Authentic Italian Spaghetti Carbonara

This Pasta dishes is one of my favourites, great simple flavours that work so well together. This is authentic as the Italians don't use cream to make it creamy this is done by using beaten eggs. its a English thing to use cream and not as good! The key to this dish is using good quality ingredients, make sure you use Pancetta and Italian spaghetti. The dish should only take around 10 minutes to cook...now that's what I call Fast Food!!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

400g dried spaghetti ( good quality ( I used De Cecco )

175g piece smoked pancetta, rind removed

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

handful flatleaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

3 large free-range eggs, beaten

50g Parmesan finely grated
Sea salt 
Freshly ground black pepper


What to do:

Bring a pan of water to boil and add a good pinch of salt, add a glug of Olive oil

Handy Tip:

by adding the olive oil to the water this helps the pasta from sticking together

Add the spaghetti and cook for 10 minutes, or until al dente.

Meanwhile, cut the pancetta into lardons (short little strips), and heat deep frying pan over a medium-high heat, add the oil and the pancetta and fry until lightly golden.

Remove from the heat and add the garlic and stir so that the garlic does not catch, after 2 minutes add the parsley and cook for a few seconds, 

With tongs pick the pull the spaghetti out of the pan and into the pancetta well,  now add  he eggs and half the grated Parmesan cheese and toss together well.

Handy Tip:

The heat from the spaghetti will be sufficient to partly cook the egg, but still leave it moist and creamy

Season to taste with a little salt and black pepper and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese.

Photos by Matt Grice

Recipe adapted from Rick Stein 

New York Vanilla Cheesecake

I absolutely love cheesecake, the different textures and flavours are fab! I always thought it would be difficult to get right but I found this recipe and it is really simple to make. Everyone who tried it loved it and wanted seconds...so there's confirmation if needed!

Ingredients:

250 g digestive biscuits, crushed
150 g unsalted butter, melted
115 g caster sugar
3 tablespoons cornflour
900 g full-fat Philadelphia, at room temperature
2 large free-range eggs
115 ml double cream
1 vanilla pod, seeds
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 Orange
Icing Sugar for dusting

For the blackberries to serve with:

400 g blackberries
3 tablespoons caster sugar

What to do:

Grease and line a 24cm spring-form cake tin and preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.

Take the biscuits and place in a bowl, now break them up by using the end of a rolling pin  and break up into small crumbs. In a pan place the butter and melt, then mix the butter and biscuit crumbs together.

Press into the base of the tin and cook for 10 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Turn the oven to 200°C/400ºF/gas 6.

In a bowl put together the cornflour and sugar, now add the cream cheese and beat with a wooden spoon for about 2 minutes until all mixed together, then use an electric whisk until creamy (about 5 minutes).

Handy Tip:

By using a wooden spoon first to combine the mixture this reduces the mess caused by the electric whisk.

Once creamy add the eggs and beat well, then gradually add the cream, beating until smooth. Once done scrape out the vanilla seeds and add them to the bowl and the Lemon and Orange zest and beat together.

Tip the mixture into the tin, level the surface and sit on a baking sheet and place in the center of the oven. Bake for 40–45 minutes until the top is browned and the filling set around the edges. 

Handy Tip:

A piece of foil over the top will stop it browning too much.

Let the cheesecake cool, you can put it in the fridge but it is much better and creamier if at room temperature. Add a dusting of icing sugar over the cheesecake.

You can serve with blackberries:

In a pan, sprinkle over the sugar and add a splash of water. Put on a low-medium heat to simmer gently for 10 minutes. Then serve spooned over the cheesecake

Photos by Matt Grice

Recipe by Jamie Oliver