No Italian would recognise this as Carbonara, but it’s delicious, so who cares?
This took me about 30 minutes including prep, and it’s vegetarian.
For extra smoky flavour, fry the onions in Oak-Smoked Oil.
Serves 3
Ingredients:
1tsp paprika
2tsp Oak-Smoked Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil
225g halloumi
125ml double cream
3tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 onions (sliced)
Ground Black pepper
2 medium eggs
370g Fresh Tagliatelle
Fresh Parsley (chopped and extra to garnish) (optional)
Grated Parmesan or vegetarian alternative for serving (optional)
Directions:
1. Start boiling a saucepan of water for the pasta.
2. Beat together the cream and eggs in a bowl and season generously with pepper
3. Mix the Oak Smoked Oil and paprika in a small bowl.
4. Pat the halloumi dry with a paper towel then cut into 1cm wide slices.
5. Brush the oil and paprika mix onto both sides of each halloumi slice.
6. Place the slices in a non-stick frying pan and cook on a high heat until all the liquid that comes out of the cheese has boiled off and the slices are brown on the bottom. Turn the slices over and brown the other side. Letting it get a bit burnt-looking makes it crispier. Brush any left over paprika-oil mix onto the cheese as it cooks.
7. Remove the cheese from the pan and cut it into smaller pieces. They don’t have to be even.
8. Lower the heat, add the olive oil to the frying pan and fry the onions until they’re soft and translucent (about 10 minutes).
9. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions and drain.
10. Put the saucepan on a really low heat and stir everything together. Stir in the fresh parsley if using. You just want to combine everything and warm it through. If the heat is too high, you’ll end up with scrambled eggs.
11. Plate, garnish with fresh parsley and serve.