The Alternative Carbonara with a Sea View

Today we celebrate the 70th anniversary of carbonara, and for carbonara day I wanted to make an alternative carbonara.
And what ingredients could I use given that I live 50 meters from the sea?
The octopuses freshly caught by my husband, the eggs from the neighbor’s henhouse, and freshly grated Pecorino Romano. Oh, I forgot, since octopuses don’t have fat like guanciale, I used extra virgin olive oil.

Everything scented with lemon peel from my garden as well as freshly picked parsley. A dash of pepper and off we go.
With this pan cooking, the octopuses released their burgundy color, and on the pasta, the pieces looked like guanciale.

Thought for you:

The Alternative Carbonara with a Sea View

Cost: Economical
Preparation time: 5 Minutes
Portions: 2
Cooking methods: Boiling, Stove
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Autumn, Winter and Spring, Summer

422.75 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 422.75 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 27.08 (g) of which sugars 2.58 (g)
Proteins 27.35 (g)
Fat 22.96 (g) of which saturated 7.62 (g)of which unsaturated 4.99 (g)
Fibers 1.64 (g)
Sodium 1,199.48 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 350 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients

Let’s go shopping

10.6 oz octopuses (only the small tentacles)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 egg yolks
1.1 oz Pecorino Romano (grated)
to taste pepper
to taste lemon zest (grated without the white part)
to taste chopped parsley
to taste salt
5.6 oz spaghetti

Tools

What we need to make

1 Knife
1 Cutting Board
1 Pan
1 Pot
2 Bowls

Steps

To make

The first thing to do is clean the octopuses, which should be under 10.6 oz each.
Clean the octopuses and cut off the head and the initial part of the tentacles. You should use only the thinnest part and obtain 10.6 oz.
Now take half of the tentacles and leave them whole one by one, while the rest should be cut into small pieces.
Put the water on for the pasta, and in the meantime, beat the egg yolks with Pecorino and pepper.
Take a non-stick pan, put it on the heat and heat it very well. Once hot, first add the long tentacles, stir
and then the tentacle pieces.
Brown them on all sides until they are dry, then pour in 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and….
cover immediately with a lid.
Cook for about 5 or 6 minutes and occasionally turn the tentacles.
Once cooked, use tongs to remove the long tentacles and set them aside, as we will use them later for plating.
As you can see, the best of the octopus cooking and the tentacle pieces remained in the pan.
Now drop the pasta, and when it’s al dente,
Drain it, and transfer it to the pan with the browned octopus pieces.
Turn on the heat and toss the pasta with the octopuses.
Then turn off the heat and pour the egg mixture
with a little bit of pasta cooking water. Mix well and flavor with grated lemon zest and chopped parsley.
Serve immediately and… what a fragrance!
Happy Birthday Carbonara. From the Strait of Messina to you.