Friendly Friday comfort food

• Manja Maksimovič

Today I will show you how we make pasta alla carbonara around here. No ham, no cheese other than Parmesan, and above all, no cream.

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When I saw that Sandy’s Friendly Friday theme for this week was comfort food, I realised that I just had a food post recently for which I used all the food photos taken this year.

But then I was happy to discover that I still haven’t posted the photos of amore making carbonara which I took three years ago. I know they were waiting for a reason.

At the end I attach three other comfort foods made by three other people.

Not much more to add except that they say pecorino cheese (pecora=sheep) should be used, which we like, but for this dish amore prefers Parmesan. And it doesn’t have to be spaghetti, this time we had some sort of fresh pasta. (I don’t know the name. Italians are crazy with their pasta names.)

Oh, and we don’t always use guanciale (jowl bacon), sometimes we use pancetta instead (even though it’s forbidden), or speck. But never ham, or prosciutto, or anything else. Also, we don’t use black pepper but you should if you like it, it’s in the recipe.

Regarding eggs there are different rules depending on who you ask. We don’t complicate and use one egg per person (if we are two). It’s important that the eggs are kept away from the fire. The only heat they get is from the cooked pasta. That’s why they better be fresh.

Let’s have a look. Buon appetito!

  • Fry guanciale in strips on olive oil and put salty water for pasta on the fire.
  • Put the eggs in a bowl and smile.
  • Cut the Parmesan.
  • Such an electric grater is really helpful.
  • This was our pasta of the day.
  • Mix eggs and Parmesan while pasta is cooking.
  • Wait till the guanciale is crispy and pasta is cooked.
  • Add both to the mix.
  • Mix well for a while.
  • Amore’s Carbonara whirl.
  • Divide and conquer.
  • Buon appetito and cin cin!
  • Sister’s pizza from scratch. Love!
  • Father’s remoulade sauce with shrimps for my birthday. Love!
  • Chocolate cake by me. LOVE!

Oh! In case you’d like the recipe for the cake above – it’s here. 😉

For Friendly Friday Photo Challenge hosted by The Sandy Chronicles: Comfort food

33 thoughts on “Friendly Friday comfort food”

    1. Thank you, Dan. It’s too good. I’d need a good exercise regime. For starters I’ll start to fast every full and no moon, twice a month for 24 hours. I did that for many years when I was around 30 with great results. Full moon on Friday coming up…

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  4. Why is pancetta for bidden? I recently discovered it and use it instead of all bacon now.
    Also remoulade – quite a Danish sauce that I do like. Is it used traditionally in other countries too?

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    1. Italians are extremely picky when their traditional recipes are concerned. But never mind – we are not Italian and we can do what we wish. 😉 What does your crazy metal internet chef say about it? Pancetta in the carbonara, yes or no? I didn’t know remoulade was Danish. It sounds French to me. My father makes all sorts of things. I wouldn’t call it traditionally Slovenian.

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      1. Perhaps remoulade came first from France? But it is very Danish – they cannot have a hot dog without remoulade.
        Hmm. I will ask Nat what he says about pancetta. I think he mentioned that actually – in a carbonara recipe. Like he say, use anything – I don’t f…. care – but dont’ use Spam! LOL

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      3. He has become a bit of a celebrity here. I saw him interviewed on a really tacky current affairs tabloid TV program and I liked that he was true to himself, offhand and laconic. Still having a jibe at society, not giving in to the celebrity ego thing, no pretentiousness. And funny too. Although he curbed the swearing.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Hhaha, interesting thought, SMSW. Well, you get the ingrained sense of style, loudness, lust for life and love, quite a bit of hedonism and arrogance, not much eco mindedness, not much of a reading habit, good community spirit, great food and climate and so much history and culture that it’s taken for granted – all in all, I’d say the good clearly overpowers the bad. Maybe in next life. 🙂

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  13. Pingback: Favourite photos – Manja Mexi Mexcessive

Happy to learn the first thing on your mind.

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