Carbonara and Winks - Part One

We are going back to Rome today.   I am having an overwhelming feeling that it is time to tell you my carbonara story. 

I am a wicked (New England heritage poking out) carbonara snob.   It is really the most simplistic of dishes, but so many tend to screw it up.   I suppose it is because it is so simple that everyone wants to put their own spin on it.   I get the whole creative thing.   I do.  It is definitely fun to play around in the kitchen.   But seriously, don’t mess with my carbonara.

I am only going to say this once.  Please do not add cream to (my) carbonara.

Rome made me this way.   It actually happened a couple of visits ago.    My dad took me to one of his favorite restaurants.   He recommended the carbonara on the basis that he had eaten it on several recent  (in a row) return visits.   Of course, I got annoyed with him for never trying anything new.    But, I give it a go.    Rather have something recommended than be disappointed.  I have a serious issue with paying for bad food.   Story for another day.

The carbonara was quite simply the best thing I ever had.    Whoa.   That’s serious.    I don’t know if it was because I was in Rome and it was a gorgeous fall night and we were sitting outside beneath the stars, surrounded by candlelight, flowing fountains and clinking glasses.     Actually as I write this, I will acknowledge that the atmosphere was pretty awesome and I’m sure it helped shape my memory.  

Perfect al dente noodles and a light glaze of eggy cheesy subtle yumminess.   Emphasis on subtle.  Coated with a very generous dusting of black pepper.   Heaven.

Deeply imbedded in my memory, I decided that I would learn to make carbonara at home.   Can’t be hard.   Well, it is hard.   To get it right.   Not even just right, perfect.  So I gave up and decided I wouldn’t have it again until I returned to Rome.   How silly of me.    At the time, I had no idea I’d be returning to Italy for a proposal from my boyfriend and then an extended personal “enrichment” stay.    But something in my intuition told me I’d be back.  

Flash forward two years.    John brings me on a surprise trip to Rome.     I bring him to my little carbonara slice of heaven on night one.   John proposes.   Hmmmmm…. A connection?    I’ll share the details of the proposal at a later time when it won’t derail my story.

I return to Rome one month later.   Proceed to eat carbonara at every single place I go to.    Well, except for the ones that only had pizza.     Some of it was good.   Some of it was very (very) bad.   Nothing was perfect.  I acknowledge that I must learn to make it again and challenge myself to another attempt.     When in Rome…

I decide to follow in the footsteps of my mother and buy myself a real Italian cookbook.    In English, but from Italy.    When we traveled together, she always reminded me, especially when I was being particularly cheap, that it is really nice when you buy something on your travels and then return home and incorporate it into your daily life.   Then, every time you use ‘it’ you are reminded of your trip.   A cookbook is a perfect way to do this.     

I half attempted a couple of recipes based on ingredients I had on hand at the time.    Everything was good, but all looked the same.   I figured that carbonara, in its simple whiteness would help break that pattern.    It was time.   

Here’s the recipe I made.     Honestly, it still wasn’t perfection and the addition of white wine and butter made it less authentic than I wanted.   But it was in the cookbook.   And that simply meant that I had no choice.  I was going to make the carbonara, imperfect recipe and all.     And it was way better than many of the versions I had out in Rome if that helps.    Take my viewpoint on the recipe with a grain of salt.   I am not definitely not an expert on the topic, merely an obsessed consumer.

Without further adieu, carbonara.   The actual recipe plus my color commentary.   

Oh one other piece of advice, please don’t use bacon.   Do try and find pancetta or even guanciale.    It makes all the difference. 

From “Pasta, every way for every day” by Eric Treuille & Anna Del Conte

Carbonara, Serves 4

3 egg yolks

8 tbsp freshly grated parmesan

2 tbsp oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved

7 oz unsmoked pancetta

4 tbsp white wine

1 lb dried pasta

 ½ oz butter

salt, black pepper

additional freshly grated parmesan to serve

Mix egg yolks and parmesan in a bowl until combined.   (Yes, it will look a little strange.   And italian egg yolks are way yellow-er than those we have at home.   Makes for a very yellow mixture.)

Heat oil in a large frying pan.   Add garlic and cook over medium high heat until golden, 2 minutes.   Remove garlic and discard.   (Note - I skipped this last step.   I like garlic.)

Add pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 5 minutes.    Add wine and simmer until just evaporated, 2 minutes.   Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water, until firm to the bite.   

Drain, reserving ½ cup pasta water.   (I was drinking wine while cooking and totally missed this step.  I didn't actually need it, but if I did, I do know the pasta water is important as it is starchy.   I guess the moral of this story is, pay attention and don't drink too much wine.)

Add drained pasta to the hot pancetta and toss well to coat.  (I tossed so well that I had some pancetta escapees as noted in the picture below.)

Remove from the heat.   Add egg mixture and butter and toss again to coat, adding reserved water as needed.   Add salt and pepper to taste.   

Serve immediately with additional parmesan.   (See top picture above!   That was my dinner.   Seriously, it was pretty good.   Just not perfect!)

You may be asking yourself at this point, "How on earth does carbonara relate to winking?"   Swing by later for Part Two…

A Fabulous Weekend in Rome

So last night, over what might have been our fifth meal including some form of carbonara, John and I looked at each other through truly blood shot eyes and asked each other where the time went.   

When you travel, I find it helps to write down what you did, otherwise, one event starts to blend into the last and all of a sudden you are at the end and can’t for the life of you remember anything.   

I remember Thursday morning very clearly.   I remember waking up before my 7:45am alarm.    I remember the last minute tidying.   The excitement of getting ready.   I remember heading downstairs at 9:47am (two minutes later than we had agreed to, but still, not bad).    I brought my Italian dictionary outside with me.   Needed to look busy amongst the crowded street of Italians who always seem to either be on their phones or talking excitedly to friends.   Killed a few minutes reading up on how to buy train tickets correctly.   Got antsy and walked out onto Corso to see if I had missed the taxi.   Turned around no less than 30 seconds later and in the exact spot where I had been sitting, is John.    He has a way of catching me off guard.   Feel happy again.

Fast forward to last night.    Dinner, another round of gelato, another round of coins in the fountain, and just like that we are at home packing and getting ready to say goodbye.  

I think this is a good sign.   Just sad that time flew by so quickly.   

I think we remembered most of what we did.   I will say it consisted of lots and lots of walking which we both love, only two minor meltdowns on my part (yes, blood sugar related), eating and drinking too much, going to bed and sleeping in too late (I am a bad influence), and just enjoying being together in Rome.    It had been just six weeks since we were last here for our engagement.   I have to say, that trip was definitely even more of a blur.    Lack of jet lag, on my part, helped with this time around.   Highly recommend arriving by ship if you can spare the time!

A selection of highlights, followed by photos:

• Lunch at Armando al Pantheon  - first of many rounds of carbonara.    Get there early if you go.   It was crowded.  Inside seating only.   A very nice first lunch together.
• Walking through Rome to Testaccio.   Dinner at Pizzeria Remo.  Perfect casual, friendly, place for really thin pizza.    Would work perfectly with a cold beer, although I am certain I had wine.   Skip the appetizers.   Pizza rivals da Baffeto.  Still on the search for my perfect version.     Fun, casual, yummy.
• Canoodling (is this a word?) in the Aventino park high on the hillside over looking the city, late dusk, very romantic.  
• Fabulous walk home through all of the ancient sites lit up at night.
• Friday morning meltdown near Campo di Fiori.   John desparate to figure out how to deal with me.  I think he’s got it now.    
• Lunch around the corner at Piazza Farnese.   Yes, basically the first place we could find post meltdown.  Surprisingly very good.   Super cute and friendly waiter.   Adorable family next to us that kept us entertained.   Carbonara.   Again.
• Stroll along the Tiber.   Relaxing at the Vatican post hordes of tourist buses departing.    The key is to definitely arrive in the late afternoon.  I won’t go as far as to say you’ll have the place to yourself, but if you can eliminate a couple thousand tourists from the mix, you’ll find yourself in a much better spot.
• Dinner at our engagement restaurant.  Osteria della’Antiquario.    I could seriously eat here each and every night.    The people are fantastic.   They definitely remembered us and as usual took very good care of us.   The food was wonderful as always (yes, another carbonara).    Fun diversion with a pretty decent fire at the building around the corner while we were eating outside.   Added to the atmosphere!    A present of limoncello to end the evening.   Very very nice.

Saturday really deserves its own entry.   May 1 is May Day in Italy.   Just like the US version of Labor Day.     Although I need to understand it better, I picked up on a couple of traditions.  Of course, limited working and spending time with families and friends were at the top of the list.    Also, locals try and escape to the country or hills outside of Rome to enjoy time together.    Eating fava beans and pecorino cheese.  

With that in mind, I decided that it was also time for us to escape.   Frascati was just the right spot.   A half hour outside of Rome by train from Termini.   Easy, easy and a perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Before we left, I spent a little time with google and found this perfect blog post describing exactly what I wanted to do in Frascati.  How lucky is that?   So, I transcribed it all in my little notebook and armed with knowledge and a desire to get going, we headed to Termini, bought our tickets and were on the 11:52 train, just as described.  

Of primary importance for this trip was a special visit to Leda, the Queen of Pork.  This name has been making me giggle for days.  I think I’ve gotten it out of my system now.   In any event, we followed my badly written directions and ended up right there.   How exciting.   Fumbled through our request and ended up with the most perfect porchetta picnic… ever.    Before the picnic was the other minor meltdown, but I got through that pretty quickly.    Picked up a bottle of Frascati and sat on the wall overlooking the city and had a wonderful lunch.   This is where we diverted from the directions.   The cantina that we were supposed to go to was filled with locals who were clearly there for the afternoon and were not budging.   Their tables were filled with huge green fava beans and cheese.   Fun to watch.    I also wonder if those are just like really big edamame…    I digress.

Post picnic, a stroll back through town and back on to train just in time for 2:29 departure.  A perfect afternoon in many ways.

Back in town, I wanted to bring John to St. Giovanni en Laterano.    This is the church that I prayed for him at when he was taking his first round of boards.    I figured he might want to pay it a visit and say thanks.   Just so happened that the piazza there is home to a huge public concert on May Day so I figured we would kill two birds with one stone and hang out for a bit.   Swung through Mary Maggiore and down Merulana and then followed the music and teenagers.    Turns out the church was closed, but the concert was definitely there.   Spent an hour or so just hanging out and doing some intense people watching.     Lots of fun.  

Left there to head back my way.   Wanted to show John the Borghese park on this trip.   Got all kinds of lost in totally new (to me) neighborhoods behind the Colosseum.   Quirinale I think?    Anyway, finally ran into Via Veneto and then, the Park.   Enjoyed a final walk through and then back at home.  

Seriously time for a shower at this point.    Was truly looking forward to this.   Got in and waited, and waited, and waited for the water to turn hot.   Realized it wasn’t going to happen and then realized that someone (not naming names) turned the switch to the zero setting.      For the uninitiated, that means at least two hours without hot water after turning it back to one.   So much for that hot shower…

And now here we are at dinner, recapping the events of the last couple of days and wondering how we got here so fast.

A final note, before ending up at the Trevi for the coin tossing, we made a little pilgrimage to San Crispino which is now my new favorite gelataria in Rome.    Had been reading mixed reviews lately and had mentally prepared both of us for some brisk service but we were both pleasantly surprised.    I will definitely be back.   Highly recommend the Valharona chocolate (well, John recommends it)!

And now it is May 2.   I’ve been suffering from a post fun weekend hangover, feeling a little sorry for myself and just relaxing inside on this rainy day.   It is funny how the weather here always seems to reflect my mood.  Or maybe influence is a better word.    

John is somewhere flying over the ocean.    I can’t believe I have been here a month already.  

This is really long and overly detailed.   Stay tuned for tomorrow’s shorter installment where I pontificate on why living in Rome is a little bit like falling in love.