UDON CARBONARA

SERVES 4. PREP 10 MINS. COOK 20 MINS

INGREDIENTS

• ½ tsp black peppercorns

• 3 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks

• 100g finely grated parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve

• 200g guanciale, pancetta or speck, sliced into thick batons

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (if necessary)

• 2 x 200g pre-packaged udon noodles

• Extra ground black pepper, to serve (optional)

METHOD

1 Use a mortar and pestle to grind the peppercorns to a coarse powder. Scoop out into a large bowl. Crack in the eggs, yolks and parmesan. Whisk until combined.

2 Heat the guanciale in a large frying pan over high heat (you don’t need any oil). You want the pork to colour as well as render some fat. If there isn’t a sheen of fat on the bottom of your pan after 3-4 minutes, then add olive oil. Turn heat off but keep the pan on the warm stovetop.

3 Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the noodles and use tongs to gently separate the noodle cakes. Once they’re just loose, scoop them out with a slotted spoon and add them straight into the warm pan of guanciale. Reserve a cup of noodle cooking water.

4 Add the egg mixture to the noodles and use tongs to toss everything together. Keep tossing the noodles in the egg mixture until it thickens (turn the heat on low under the pan if necessary – just be careful not to scramble the eggs). If the sauce becomes too thick, you can loosen it with some of the pasta cooking water.

5 When the sauce is thick and glossy, divide among serving plates. Sprinkle over extra pepper (if desired) and serve immediately with a little extra parmesan.