THE QUEENS CARBONARA

It's not so much of a mix, as it's more of a collection of songs I love to listen to whilst cooking. A lot of favourite tracks from my childhood that I used to hear coming from the kitchen or when we used to have family cook-ups, and a bunch of stuff i discovered myself over the years that just seemed to click in the kitchen. Cooking is a form of meditation for me, besides the car it's the only other time I can actually properly listen to music. - Louis McCoy

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

500g Fettucinni / fresh is best but packet is fine (you want a packet pasta with at least 14g of protein = more bite) 300g of pancetta / roughly chopped / the smaller the better 4 free-range eggs 4 egg yolks (for serving) 1/2 cup thickened cream 50g butter 120g of grated good quality Pecorino Romano + a lil extra for serving (use a microplane if you have one) Small handful of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley 2 tbsp Freshly Ground black pepper + more for serving Salt Olive oil (for frying)

Method:

Start to Bring 5 litres of salted water to boil (tip: For every 100g of pasta, use 1 litre of water and 15g of salt). Cook the pasta till al dente, aka 70% of the suggested time on the packet instructions. Drain the pasta, keeping 1 cup of the pasta water.

In a mixing bowl, add in the 4 whole eggs, pecorino, pepper, and a sprinkle of salt, whisk until combined, and set aside.

In a deep saucepan or cast iron pot (needs to be big enough to hold the pasta as well), add in about 80ml / 5 tbsp’s of olive oil and the pancetta, and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the fat in the pancetta has slightly rendered, then add the cream and butter and reduce for about 2 minutes.

Once the cream has reduced, add in the cooked pasta and stir well to combine. Turn the heat off and add in the egg mixture, while gently stirring until every bit of pasta has been covered. Add in some pasta water if it gets too gluggy, to keep it smooth and velvety.

Divide the pasta between 4 wide bowls and make a little ‘well’ in the middle of each serve, place the fresh egg yolk straight into said well. (There is an easy trick to separate the whites and yolks by cracking the shell in half over a bowl and tip the yolk back and forth between the two halves and eventually the yolks separate, and you can pour it straight into the little well - I’m sure there’s a video on YouTube).

Garnish with some parsley, grated pecorino, and hit it with some fresh cracked black pepper, and serve straight away.

Think about it for the next couple of weeks then repeat.

Tracklist:

Baby Please Don't Go / Rose Mitchell Baltimore / Nina Simone Johnny Too Bad / The Slickers Get Into The Party Life / Little Beaver Better Change Your Mind / William Onyeabor Lady / Fela Kuti She's My Lover (Song For R.) / Kid Loco Flame (Freakniks Remix) / Crustation Spooky / Dusty Springfield Nouveau Western / MC Solaar All That We Perceive / Thievery Corporation 3:46 Cantamilla / Tranquility Bass 6:51 Sofa Rockers (Kruder & Dorfmeister Remix) / Sofa Surfers Private Road / Bent Give It Up 2 Me / Ojerime Through The Motions / Komang 2Wicky / Hooverphonic Break Free / Doug Hream Blunt The Soul Of A Black Man / Maceo Feelin' Low / The Newports Valley Of Hate / Just Luv