Risotto Carbonara
Risotto Carbonara is the marriage of two classic Italian dishes. When you think about the ingredients for a traditional carbonara there is no question about whether they pair well with rice and the result is even creamier than the original. If you’re looking for a twist on the classic carbonara (but are obsessed with the right ingredients like me) do not go past this risotto.
Watch the Risotto Carbonara video recipe:
How To Make RISOTTO CARBONARA Like an Italian
Vincenzo’s Plate Tips
Don’t Skip the Guanciale
Guanciale (pork cheek) is so important when making Carbonara. It’s truly special meat, and you can tell just by looking at it. When cooking with guanciale, you don’t need to add garlic or other seasonings to Carbonara because the flavors are already incorporated into the guanciale. If you can’t find guanciale, pancetta is the closest substitute, but there really is no comparison. If you don’t live somewhere where they sell guanciale, I suggest moving somewhere that has it! Of course, if you can’t eat pork, there are vegetarian options (zucchini works well), or you can even try duck salami or bacon.
Keep the Rice Wet
The most important part of cooking rice for risotto carbonara is to keep it wet. After mixing with the onions, add the wine. This wine will give the perfect acidity level to the dish. While cooking, the wine will disappear quickly, and we never want the rice to dry up, so you must start adding the stock a little bit at a time. For the risotto, the stock must be hot or very warm.
Add Guanciale Oil to the Carbonara Sauce
When making your carbonara sauce, add a splash of the guanciale oil. This will take the flavor of the egg to the next level.
Combine without Heat
It’s time to combine your rice and your carbonara sauce, but first double-check that you have removed the rice pan away from the heat source. Although the rice mixture is hot and will cook the eggs to a safe temperature, cooking over direct heat will create scrambled eggs.
Get Every Last Bit
My favorite trick for getting all of the sauce is to add a little bit of rice directly to your sauce mixture. Stir it up, and it will grab all of the egg mixture from the sides of the bowl.
Serving Risotto Carbonara
Add a heaping spoonful of rice to your plate. Grab the plate from beneath and pat it, so the rice spreads evenly. Add a lot of pepper before garnishing generously with guanciale in the middle. Finally, sprinkle Pecorino cheese all over the dish. Absolute perfection.
Risotto Carbonara
Print Recipe
Servings:
Equipment
- 1 Chopping-board
- 1 Meat knife
- 1 Frying pan
- 1 Wood spoon for pan frying
- 2 Bowls
- 2 Forks for whisking
Ingredients
- 150 g Guanciale, 5,29oz. or pancetta, speck, cubed bacon
- 300 g Carnaroli rice, 11oz. or Arborio rice
- 1 liter Vegetable stock, 34oz. or chicken stock.
- ½ glass White wine
- 4 tbsp Pecorino cheese
- ½ Onion
- 50 grams Butter, 1,76oz.
- 3 eggs
- Salt and pepper, as much as required
- Extra virgin olive oil, as much as required
Instructions
To Prepare and Cook the Guanciale
- First remove the skin.
- Cut the guanciale vertically into thin strips, so there are alternating layers of meat and fat.
- Repeat the process, resulting in small, thin strips of guanciale.
- Then cook it over low heat, without anyadded oil, for 5-7 minutes until crispy.
- Save the oil produced by the fat for later.
To Caramelize the Onions
- Pour 3-4 tbsp of the extra virgin olive oil into the pan.
- So sauté onions over medium-high heat until they are caramelized.
To Prepare the Risotto Rice
- Add the rice to the onion mixture. Stir and mix well for 2 minutes making sure not to let the rice burn.
- Then add wine into the rice. It will give the perfect amount of acidity.
- Follow the cooking time on your rice packet’s instructions from the moment the wine is added.
- Keep watching the rice and add hot or very warm stock when it begins to dry up.
- When time is almost up, add a generous amount of pepper, Pecorino cheese and butter.
To Make the Carbonara Sauce
- First beat 2 egg yolks and 1 entire egg using a fork.
- Generously crack pepper into the eggs and mix through.
- Slowly add the Pecorino Romano as you whisk the carbonara mixture.
- Then add Pecorino Romano until the sauce turns into a creamy mixture.
- Next add the oil from the guanciale into the carbonara sauce to give it extra flavor.
To Combine the Carbonara Sauce With the Risotto
- Add just a little bit of salt, but not too much because we have the salty Pecorino Romano cheese.
- then add 50g of butter. It makes the risotto creamy and combines all the ingredients.
- The leftover starchy stock will be essential for combining the sauce with the rice.
- Next Remove pan from heat and mix and combine well.
- Add more Pecorino Romano, stir it in and your Risotto Carbonara is ready.
How to Serve Risotto Carbonara
- Scoop the risotto onto a plate and tap the bottom of the plate to spread the rice. Sprinkle generously with pepper and top with guanciale and Pecorino cheese.
Video
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