Let's see how a carbonara looks like

Me that I am living abroad, I can really see how Italian cooking is daily “misunderstood” or sometimes even mistreated. There are few recepies moreover which is almost impossible to find prepared in a reasonable way. A very emblematic one is the “carbonara sauce”.

This sauce is so easily and commonly prepared in italy, but at the same time so badly approached abroad that I have never saw anything served as per carbonara looking similar to what it should be.

I have to admit that also in Italy there are different approaches to this preparation, more or less close to the tradition, involving different ingredients, like the pecorino cheese instead of the parmesan or the use of the yolk rather than the whole egg.

I then want to state very clearly that I do not claim to explain you here the authentic and original carbonara. But never the less, this is a very popular version, the same that my mom has always done and that for sure it is much closer to the original recipe than all the versions that I saw around the world with my eyes so far!

The main ingredient for the carbonara is the eggs which are served raw, so be sure that they are properly fresh. If you want to prepare for more than 2 calculate like following: 1 egg per person +1 egg for the bowl. 

For 2

2 eggs (for me always fresh bio eggs)

80g bacon, speck or guanciale (whatever cold meat from pork, expect salami or sausage you are able to find where you live) cut in a thick single slice

50g parmesan

250g spaghetti

Salt

Pepper

Start heating the salted water and when boiling add the pasta and cook according time and procedure on the package.

Cut the meat in small cubes (about 0,5-1 cm) and roast it at medium-high heat until it starts to get brown.

 

Place the eggs in a big bowl (where you will serve the noodles) with a pinch of salt and beat shortly with a fork (approximately 30 seconds) until you have a foam.

Add the grated cheese and mix gently. Now add about 2 spoons of noodles cooking water and mix again.

Collect a couple of tbs of the fat released by the meat, add it to the cream and beat again shortly with the fork.

Finally add the meat and pepper to taste, but keep in mind that in this recipe the pepper is a strong taste so add generously (better freshly grinded one).

Strain the pasta and blend with the sauce

  

Avocado noodles

I saw some time ago an article about a very popular pasta recipe in Finland. So popular that it has been the most searched recipe in 2013 on google.fi.
According the info that I collected in the web everything started here.

For quite a bit of time I was like ”should I, should I not” but then why not to try it?!
Here is my version. In the original there should be lime, which I had not at home so I replaced it with simple normal lemon. Same with spaghetti that I did not have in house and I replaced by other whole wheat noodles. Recently we discovered bio whole wheat noodles and we enjoy them often (they give me the feeling I am eating healthy).
Coriander I saw it listed in some versions of the recipe, but I do not love it and so I skipped it as well.

My global feedback about the recipe? Different, especially for Italians it looks really weird :) but if you are a guacamole fan, than you should definitely try it!
I think it may be a good option for a cold noodle salad in a hot summer day. In this case, do not use the spaghetti, but go for a shorter pasta shape which fits much better to the salad.

For 2

A small ripe avocado
1 garlic clove
(Green) chili
2 tbs lemon juice
Olive oil as required
Parsley
Basil
30g Parmesan
250g Noodles (spaghetti recommended, but I used whole wheat fusilli)

Heat the salted water and when boiling add the pasta and cook according time and procedure
on the package.
Grind the garlic and the chili and place them in a big bowl (big enough for the whole pasta).
Prepare the avocado (remove the stone and the skin), cut in cubes and place in the bowl. Smash roughly with a fork.
Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper, herbs and grated cheese. Add a couple of spoons of pasta cooking water and mix well with the fork. Add then an amount of olive oil big enough to have a creamy soft sauce. (you can choose actually, if you like a more light version add a bit more noodles cooking water and a bit less oil)
Strain the pasta and blend with the sauce. Enjoy!

 

Paradisiac cream filling for cake

If you are already preparing the cake from my previous post, then it will be a good chance to try this yummy cream as well to fill it. I got the recipe from Misya webpage and as she is explaining it taste a lot like the commercial product Kinder Paradiso by Ferrero.

I really like the idea to replicate at home some famous commercial products but with more natural and healthy ingredients, eg no preservatives. I do it for several of them and sometimes the outcome is really positive, like in this case.

Other positive point: it is ready in few minutes without any cooking!

200ml fresh cream

1 ts honey

50ml condensate milk

(Powder sugar)

Wisk the cold cream until hard. Add then the honey and the condensate milk until homogenous (but still hard).

Cut the cake in half and spread the cream on the bottom half. Be more generous on the center and put only few close to the edges.

Cover with the other half and very gently press and tap it. 

Now sprinkle with the powder sugar and place the whole cake in the fridge to consolidate for few hours.

 

Let's start from a proper base, the sponge cake

I started to be backing addicted when I was a teenager (now after several years I almost managed to stay on a reasonable level) and one of my biggest achievement has been at this time the sponge cake. My life changed in fact when I received a recipes book from the famous company Cameo – Dr. Oetker where several backing technique where explained very clearly and one of them was the sponge cake.

The sponge cake is really a must to learn because it is very flexible, a great base and it is also a cake with a small content of fat, so perfect for home preparation. And with few tips it is not even so complicated as you could imagine, just few steps have to be done with care.

So far as I know, the sponge cake should have no rising agent because the air bubbles trapped in the mass will guarantee a good final sponge consistency and softness. Never the less, to be on the safe side, I always use a bit of baking soda to be sure of the final result.

Another ingredient not used in the sponge cake is the fat. Anyhow I like to add a bit of melted butter or oil to make it less dry, and in any case the amount is much below then most of the butter cakes. So I like to think to the sponge cake like a healthy one! ;-)

For the preparation I recommend the usage of a food processor.

This recipe below is fine a for 20x30cm tray or a classic round shaped one.


4 eggs
4 spoons of hot water
150g sugar
1 tbs of vanilla sugar
100g flour
100g potates or mais flour
2 ts baking soda
100g melted butter or 4ts oil
salt

Fold the bottom of a tray with the baking paper. Only the bottom and not the walls.

Warm up a half cup of water until boiling point. Break and separate the eggs.

Add 4 table spoon of hot water spoons to the yolks and beat until you have a nice mass with a lot of air bubbles.

Now add slowly 2/3 of the sugar and beat again until you have a nice cream a bit more white and less yellow than in origin. If you pour a spoon of the cream it should create ribbons which last for a short time frame on the surface.
Add in small amounts the fat (cooled down melted butter or oil) and the aromas.

Beat the whites until stiff with a small pinch of salt. 
Mix together aside wheat flour, patato/mais flour and baking soda.
Now make next steps very gently to not compromise the good result you achieved so far. So pour gently the whites on the cream (better if you transfer it with a spoon to not remove the air) and on the top of it sprinkle the dry mix (flour etc) with the help of a strainer.

 

Now you have to mix with a wooden spoon. Do it extremely gently as I said to not lose the air trapped in. The right movement is in circles from the bottom to the top, like every recipe where you need to add the stiff whites to a preparation.

Bake in in the lower part of the oven at 180° for aprox 30minutes