The first time I ate a classic Carbonara was in Corfu in 1988. By now, if you’re not familiar with this dish, what deserted island have you been stranded on?
There are many twists on Carbonara: I’ve had Udon Carbonara, there’s Carbonara pizza, Carbonaras with additions like mushrooms, using alternate proteins other than guanciale.
The version I am sharing today is with calamari/squid. I had this version in Greece where the squid was thinly cut into strips to resemble pasta. My version still uses pasta and I’ve opted to toss squid strips with the pasta.
A classic Carbonara also has no cream but this version does. My apologies to the purists – I am going for taste and this dish is loaded: crisp bacon, rich grated cheeses, lots of chopped chives/scallions.
Calamari Carbonara
Course: MainCuisine: Mediterranean6
servings30
minutes30
minutesIngredients
4 tubes of squid (U10) + tentacles
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
450gr. pasta
18 rashers of bacon
2 cups half/half cream
4 large egg yolks
1 cup grated Romano cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped chives (or scallions)
Directions
- Pull tentacles from squid body and remove and rinse inside of tubes. Vertically cut open the tube so that it’s one flat piece of squid. Cut into thin slices and place in a plate with the tentacles and pat-dry.
- Place a large pot on your stovetop and fill with water and bring up to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt and cook your pasta 2 minutes less than packet instructions. Drain and reserve about 2 cups of pasta liquid.
- Into a large skillet, add your bacon and a 1/4 cup water and turn neat to medium. Occasionally stir as bacon renders. Saute until bacon is evenly crisp and transfer to a bowl while leaving some fat in the pan.
- Using the same skillet, turn heat to high and add your squid and saute for 2 minutes while stirring. Remove from the heat and transfer squid to another plate.
- Into a bowl, add cream, cheese and yolks and whisk until creamy. Slowly add 1 cup of pasta water while whisking the mixture.
- Add pasta into the skillet along with a ladle of pasta water over medium heat. Add the squid, half of your crisp bacon, cream/cheese/egg mixture, chives, lots of ground pepper and toss over medium heat. Keep tossing until the sauce has become creamy. Add more pasta water if needed.
- Have a taste, adjust seasoning if needed and divide and plate or serve family style in a platter. Top with remaining bacon and serve.
Notes
- U10 calamari/squid refers to the side (about 10 squid to a pound).
