Spaghetti Carbonara is a wildly popular pasta dish, loved by adults and kids alike. But it’s a dish that most people only eat at restaurants. Or if it is cooked at home, people reach for the jar of ready-to-eat carbonara sauce from the supermarket. If only people knew how easy it is to make from scratch!
The secrets to a good Carbonara recipe? The right techniques and fresh ingredients. The key ingredients for making a great carbonara sauce are eggs and Parmesan cheese, seasoned with salt and pepper, although some recipes also include cream. Make sure your eggs are really fresh as they are cooked using only residual heat from the pasta to give you that creamy texture without the eggs being scrambled. To achieve this, you need to know the right techniques.
QL Deli Fresh eggs are a perfect choice to make carbonara sauce as our eggs are produced in a safe, healthy environment, giving you fresh eggs that are hygienic, nutritious and much lower in cholesterol (40% lower!) than standard eggs in the market. If cholesterol is an important concern for you, use QL Omega for its 50% lower cholesterol content compared to standard eggs.
Coupled with fresh button mushrooms and Figo Chicken Slices, made using high quality chicken meat (absolutely no chicken skin or fat is used) and surimi (protein), this pasta dish is definitely something you want to impress your loved ones with.
Ingredients
| 1 packet | dry spaghetti (500 g) |
|---|---|
| 2 tbsp | extra-virgin olive oil |
| 6 pieces | Figo Chicken Slice, cut into smaller pieces |
| 12 - 14 pieces | fresh button or Swiss Brown mushrooms, sliced |
| 4 cloves | garlic, chopped |
| 1 cup | freshly grated Parmesan cheese (also known as Parmigiano-Reggiano in Italian) |
| 2 | QL Deli Fresh eggs |
| ¼ cup | whipping cream |
| Freshly ground black pepper | |
| Salt to taste | |
| Flat-leaf/Italian parsley for garnishing (optional) |
Method
- Cook spaghetti in boiling water with ¼ teaspoon of salt according to instructions on packet. It is important to prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking as you need your pasta to be hot so that the residual heat in the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce mixture.
- When the spaghetti is about to be ready, heat olive oil in a deep skillet or pan over medium heat. Fry garlic, mushroom slices and Figo Chicken slices for 3 – 4 minutes until mushrooms are cooked.
- Beat the eggs, Parmesan cheese and cream in a medium bowl until well combined. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Drain the spaghetti well and toss for 2 – 3 minutes with a pair of tongs in the skillet/pan on medium heat. Leave the hot water in the pot to thin out the carbonara sauce later.
- Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg-cheese-cream mixture into the pasta, and use the tongs to toss the spaghetti until the egg mixture thickens but not scrambled. (You MUST do this off the heat or you will end up with lumpy carbonara sauce)
- Thin out the sauce with 1 – 2 tablespoons of the reserved pasta water if needed.
- Serve immediately, sprinkle extra grated Parmesan cheese and ground black pepper if desired. Garnish with flat-leaf/Italian parsley.
QL Kitchen Tips:
- You can use other types of pasta such as linguine or fettuccine in place of spaghetti.
- You can cook the carbonara sauce without the cream, or replace with milk if desired
QL Omega & QL Deli Fresh eggs are available at major hypermarkets and supermarkets. For more information on QL Eggs, click here.
To find out more about QL Figo Foods and where to buy them, click here
