So I finished as much of my work as I could for the day, I was screaming hungry, and right in front of me was a big red book: The Silver Spoon (otherwise known as the bible of Italian cooking). I used it the other night to make a Bolognese sauce (ragù alla bolognese) and it asked for carrot and celery with no tomato other than some tomato purée and it was simply the best. Only then we used it in a chicken crêpe bechamel and I am still recovering from the experience. Nevertheless, I thought to myself, "I have a spicy Turkish sujuk... (I don't eat pork) and I have fresh eggs from the ladies this morning (my chooks) and I want spaghetti carbonara. I had the sujuk with eggs and spring onions on baguette for breakfast so it was only natural! I found this sujuk at the Shiraz International Supermarket on Josephson Street, Belconnen. They have some great products there so it is now a permanent part of the fortnightly shopping trip.I digress. I grabbed the big red book and then I was into it!
The original recipe calls for pancetta and pecorino cheese - I had the sujuk and grabbed a tub of Bulgarian sheep's fetta as a sheep's milk-related alternative. I had parmesan of course! The original recipe is all available on page 357 of The Silver Spoon but here's my take and I like it!
Ingredients
- one clove of garlic roughly chopped
- 25g butter
- 40g parmesan cheese
- 40g Bulgarian fetta
- 100g spicy Turkish sujuk
- 2 of the freshest eggs available
- packet of organic spaghetti
- salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Melt the butter in your 28cm Le Creuset (!) pot while the water for the pasta is boiling in the 24cm Le Creuset (!) pot.
- Add the sujuk and the garlic and simmer on low heat. The sujuk should get almost crispy and the garlic will go brown but you must throw the garlic away before adding the pasta.
- Cook the pasta in well-salted water until al dente then drain and add to the pot with the sujuk.
- Beat the eggs and stir into the pasta. Add half of each of the cheeses and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the rest of the cheese and then eat.
- Voilà
I am so happy with the recipes in this book - no fatty grossness but simple, honest, authentic flavours, albeit my substitution of key ingredients. Might be worth doing a Julie and Julia blog of every recipe in the book, but I think that would take me forever. Yet it would not be a waste of time!
