Weekly Recipe: Pasta Carbonara by Peasant NYC

Pasta carbonara. It’s one of the most delicious, decadent and delightful pasta dishes the American-Italian kitchen has to offer —especially if we’re talking Peasant in New York City.

The NoLiTa neighborhood favorite specializes in hand-made pasta and wood-fired dishes, and head Chef Marc Forgione wants to bring the magic of Peasant’s bucatini carbonara to your home, so he’s sharing the official recipe with us.

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Essential to that magic? Shaking your pasta and its sauce in a jar and plating fresh from there.

“The jar isn’t just for table side theatrics,” Forgione says. “It actually creates the perfect temperature to emulsify the egg yolk into the sauce.”

This recipe serves two and is perfect for a romantic date-night or warm evening in. It calls for guanciale, a cured meat made from pork cheeks or jowls, as well as sliced pig ear confit. Our guess is, if you can’t find sliced pig ear, you can substitute with your favorite fatty pork.

What are you waiting for? Dig in!

Peasant Bucatini Carbonara (in a jar)

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces bucatini
• 2 tbl ground Guanciale
• 1 tbsp sliced pig ear confit
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 farm fresh egg yolks
• 2 tbsp grated pecorino cheese, plus additional
• Freshly grated black pepper (5 to 6 turns of pepper mill)

Directions:

1. Put a pot of salted water over high heat to boil.
2. Melt the butter and a little oil in a pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the guanciale and sliced pig ear confit, and cook until crispy. Remove the meat from the pot and pour off all of the fat except for 1 tablespoon.
3. Just before the pasta is finished cooking to al dente, scoop out some pasta cooking liquid. Drain the pasta.
4. Deglaze the dutch oven with a little bit of the pasta water (scrape up all the crispy bits on the bottom). Remove the pan from the heat.
5. Add pasta, reserved guanciale/sliced pig ear, cheese and a little of the pasta cooking water back to the pot, and toss well to marry the flavors together. Season with a few turns of fresh black pepper.
6. Divide the pasta evenly among two glass mason jars, and place the egg yolks on the top unbroken.
7. Close the lid to the jar and right before serving, tell your guests to shake the jar, open and pour the pasta out onto a plate.

Visit Peasant online and in NYC to learn more.