Award-Winning Oak Smoked Irish Organic Salmon
This is not a traditional carbonara. A Roman would gently tell you off. We’ve swapped guanciale for smoked salmon, kept the egg yolks, kept the pecorino, and let the smoke do the job the cured pork would have done. The result has the same silky, clinging sauce, the same coarse black pepper bite, the same sense that you’ve eaten something serious. Just lighter, and faster. Eight minutes from the pasta water boiling to the bowl on the table.
Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil and start the pasta. Cook to one minute short of packet timing.
In a heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the whole egg and most of the pecorino. Add a heavy grind of black pepper. The mix should look thick and glossy, like a loose paste.
Warm the olive oil in a wide pan over a low heat with the bashed garlic clove. Once the garlic is fragrant, fish it out and discard it.
Drain the pasta, reserving a full mug of pasta water. Tip the pasta into the warm (not hot) pan with the garlic-scented oil. Toss to coat.
Take the pan off the heat. Wait 20 seconds. Now pour in the egg mixture and toss vigorously with tongs, adding pasta water a splash at a time until the sauce is silky and coats every strand.
Fold in the smoked salmon ribbons. Heat from the pasta is enough to warm them through.
Plate, top with the remaining pecorino, a final crack of pepper.
