Monday 29 March 2010

Anglicized carbonnara


Well, Benzina is selling very nicely (thank you all) even to Italy. Which is where the trouble starts...

One of our subscribers has questioned my carbonara recipe (actually, he said it was completely wrong, an English bastardization of an Italian national treasure..) so let's put the record straight. Apparently carbonarra pre-dates WW2, shouldn't have bacon (it should be pancetta dolce, pancetta affumicata, or guanciale) and no parsley or wine. Oops...


But just to prove there's no hard feelings and that the rest of the mag is good he offers the following - spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino - the simplest recipe in the Italian cookbook, and a national favourite for some midnight spaghetti after going out with friends... which probably should make it a "3am spaghetti"...
lots of olive oil, lots of garlic (as a whole if you don't want to actually eat it, or thinly sliced if you do) and lots of crushed chilli pepper... quantities vary according to you our taste... sauté everything together (watch out not to burn the garlic if it's sliced), cook and drain the pasta al dente and add it in the pan with the ingredients, mix mix mix with the flame still going on under the pan and serve... here some chopped parsley is appropriate, just sprinkle some on the serving dishes (i.e. don't cook it)

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