Our challenge of cooking within a tight budget continues. In the previous articles we prepared chicken with potatoes baked in aluminium foil and also salami pizza. Today we stay with Italian cuisine and we will make spaghetti carbonara - again for four and for under 4 Euros.
While preparing the recipe and to keep it genuine, I took the current prices of the ingredients in the Czech republic.
Cooking tips:
While cooking on stove, use always the lid – without it the energy consumption jumps upto 300 %.
One hour of baking depends on the type of appliance and the energy provider. The average energy consumption (per hour at 200 ° C) is about 0.87-0.90 kWh. 1 kWH cost appx EUR 0,16. With a hot air oven, thanks to air circulation, baking will be effective at 180 ° C and therefore energy efficient. Energy consumption will drop to 0.79 kWh and the saving will be around 10%.
Spaghetti carbonara
The recipe for Carbonara contains only few ingredients, but the same as many other Italian sauces, the dish should be served with one only particular kind of pasta – and for today, it is spaghetti.
Ingredients:
- 400 g of spaghetti = EUR 0,59
- 150 g of bacon (we replace original panceta for regular bacon due to our budget) = EUR 1,1
- 6 egg yolks (10ks = EUR 0,78) 6ks = EUR 0,47
- 60 g of grated parmezan = (100 g = EUR 2,7) 60g = EUR 1,62
- little bit of oil
- salt and pepr
Other ingredients (salt, sugar) are usually at home and for these quantities it has not been accounted for.
Electricity consumption for 2 stoves for about half an hour – we can account for no more than 1kWH – cca EUR 0,2.
Method:
First choose a large pot that will comfortably accommodate spaghetti and boil water with salt in it. Once it’s boiling, add spaghetti and cook al dente.
In the meantime prepare a mixture of egg yolks with cheese. Put aside.
Cut the bacon in the shape of noodles or cubes. Fry it in a pan with little bit of oil until it turns crisp. Place aside.
Drain the water from the cooked spaghetti and keep little bit aside for later use.
Put the pasta in the same pan in which the bacon was fried and toss a few times. Add a splash of water from the spaghetti that you have kept aside. Season with salt and pepper.
Remove it from heat and add the mixture of egg yolks and cheese and mix gently. The eggs will cook from the heat of the pan and the spaghetti. The final sauce should be smooth and glossy. Never it should have a look of scrambled eggs on pasta!
Price List
Photos: Shutterstock
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