We’re back in Rome again, the eternal city … of savoury flavours and taste. Pork cheek lard dominates the local cuisine, and carbonara is the queen of the table. But if there’s only one queen, princesses abound and each one of them aspires to become queen.
This time we modify the standard carbonara version and use another typical Roman product, broad beans, for a fresh, summerly and savoury recipe that’s ideal for our Spaghetti Mancini Unique Edition for FABI|COSEBUONE. There are a few important steps to follow in treating the broad beans, and two different ways of accompanying them with the spaghetti.
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INGREDIENTS
Spaghetti Mancini Unique Edition for FABI|COSEBUONE – 90 g
Fresh broad beans – 500 g
Pork cheek lard – 50 g
Pecorino romano (DOP) sheep’s milk cheese – 100 g
Salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce and EVO oil, as required
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Remove the skin of the broad beans (1) and immerse them for 20 seconds in the salted boiling water which will be used for cooking the Spaghetti Mancini Unique Edition for FABI|COSEBUONE. Remove the beans from the boiling water and cool them in water with ice; this operation has two essential purposes: it prevents the broad beans from getting cooked, which would soften them too much, and fixes their bright green colour thanks to the thermal shock caused by the ice. Take half of the broad beans and peel them; they will be added raw to garnish the dish. Blend the other half with oil (2), salt, pepper, pecorino cheese, a few drops of Tabasco sauce and a ladle spoonful of the spaghetti cooking water (3). At this point, filter the broad bean cream through a fine colander to eliminate any impurities and excess skins, then reduce the cream over a very low flame. Add salt and pepper if necessary.
In another pan sweat the pork cheek lard cut into thin strips until it becomes crusty (4). Recover a spoon of its fat and add it to the broad bean cream reduced over the flame (5).
Once the spaghetti are cooked, after 10 minutes, pan-fry them with the pork cheek lard so that they absorb the fat and flavour (6).
Arrange the board bean cream on the plate as a base for the spaghetti placed in a horizontal nest (7). Garnish with the crusty strips of pork cheek lard and raw broad beans then sprinkle with pecorino cheese (8).
