Carbonara with Handmade Tagliatelle

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

For the pasta dough

500g pasta flour
a large pinch of salt
6 medium eggs
semolina flour, for dusting

For the carbonara

1 tbsp olive oil

200g smoked pancetta or thin slices of guanciale

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3 egg yolks

80g parmesan cheese, grated

1 tbsp crème fraiche

2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley, optional

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

METHOD:

Start by making the pasta dough. On a clean surface pile the flour into a mound. Make a wide well in the centre of the mound, it must be large enough for all the eggs. Crack the eggs into the well, beat the egg mixture with the fork, slowly pulling the flour from the sides of the well until the egg has all been absorbed by the flour. If the dough is still a bit dry, add a bit of olive oil to loosen.

Knead the dough by pressing the heel of one hand into the ball, keeping your fingers high. Press down on the dough while pushing it firmly away from you. Continue to knead the dough for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and silky. Roll the dough into a smooth ball. Wrap the dough in cling film and allow it to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Sprinkle semolina on the surface, and cut the pasta dough into 6 pieces. Using your hands, shape the dough into a rectangular shape. Set up your pasta machine and push the dough through the rollers 8 times. With each pass through the rollers reduce the setting, until you reach the final setting, so the pasta sheet is nice and thin. Rub the pasta sheets with semolina and hang over a clean clothes horse, hangers or something similar for 15 minutes. Use the tagliatelle cutter on your pasta machine to cut the strips of pasta, and then place them back on the hangers again to dry for a further 15 minutes.

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water until the pasta is cooked, about 5 minutes.While the pasta is cooking place a frying pan over a medium heat and add ½ tablespoon of olive oil. Stir in the pancetta or guanciale, cook for three minutes, or until crispy then stir in the crushed garlic and cook for a further one minute.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, crème fraiche, grated parmesan and season with black pepper. Take the pan with the pancetta off the heat, and using a tongs transfer the cooked pasta into the pan with a little pasta water (about 2 tbsp). Next pour the egg cheese mixture, and the chopped flat leaf parsley. Toss really well together, and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve with a light grating of parmesan cheese.