you got the pancetta, you've got the eggs and parmesan, and
we've got the amazing seasonal asparagus. So we're using spaghetti, right so
homemade spaghetti every single day, in every single Jamie's Italian -- organic egg,
semolina, tipo 00. That is going to go into the water in a second. Some people
put cream in their carbonara, I want to show you the true Roman way to
do it, and it involves, its very easy, very quick, but it involves a little diligence.
So look here we have the pancetta. Look at that - incredible pork affumicata,
smoked. So what we want to do is have big chunks of pancetta, like this. This goes
into a pan and we start to fry this, we want to render out that fat.
We've put no oil in that pan at all. We're gonna whisk up some egg, we're
gonna put some parmesan. In Rome maybe they have pecorino, probably
pecorino, or both, which is nice, but if you go into the supermarket now you
can get pecorino or parmesan, and then we'll put this to the side. There's a
little tweak because this is not the classic one. We're going to use our
asparagus. I'm going to take three little sprues like this. I'm going to cut the
asparagus almost the same size as the pancetta, and we taste this amazing
carbonara in Rome and we think oh it's lovely and creamy, so when we go home and
make it we get it nearly right, but we throw a load of cream in it -- this is not
the real carbonara, okay. It's actually just eggs, cooking water and a little
Parmesan or pecorino, or both. So that requires a little skill. So in the pan
here, have a look at this, as we start to fry the pancetta then we can go in with
the asparagus, in all that lovely smoky fat, then we want to be overly generous
with black pepper. Look how generous I'm being, right, and
you want to almost achieve heat, that peppery heat through the pepper. So
Andrea, my friend here he is a proper Italian, I'm just from Essex.
Carbonara, carbone means charcoal right? Charcoal, exactly. So we're not sure if this
dish was like a working-class dish for like the miners, some people say that, or
some people say that they use so much black pepper that it looked a little bit
like charcoal. Grey, beige. There's lots of different stories. So look that's
lovely. The pasta goes in, beautiful spaghetti, homemade every single day. That
only takes a minute and a half to cook. Look at this now alright, golden, golden
panchetta, and look at the fat dancing, and all that pepper, and then the fragrance
and the lightness of the asparagus. Now here is the absolutely imperative moment
with a real carbonara. That pan is screaming hot, those eggs will scramble.
We don't want that. So we take the pasta out and we steal some water. See this
water and then we put the pasta in, and the water breaks the cooking, and the
frying, and it takes away the aggressive heat. We toss the pasta in that
beautiful, beautiful fat and then when the pan has calmed then we think about
putting the egg in. So you have to be patient, you can't rush it. So we'll get
our lovely plate. This is why people use cream, they use cream to cheat. If you let
the pan calm down then you can put in the egg and you should get a natural
cream, a natural shine. Can you see the change of colour? And then
you start to add a little parmesan and that is what you want. Look at that! That's the
consistency you want. So you don't need to add cream, you make your own with the
starchy cooking water and the natural fat from that beautiful smoked bacon, and
then just little squeeze of lemon juice. Summertime, comfort food! Really really
good! And then as it goes away a nice little long grating of parmesan.
Look at the colours guys! And there you go lovely people, a beautiful pasta.
Carbonara with British asparagus. Absolutely beautiful. That is a special
of the day today and I'll actually put it on for the rest of the week. Get in
there and try it! But that my friends is a peach of a dish. Come on!
