Hello friends! Happy March of 2025! ☘️
St. Patrick’s Day came and went and sadly I ate nor drank anything Irish at all. We are having Corned Beef and Cabbage (followed by Reuben’s the next day) this week and I just might have to grab a couple cans of Guinness to wash it all down with. You will NEVER see me drinking a green beer (I did plenty of that when I was 18 😂) or dying any of my food green. I still freak out every year when I see Chicago dye their river that color. Anyway, enough about that, as I have some exciting news to share with you…
It’s finally happening…we are planning our trip to Italy for later this year and I cannot wait!
I didn’t realize how many books/cookbooks we have on Italy so I have dug them all out and in between work, I have been enjoying going through them again!
I also decided, based on this podcast episode I listened to, that I needed to buy this book “Mangia: how to eat your way through Italy” by Maria Pasquale and you can get your copy HERE. It appeared to be the perfect book to prep for our trip! The book is divided up by the different regions in Italy and besides describing what that region is like, it also gives you detailed information about what foods & dishes are popular in that area and what festivals you might be able to visit, at different times of the year. We are going in October and I am hoping for some great white Truffle dishes, (even go on a Truffle forage with a guide!) getting to enjoy chestnut season and hoping that there will still be some gorgeous tomatoes, artichokes etc. from the long summer!
And in true Augustine fashion, I decided that I was to “cook from the book” as well and have picked out a recipe to make and share with you, each month leading up to our trip! Most will be directly from the book, a couple I might have to source elsewhere. I am choosing recipes based on the areas we are visiting and in that order. We are hoping to visit the following areas:
- Rome
- Florence
- Cinque Terre
- Siena/Montepulciano
- Naples/Sorrento
So this month, we are starting in Rome, or Lazio, as it’s referred to in Italy, with probably the most famous dish of the region, Carbonara. Authentic Carbonara only has three basic ingredients (not including the pasta of your choice and freshly ground black pepper) and those are Pecorino cheese, eggs, and Guanciale. The cheese must be Locatelli (in our house anyway & you can get that at Cossetta’s in St. Paul along with the Guanciale) eggs sourced from one of your friends raising chickens would be amazing and the meat is Guanciale, which is cured pork cheek. Now don’t be afraid of that, but if you either are, or don’t want to try and find it, you can substitute Pancetta. But don’t do that.
It is definitely one of the easiest dishes to make, the only tricky part is making sure you don’t curdle the eggs when adding them to the Guanciale. Here’s the full recipe, should you decide to make it!
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. 9 oz. bag of Rigatoni (or whatever pasta you want to use)
- 12 & 1/2 oz. of Guanciale, rind removed and cut into 1/2 inch thick strips
- 4 whole eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 10 & 1/2 oz. grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus a little extra for serving
You’ll start by grating your cheese and placing your eggs into a large bowl. Set those aside for now.
Using a large frying pan, or dutch oven (as it was in my case) you’ll add in the Guanciale and cook until it’s crisped. (note: I always add mine to a cold pan, same with bacon, as it guess it helps to render the fat better) Once it’s crispy, I turned the heat off and ladled off some of the oil because I was afraid it was too much. Just keep it on the side and you always add it back in if you want later.
While the Guanciale is cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil, salting the water just before it starts to boil. Cook your pasta al dente, as you’ll want some of the sauce to be absorbed by the pasta. SAVE at least a half cup of the pasta water for helping with the sauce.
Time to put it all together- here is how I made mine.
Mix together the cheese and the eggs…slowly add in a bit of the pasta water into that mixture, stirring quickly. Then add that mixture to the pan with the cooked Guanciale. Again, continue stirring well and add in your cooked pasta. (it is a bit of a timing deal, so it’s best to have all your mise en’ place set up so you can work quickly at the end)
Continue stirring the dish, until the sauce is smooth and creamy. You can add more pasta water if necessary. I definitely would have loved a bit more sauce…
Serve in pasta bowls with extra cheese and a good sprinkling of black ground pepper! Mangia!
Oh and if you are looking for a couple great wines to serve with this dish, we recommend the two pictured below, the Valpolicella you can get locally from Trader Joe’s and the Chianti Classico at Costco. Both are ridiculously priced, like under $10 I believe. (Pro tip: always look for the black rooster on bottles of Chianti-sometimes on the neck of the bottle and sometimes on the label-to know it’s authentic!)
Also, a fun side note, we stumbled upon THIS YouTube channel the other day and love that some of his best reviews, are wines we also enjoy!
Excited to be getting the final print of my cookbook in the mail this week! A couple of years ago I decided to make one of our favorite dishes, to give as a closing gift for my real estate clients. I can’t wait to start hand delivering them!
If you’ve made it to this point, thank you for reading along! And if you have any tips, suggestions etc. for our trip to Italy, comment below or send me a PM on the socials! ❤️ Grazie! ~Shawn
Who Eats Like This?! 