Italialicious

I know this is not the traditional recipe. However, it’s still nearer to the traditional one than the widely known recipe using cream for the sauce. The difference here is that I’ll be using salame instead of guanciale (a kind of bacon). Just because. Well, just because I love salame so much. Salame and prosciutto are by far one my favorite things on Earth. Buy me an entire salame that I can cut myself and eat as much as I want, and I’ll be the happiest person ever. My love for salame is so big that even if I love the traditional spaghetti alla carbonara, I couldn’t help but trying a version with salame. And the result was good. Extremely good.

Ingredients
1 lb spaghetti
5 oz salame, diced
4 oz pecorino romano cheese, grated
4 egg yolks
1 egg
Olive oil
Salt, pepper

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the entire egg. Gradually add the cheese while vigorously whisking. Cook the pasta. In a saucepan heat about 1 Tbsp of olive oil with pepper and a little bit of salt, then sauté the diced salame until the salame is golden and crispy. About 1 minute before the pasta is cooked al dente (according to the cooking time on the label instructions), add 1 scoop of the cooking water to the egg mixture. Does it sound familiar? We are tempering the eggs, just as we did when making gelato. Add the salame to the egg mixture. When the pasta is al dente, drain it and toss it directly into the bowl with the egg mixture. Yes, the eggs were raw, but the heat of the pasta will cook them. Serve with more grated pecorino romano cheese.