Creamy Carbonara

This Creamy Carbonara is made by sautéing boiled pasta noodles, fried ham, fried bacon and mushroom in a sauce made by evaporated milk, all purpose cream, cream of mushroom, garlic onion, cheese salt and pepper. The white sauce made from evaporated cream, all purpose cream and cream of mushroom will heavily tickle your taste buds! This fulfilling creamy carbonara makes a great afternoon snack or a full dinner meal together with some garlic bread. Yum!

FILIPINO STYLE CREAMY CARBONARA RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 500 grams pasta noodles
• 2 strips bacon
• 5 slices sweet ham
• 1 can (370 ml) evaporated milk
• 1 pouch (250 ml) all purpose cream
• 1 can (290 grams) cream of mushroom
• 4 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 1/3 cup grated cheese
• 1 tablespoon butter (unsalted)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add some salt and oil. Add the pasta noodles and cook until al dente. Follow the package instructions. When cooked, drain and set aside.
2. Cut the bacon strips into small pieces. Saute for a few minutes until the oil comes out. Remove the bacon from the pan.
3. Slice the sweet ham into small cubes. Using the oil from the bacon, cook the sweet ham until light brown. Remove the ham from the pan and set aside.
4. Melt some butter in the pan then add the garlic, onions and mushrooms. Saute for a whole minute. Add the ham back to the pan and then saute.
5. Add the evaporated milk, all purpose cream and cream of mushroom. Stir and mix until well combined. Turn the heat setting to low. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Add the grated cheese (optional step). Mix well until the cheese melts. Let it cook for a few more minutes until the sauce becomes thicker. Turn the heat off.
7. Add the cooked pasta gradually to the carbonara sauce. Toss gently until well coated with the sauce.
8. Transfer the creamy carbonara to a serving plate. Top it with a lot of bacon bits. Enjoy!

HOW YOUR FAVE CARBONARA WAS DEVELOPED

Carbonara is one of the most famous pasta dishes not just in the Philippines but all over the world. In relation to its name, the term “carbonara” was related to the “carbonaro” or coal burner. It was believed that the carbonara was originally made to feed coal burners during the Second World War. These workers carry their ration of bacon, eggs and spaghetti and pecorino cheese to a restaurant where the carbonara was cooked.

ITALIAN VS FILIPINO CARBONARA

Creamy carbonara is the greatest contender of the classic Filipino spaghetti on becoming the best and most famous pasta dish in the country. But did you know the the original carbonara is not made with cream?

As the history shows, the basket of the coal miners were filled with eggs, bacon, spaghetti and pecorino cheese. While the Italian version of the carbonara is indeed “creamy”, its creaminess comes from whisked egg yolks combined with pecorino cheese. This combination forms a white creamy and cheesy thick sauce which coats the spaghetti pasta lightly. In Italy, when you use cream in your carbonara, people will judge you in an instant, feeling like you committed a crime.

Compared to Filipino carbonara, we are always excited for saucy dishes. So instead of creaming the egg yolks with cheese, we use actual (dairy) cream to make our carbonara creamy. This cream is made much creamier with the addition of evaporated milk and cream of mushroom. Aside from the use of (dairy) cream, the Filipino version of carbonara has mushrooms in it.

CREAMY CARBONARA

Creamy carbonara is indeed one of my top faves pasta dishes. I’ve been alternating creamy carbonara and the classic spaghetti during celebrations. Whether spaghetti or carbonara was my ultimate fave, I still can’t decide for now.

I have been introduced by my mom to carbonara ever since I was a child. I can remember a funny situation at home when my mom made her first carbonara. My lolo thought that the pasta is not cooked since it is still white! After tasting, he realized that it was covered with a thick creamy sauce which makes everything exciting! Ever since, we cook carbonara from time to time even just for small meals.

What I really love about carbonara is the way its rich creamy sauce plays with my tastebuds. I used to assume milky dishes was just for desserts, but having some creamy pasta was a real game changer.

If you wanna know how to make some creamy carbonara at home, read and follow the simple steps below. Yum!

HOW TO COOK CREAMY CARBONARA

Preparing the Filipino Style creamy carbonara is super duper easy once you have the ingredients gathered. This pasta dish can be made in around an hour.

Before making the carbonara sauce, prepare the pasta first. Simply boil the pasta until soft and chewy enough. Do not overcook as the pasta might become too soggy. You may follow the packaging instructions to have an estimated cooking time. A known hack when cooking pasta is adding some salt and oil to prevent them from sticking when drained.

The carbonara sauce will dictate whether this recipe is a success or not. Since the Filipino style version of this pasta is creamy, it is important that our carbonara is rich in creaminess. While there are ready to use carbonara sauces in the grocery, a sauce made from scratch is still better as you can control the ingredients added to it. To do this, the combination of evaporated milk, all purpose cream and cream of mushroom will do the hack.

Fry the bacon bits and the ham. These will be the meats for our carbonara pasta. You can add more of them if you like.

Start with sauteing the aromatics and the mushrooms. You can use canned mushrooms for convenience. Add our three types of cream and then season with salt and pepper. Then it’s done! Some people like it a little sweet, so you can add a dash of sugar in it.

If you’re a cheese lover like me, you can add some quickmelt cheese to melt in the sauce. But be wary of adding to much cheese as the sauce might become a mac n cheese sauce!!

The last step would be tossing the pasta into our creamy carbonara sauce. Add the crispy bacon bits on top before serving. Yum!

COOKING TIPS

• Aside from bacon and ham as meat sources, you can also try adding shrimps for seafood carbonara or roasted artichokes or brocolli for a veggie version of the carbonara.
• If you want the sauce to thicken more, you can use the pasta water from cooking the noodles and add it to the sauce. The excess starch from the noodles can make the sauce thicker.

Paano Magluto ng Filipino-style Creamy Carbonara

Mga Sangkap:

• 500 grams pasta noodles
• 2 strips bacon
• 5 piraso ng sweet ham
• 1 lata (370 ml) evaporated milk
• 1 pouch (250 ml) all purpose cream
• 1 lata (290 grams) cream of mushroom
• 4 butil ng bawang (hiniwa ng maliliit)
• 1 sibuyas (hiniwa)
• 1/2 tasa mushrooms
• 1/3 tasa grated cheese
• 1 kutsara ng butter (unsalted)
• Asin at paminta

Paano Lutuin:

1. Magpakulo ng maraming tubig at lagyan ng konting asin at mantika. Lutuin ang pasta hanggang maging al dente. Sundin ang steps sa packaging. Kapag luto na, tanggalin ito sa tubig at isantabi.
2. Hiwain ang bacon ng maliliit na piraso. Iprito ito ng ilang minuto hanggang maluto at magmantika. Alisin ang mga ito sa kawali.
3. Hiwain ang sweet ham ng maliliit na squares. Iprito ang ham gamit ang mantika galing sa bacon hanggang maging light brown. Alisin ang mga ito sa kawali at isantabi.
4. Tunawin ang butter sa parehong kawali. Ilagay ang bawang, sibuyas at ang mushrooms. Igisa ang mga ito ng 1 minuto. Ibalik ang ham sa at igisa.
5. Ilagay ang evaporated milk, all purpose cream at cream of mushroom. Haluin ng mabuti at hinaan ang apoy. Timplahan ito ng asin at paminta. 
6. Maglagay ng grated cheese (optional lamang ito). Haluin hanggang matunaw ang cheese. Lutuin pa ito ng konti hanggang lumapot ang sauce. Patayin ang apoy.
7. Ilagay ang pasta nang paunti unti sa sauce para siguradong malalagyan lahat.
8. Ilipat ang creamy carbonara sa serving plate. Budburan ito ng bacon bits bago kainin. Enjoy!