In April of this year my brother and I had the chance of a lifetime to go on a trip to Florence and Venice for ten days. And while we saw and did so many amazing things on that trip (climbing the Duomo in Florence, seeing Michelangelo’s David, going to a Vivaldi concert in Venice, touring art museums and palaces and churches), one of the highlights of the trip for both of us was the pasta and gelato cooking class we took on our first afternoon in Florence.
It was located in a narrow little shop in one of the many side streets in Florence, close to the market. Two professional chefs led the class, which consisted of just Sam and I and another family, and taught us how to make homemade ravioli, carbonara, and gelato. We each made our own portion of pasta dough, rolled and shaped it, and watched as they prepared the final touches with the sauces. Throughout the class, the two chefs were such good teachers, able to bridge the gap between the wide range of experience and backgrounds of those of us learning, ranging from a young boy who had no cooking experience to my brother, who worked as a chef’s apprentice for two years. At the end of the class, we all sat down together with a bottle of wine to enjoy the food we had just made. We learned a lot, and were so thankful that we made room for the class in our schedule. Most importantly, the food was simply amazing. In order that you might have a chance to try one of these mouth-watering meals, here is the recipe for Pasta Carbonara, a simply and decadent meal that brings with it a little taste of Florence.
Pasta Carbonara
For the homemade pasta:
100 grams 00 flour1 and 1 egg per person
Make a mound of your flour on your workspace. If making for more than 6 people, you will want to make two mounds. Make a well in the middle of the mound and crack your egg(s) into it. Whisk the egg up with a fork, and then start mixing it in with the flour with your fingers, a little at a time. Then, once it’s mostly combined, start kneading it together, adding a little flour if it is too sticky. You want to knead it well so that the pasta will turn out the right texture. Once it is soft, and springs back a little when you lightly press it, wrap it in cling wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes.
When the dough has been chilled, lightly flour your work surface, and then roll the dough out very thinly. If you placed it on a marble counter, you would want to be able to just start to see the marbling through the dough. Then cut it into long strips, either using a pizza cutter, or feeding it through a pasta machine, making sure that it is well floured so that the pasta doesn’t stick together. Set it aside and put a pot of salted water on the stove to boil.
For the pasta carbonara:
8 oz spaghetti
4 oz chopped bacon (to be authentic, you would use guanciale, or pork cheek, but that’s hard to come by in the US)
1/2 cup pecorino romano or parmesan cheese, grated
1 large egg and 2 egg yolks, room temperature
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook the bacon on low heat so that it sweats out all the fat. Meanwhile place the egg, yolks, and cheese in a bowl and whisk well to combine. Add salt and pepper. Set aside a little of the bacon fat to cool, and once it has cooled mix that small bit of fat and about 1/2 Tbsp hot (not boiling) water and whisk it into the egg mix. Boil your pasta until al dente. Remove the pan with the bacon from the heat when the bacon has cooked (don’t drain out the fat, it’s important for the texture and flavor of the dish). When the pasta has cooked and the bacon pan has been off the heat, add the pasta to the pan with the bacon. Add a few tablespoons of the pasta water to the egg mixture slowly, then while stirring the pasta vigorously, add the egg mixture to the pasta in the pan. The trick is to cook the eggs through the heat of the pasta but not scramble them by having the pan too hot. The result should be a deliciously creamy and rich sauce, that you wouldn’t even know was made of egg! Garnish with more pecorino or parmesan cheese and freshly ground pepper.
You can find this special flour at specialty stores (Hy-Vee has it, for example). It is a very finely-ground flour and many Italian recipes call for it.
Have you tried Schmidt's in Nicollet for guanciale? It wouldn't hurt to ask.