Because it contains mushrooms and spinach, this is by no means a traditional carbonara, and is enough for your favourite Italian Davide to call you a “liar, an actress, and to get the fuck out”, but that never stopped Ekin-Su and shouldn’t stop you either.
Ingredients:
500 grams spaghetti
350 grams bacon, chopped into rough chunks
400 grams mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bag of spinach, roughly chopped
2 eggs + 4 egg yolks
100 grams parmesan cheese, finely grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil for frying
Parsley for garnish, optional
Method:
Put a large pot of salted water on the stove on a high heat. When boiling, add the spaghetti and cook according to packet instructions, or around 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil to a pan on a medium heat. Add garlic and bacon. When the bacon starts to brown, add the mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are soft and browned. Take off the heat.
Meanwhile, add the 2 eggs and 4 egg yolks to a bowl. If you are unsure how to separate the yolks from the whites, over a separate bowl, crack the shell in half and keep passing the yolks between each shell until all of the whites have fallen through, and you’re left with just the yolks. Alternatively, just watch a YouTube tutorial. Along with the eggs and yolks, add the parmesan and mix together with a generous amount of salt and pepper.
When the pasta is almost finished cooking, reserve around 2 cups of the pasta water and add the spinach into the boiling water with the pasta. When pasta is al dente and the spinach is wilted, drain and mix in some olive oil to prevent it from sticking.
Add the pasta and wilted spinach to the pan with garlic, bacon and mushrooms. Off the heat, add around ⅓ of the pasta water, then slowly add the egg and parmesan mixture, pulling the spaghetti through the mixture until it fully coats the pasta. This step has to be done quickly, off the heat so the eggs don’t scramble! Add more pasta water until you create a sauce thickness of your liking.
Season with more salt and pepper and garnish with more parmesan and parsley, enjoy!