England Rugby Prop Sarah Bern Cooks Pre - Match Day Carbonara
Sarah Bern, prop for the England Woman’s Rugby team, has a pre-match day ritual of eating Spaghetti Carbonara. When I asked if Sarah would like to cook with me for my podcast, would she like to teach me her favourite dish to cook, one that I could cook alongside her, as we chop and chat about food and cookery and how they dovetail with her life as an elite athlete, this classic pasta dish is a perfect example of why I want to make this podcast. In the short space of time it takes to make, pretty much in the time it takes for the pasta to boil, we cover so much ground; I learn about rugby, life on and off the pitch, nutrition, woman in sport, Sarah’s career aspirations and so much more.
Sarah will be playing in the Rugby World Cup this autumn, and I wish her the very best of luck.
INGREDIENTS
Feeds x 2 people
80g guanciale or use pancetta or streaky bacon
2 egg yolks, save the whites for another use
3 cloves garlic, kept whole and bashed a little
Lots of black pepper
1/2 packet of spaghetti
30g finely grated parmesan, plus more to serve
30g finely grated pecorino, or use more parmesan, plus more to serve
Salt, to season the pasta cooking water
2 tbsp olive oil
METHOD
Take the skin off the guanciale, but do keep it, and chop the guanciale into lardons.
Put a large frying pan on over a moderate heat. Add the olive oil, guanciale, guanciale skin and whole garlic cloves. Fry this mix until the fat renders from the guanciale, the meat crisps a little and the garlic browns ever so slightly. Remove with a slotted spoon, keeping the fat back in the pan. Remove the skin and whole garlic cloves, they have done their work, keep the lardons.
Meanwhile, boil the spaghetti in well salted water until firmly al dente, follow the cooking instructions on the packet, knocking a couple of minutes off the cook time.
In a mixing bowl, add the egg yolks and the cheese and plenty of black pepper. Use a ladle to scoop out some of the pasta cooking water, around 80mls, and working very quickly, whisk a ladleful of the boiling pasta cooking water into the egg and cheese mix, continue whisking so the egg doesn’t ribbon. See reel on my instagram.
Using tongs, add the just cooked spaghetti to the fat in the pan, mixing the pasta well to coat in the fat. Take the pan off the heat. Immediately add the egg and cheese mix to the spaghetti in the pan, mixing continuously for the egg mix to continue cooking in the pasta in the pan. As you mix, the egg will cook and thicken in the pan, you may need to add a splash more of the pasta cooking water to loosen the pasta. You want a sauce that clings to the pasta, turning the pasta creamy and glossy and rich. Add the lardons and mix well to coat in the sauce and the pasta.
Serve in bowls with more freshly grated parmesan and lots more black pepper!