Devon Carbonara
Davide Grigolato and his wife Maia are a wonderfully warm and welcoming Italian couple who have recently made West Devon their home and opened 'Italian Jack'. Davide has shared this wonderful recipe with us.
Carbonara is a super, classic Italian recipe, basically made with cured pork cheek, eggs and pecorino cheese. Italians, you know, are quite obsessed about their rules for preparing food and like to follow ‘granny's recipes’. Even when the local food is amazing in different parts of the world, Italians still try to search out an Italian restaurant. You could say our traditions have stifled our curiosity. Fortunately, my job made me travel and I tasted everything I came across (I'm a complete food addict). I'm proud of my Italian roots and to have been trained by some great Italian chefs, but the world has so much to offer, and mixing different ingredients and traditional methods is the key to food heaven.
We came to West Devon in August 2020 and I have discovered a chef’s paradise of fantastic meats, veg, cheese and fish - this area is magic! Here is my Devon Carbonara recipe, and all the ingredients come from this beautiful and rich land. The seafood version is also amazing and very easy to prepare.
Ingredients (4 people)
500g spaghetti or rigatoni
300g unsmoked lardons
5 egg yolks
280g Sheep Rustler cheese (semi-hard ewe’s milk cheese)
Black pepper
Salt and extra virgin olive (EVO) oil
Method
Bring a pan of water to the boil, and add salt (half the amount you would usually add). Add the pasta and cook it for 3 minutes less than the cooking time indicated on the packet.
Preheat a frying pan with a glug of EVO oil.
Add the lardons and cook until crispy.
Beat the yolks in a bowl and mix with the cheese and fresh cracked pepper.
Drain the pasta and add to the pan with the bacon and continue cooking for a further 2 minutes. Add 2 cups of pasta water and stir until al dente.
Off the heat, add the egg mixture and some more pasta water. Stir until creamy.
Serve on a plate with more cracked pepper and cheese. Enjoy!
Seafood variant:
Instead of bacon, you can use two fresh mackerel fillets or some mixed seafood. Just stir fry the fish with some garlic and sprinkle with fresh parsley to serve. It is just amazing!
PS: I also have a vegan version which I will share with you another time - and don’t worry it is packed full of flavour!
For more information see our article about Davide in Local People, and for more recipes visit Facebook: italianjack; or book an Italian Jack evening meal via www.italianjack.co.uk / hello@italianjack.co.uk / 07745 934897.