Bacon and cheese pasta with crispy spinach balls

Pasta Carbonara with Spinach Balls Recipe

30 Minutes
Serves: 2
A delicious bacon carbonara with cream and parmesan, tagliatelle pasta ribbons coated in a creamy egg, parmesan and cream sauce served with tasty spinach balls flavoured with garlic, parmesan and nutmeg.

Recipe Ingreds

Balls

  • black pepper (to taste)
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 cloves garlic
  • 0.25 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 25 grams parmesan or pecorino cheese
  • salt (to taste)
  • 1 slices brown bread
  • 250 grams Spinach
  • 1 . sunflower oils (for frying)

Pasta

  • black pepper (to taste)
  • 1 whole egg
  • 0.5 tbsp olive oil
  • 40 grams parmesan or pecorino cheese
  • salt (to taste)
  • 75 ml single cream
  • 150 grams tagliatelle
  • 90 grams bacon (smoked)

Bread

  • 1 stick garlic bread

Recipe with pictures Steps

Step 1

  • wash the spinach
  • remove the stalks
  • wilt the spinach in a pan
  • cook for a minute or two

Step 2

  • remove from the heat
  • squeeze as much liquid as possible from the spinach
  • chop the spinach finely
  • add to the bowl
  • add the nutmeg

Step 3

  • peel and crush the garlic using the garlic crusher or chop finely
  • add to the bowl
  • using a food processor blend the bread into fresh breadcrumbs
  • add the breadcrumbs to the bowl

Step 4

  • finely grate the parmesan
  • add to the bowl
  • stir to mix the ingredients
  • season with salt and pepper

Step 5

  • add the egg(s) to a bowl
  • beat the egg
  • add the egg to the spinach and stir
  • the mixture should be a binding consistency
  • if the mixture is to wet add additional breadcrumbs

Step 6

  • set the oven to 220C 425F or gas mark 7

Step 7

  • half fill a medium pan with water and boil
  • add a spot of olive oil and a pinch of salt to the boiling water
  • add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until tender but with a slight bite
  • while the pasta is cooking

Step 8

  • roll the spinach mixture into walnut size balls
  • heat about 2 cms of frying oil in a frying pan
  • shallow fry till golden brown
  • place on kitchen paper
  • keep warm

Step 9

  • put the garlic bread on the baking tray and place in the oven follow cooking instructions on packaging

Step 10

  • heat the olive oil in the frying pan
  • chop the bacon into pieces
  • add the bacon to the frying pan
  • cook till crisp and golden brown
  • set a side

Step 11

  • finely grate the parmesan
  • separate the whites and yolks
  • add the egg yolk, cream and parmesan to the bowl
  • add the salt and pepper
  • whip the yolks, cream and parmesan

Step 12

  • reserve a few tbsps of cooking liquid from the pasta
  • drain the pasta

Step 13

  • return the frying pan with the bacon to the heat
  • add the pasta to the bacon frying pan
  • add the egg mixture to the frying pan
  • cook the pasta and sauce till the sauce thickens
  • if the sauce gets to thick add a touch of the reserved pasta liquid
  • taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary

Step 14

  • remove garlic bread from the oven

Step 15

  • place the pasta in a serving bowl
  • place the spinach balls on top of the pasta
  • serve with garlic bread

Recipe Utensils

  • 1 baking tray
  • 1 bowl
  • 2 chopping board
  • 1 food processor
  • 1 Garlic crusher
  • 2 grater
  • 1 jug
  • 1 kitchen paper
  • 1 large bowl
  • 2 large knife
  • 2 large pan
  • 2 non stick frying pan
  • 1 sieve
  • 3 small bowl

How to make bacon and cheese pasta

This simple pasta carbonara is given an exciting twist by the addition of Antonio Carluccio spinach balls. The smoked bacon is cooked into crispy squares, and the tagliatelle is cooked till it is al dente. The pasta is added to the bacon, the cream, parmesan and egg are mixed together to form the sauce. The sauce is added to the pasta and cooked carefully to ensure it doesn't curdle. The pasta is served with delicious crunchy spinach balls. These are made by wilting the spinach, adding the nutmeg, garlic, grated parmesan and fresh breadcrumbs, the spinach mixture is formed into balls and shallow fried. 

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