Simple Cabornara

Simple Carbonara

There is nothing like a comforting bowl of Carbonara to make house guests feel at home. Over the last week I was challenged to come up with lunch and dinner ideas that everyone would enjoy. Thankfully, my husband's niece and nephew are good eaters which made cooking for the extended family less complicated. For lunch one day I decided to crack open one of the favourite cookbooks - Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italy - to get ideas for a simple yet satisfying lunch idea. As I was flipping through the pages I remembered that Toshio loved spaghetti. Thankfully, I had a pack of spaghetti and I had all the ingredients for a simple Carbonara. Jamie Oliver's recipe asks for sausage and prochetta, however I substituted the sausage and prochetta for Rosemary Ham. 

1 pack of spaghetti

4 eggs

2 cups of Parmesan cheese

1 cup of milk

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 onion, diced

200 g of Rosemary Ham, cubed

1 cup of frozen peas

1 tbsp basil

1. Boil the pasta to your preferred consistency. I like my pasta al dente. 11 minutes.

2. In a separate mixing bowl combine the 4 eggs, 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese, milk, garlic and basil.

3. As the pasta is boiling saute the onion and ham in a non-stick pan.

4. Once the pasta boils strain the pasta but reserve 2 cups of pasta water to help combine the egg mixture with the pasta.

5. In the same pot, replace the cooked pasta, the saute ham and onion and pour in the egg mixture. Stir quickly together. be careful not to scramble the eggs. Pour in the pasta water and stir again. 

6. Last throw in the defrosted peas and remaining Parmesan cheese. Stir one last time and serve hot.