Carbonara with double cream, Nigella? That’s an outrage to Italian cuisine says Carluccio
AS any Italian chef will tell you, a proper carbonara should have just five ingredients: pasta, egg, Parmesan, pancetta and olive oil.
But the ever-indulgent Nigella Lawson just couldn’t resist adding a large dollop of double cream to hers.
And although the addition might make her carbonara extra rich, it has caused quite a stir among her fans, not to mention cookery experts. Italian chef Antonio Carluccio didn’t mince his words when he described her twist on the dish as ‘the biggest faux pas one could commit’.
After Miss Lawson, 57, shared her version, which also includes wine and nutmeg, on Facebook, one fan commented: ‘You are a wonderful woman but your recipes are the death of Italian recipes, literally. No cream in carbonara ever.’ Another said: ‘This is a recipe of yours, it’s not carbonara.’ Carluccio, 80, added: ‘Nigella can do whatever she likes, I don’t like it. I don’t like it with cream.’
Carluccio, who is from Salerno in Italy and moved to the UK in 1975, uses just the five traditional ingredients plus seasoning. Miss Lawson’s recipe is also double the portion size – 500g of pasta compared to his 220g.
Nigella has been posting daily recipes online ahead of publishing her new book, At My Table, in September, which will accompany a BBC2 series. Her recipe on Monday – cherry tomatoes with salad dressing and chives – was criticised by fans wondering why they need instructions for so simple a dish. One wrote: ‘Get over yourself!’