Fresh Pea Carbonara Pasta Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Do you put peas in carbonara? ›

I know only three things if you want to try to keep it “traditional”: use guanciale (not bacon), eggs (no cream), and if the recipe you're using has peas, just omit them. Or leave the peas in if you're into that kind of thing. Just know that there are Italians everywhere that would be very disappointed in you.

The golden rule to silky carbonara is to whisk your egg whites so that they're completely incorporated with the egg yolks. This will create a smooth, velvety sauce. As like any pasta dish, including carbonara, cook the pasta perfectly al dente so that it's soft but still firm, with some bite.

For an extra creamy sauce, it's best to use mostly egg yolks. The egg whites tend to make carbonara watery, but too many egg yolks can make the sauce too custardy. The solution? Five egg yolks and one whole egg.

Crispy pancetta is a traditional ingredient in a carbonara, and its rendered fat adds salt and flavor to the dish. While less traditional, sweet peas add brightness and balance the pork in this recipe. This carbonara comes together quickly, so it's important that your ingredients are prepped before you begin cooking.

A real carbonara does not contain onion, garlic, or cream.

Equally important is that the fat that melts out of the guanciale is required to thicken the carbonara sauce to make it creamy. Basically, what happens is that when the fat from the guanciale and in the egg yolks is mixed with starchy pasta cooking water, it thickens.

A sauce of mostly yolks has a richer, silkier, tighter texture than one made with only whole eggs. A mixture of Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano-Reggiano delivers that essential Roman flavor without making the pasta taste excessively salty or sharp.

Traditional Carbonara is a pasta sauce that gets its famously smooth, silky texture from the special way eggs (with extra egg yolks added) are cooked in the hot pasta itself.

Carbonara is traditionally made with guanciale, or cured pork jowl, though pancetta is often substituted, and both are fatty, salty and deeply savoury.

How to stop eggs from scrambling in carbonara? ›

To avoid the dreaded scramble, the goal is to not let your eggs get too hot too quickly. Rather than add your eggs straight into your carbonara pan, crack them into a different bowl with the Pecorino. From there, you have a few options for how to combine the mixture with your pasta.

Taste.com.au Food Director, Amira Georgy, confirmed this, saying: “Traditionally, carbonara sauce contains no cream, just eggs and cheese. The eggs and cheese are added to the hot pasta and tossed together until a silky sauce forms.”

Whisk Like You Mean It

You're using more egg yolks than whites here, which is what makes carbonara so rich and luxurious. But there's still two eggs-worth of whites in there. Whisking your eggs so that the whites are completely incorporated into the yolks will give your sauce a more uniform texture.

The best side dishes to serve with carbonara are garlic bread, bruschetta, stuffed mushrooms, butternut squash, roasted cherry tomatoes, focaccia, insalata caprese, bacon wrapped asparagus, caesar salad, sautéed spinach, antipasto platter, and grilled zucchini.

A fundamental of the Mediterranean diet, pasta and peas was born from the Italian peasant traditions that relied on vegetables for protein to compensate for the scarce availability of meat – and the philosophy lends itself to today.

More flavor of course. You are penetrating the pasta with the delicious sweetness of the peas, onions, and tomato broth. Basically, the same technique that's used when cooking pasta e fa*gioli. Of course, you can boil the pasta separately if you like, but if doing so, reduce the amount of water.

All ZENB Pasta is made using one single star ingredient: yellow peas. These are full of essential nutrients, from iron to phosphorus to protein and are naturally gluten free.