Simple Roman Spaghetti Carbonara

This is true classic Roman carbonara and, with just four main ingredients, it can be on the table in 10 minutes. A simply dressed green salad would work well as a side.

400 grams spaghetti

200 grams guanciale, pancetta or bacon roughly chopped

120 grams pecorino or parmesan, grated, plus 1 tablespoon extra to serve

4 egg yolks sea salt and ground pepper

finely chopped parsley, to garnish

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the spaghetti until only just al dente – I usually cook mine 2 minutes less than it says on the packet, as it keeps cooking in the next few minutes before serving.

While the pasta is cooking, heat a large heavy-based pot and cook the pancetta for 4-5 minutes until crispy. Make sure you leave the fat on the pancetta so you don’t need to add any to the pan.

In a small food processor, whizz the cheese and egg until a paste forms – I find this the easiest way as it makes the parmesan nice and small, so that it melts quickly.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving about ½ cup of pasta water (more if you are feeding a large crowd).

Add the drained pasta to the pancetta in the pot, add the cheese mixture and stir to combine. Add a little hot pasta water to bring the sauce together. The heat from the pancetta, pasta and water will help to almost cook the egg. Season well with pepper; it may not need any salt if you used pecorino, and due to the curing of the pancetta.

Serve immediately with extra cheese, a good grinding of black pepper and garnish with parsley.