Quite frankly, any cheese and pasta combination will always taste great. So, when I had a load of Spanish manchego cheese and cured sausage leftover from a recent grazing table, creating a twist on a traditional carbonara just made sense to make for dinner.
Manchego carbonara is so easy to throw together, takes less than half an hour to make, and is incredibly tasty! You don’t just have to save this manchego carbonara for a quick midweek meal – it would also work well served at a dinner party (perhaps just swapping the usual spaghetti pasta for something a bit nicer, like bucatini or pappardelle).
Read on for the full recipe!
Method
Follow these steps to make our Manchego Carbonara
Start by cooking your pasta of choice according to package instructions in a large pot with a few pinches of salt (salting your water helps enhance the pasta’s flavour!).
A minute or so before your pasta is done, take it off the heat and strain. We want the shapes to remain al dente. Set aside a mugful of pasta water, as this helps to bring the sauce together later on.
Add a glug of quality olive oil to a pan on medium-high heat and add your crushed garlic and sliced cured sausage. Fry until golden brown, which takes around 5-7 minutes.
Tip tip: We already had our fuet cured sausage cut into slices, but I’d recommend finely dicing it instead for a more even distribution throughout the dish.
Whilst your cured sausage and garlic is frying, grate your manchego and parmesan cheese into a bowl before adding two egg yolks, and two eggs. Finish with lashings of black pepper and whisk together. It will likely look like a lumpy sauce at this stage!
Add a dash or two of the starchy pasta water to your egg & manchego mixture and mix together. This warms up the mixture slightly and prevents curdling when we add it to the pan.
Take the pan with the sausage and garlic off the heat, and add your cooked pasta. Bit-by-bit, add your egg & manchego mixture whilst continuously stirring. If the sauce is too thick, gradually add some reserved pasta water, a few tablespoons at a time, until the sauce reaches your desired creamy consistency.
Once a thick, cheesy, glossy sauce has been achieved, dish everything up. Add a few spoonfuls of pasta to each plate, before garnishing with black pepper and a sprinkling of parsley. Manchego carbonara is best enjoyed straight away!
Delicious Weeknight Dinners From Savery Grazing
Whether you’re planning a quick weeknight dinner or hosting a cozy dinner party, this manchego carbonara recipe is a must-try. The unique combination of Spanish manchego cheese and cured sausage adds an interesting (but tasty!) twist to the classic carbonara, making it a dish that’s both comforting and impressive.
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