Carbonara alla Cosentino

Back in early December, our bi-weekly "piglet" sachetto of tasty salted pig parts came with a nice chunk of Guanciale (a salt-cured pork jowl, mostly found in the region of Emilia-Romagna) which the newsletter proclaimed is the traditional cured meat used to make the famous dishes Amatriciana and carbonara. They provided a recipe for the former. And we've been after the guys at Boccalone for Chris' recipe for carbonara ever since.

We got it a week or so ago.

And it was wa-aaaa-ay worth the wait.

I can't comment on the ease of preparation or lack thereof on this one; my contributions included stopping at Whole Foods for cheese, then boiling and draining the pasta. Have I mentioned lately how much I appreciate the fact that John knows his way around the kitchen?

I can, however, comment on the taste. Rich. Unctuous. And quite authentic, if what came out of my grandmother's and great-aunts' kitchens are any indication. A little of this goes a long way (which is good because it's pretty calorically dense). Next time (and there will be a next time) we're going to scrap the oak-y California chardonnay (which was open) in favor of a crisper pinot grigio in the recipe -- that should play better against the dish's richness. And we're going to take a piece of John's go-to carbonara recipe and add a bit of Boccalone's spicy Italian sausage to the mix. Because one can never have too many tasty salted pig parts...

Technorati Tags: Food | Italian | Key Ingredient: Pasta