Cypriot inspired carbonara

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I recently took a DNA test to find out where my family comes from as a lot of our family’s information got lost when the Turkish invasion happened in 1974. I was always curious and this Christmas my husband gave me the opportunity by buying me a test. Good decision there Kk.

As it turns out I am 57% Cypriot (no surprise there), 18% percent Turkish and 25% Italian woohoo! I guess that’s why I love pasta so much… So, in order to celebrate my Italian roots I decided to share with you a carbonara recipe with a twist. I guess you already know that about me- I like twists haha. This carbonara recipe follows the traditional method but with Cypriot ingredients.

Carbonara originates from Rome and the traditional ingredients are pasta of course, usually spaggeti (fettuccine, rigatoni or bucatini are also used) , hard cheese like pecorino- romano or parmigiano-reggiano, guanciale and eggs. I think Italians can get very offended when people outside Italy start using cream instead of eggs and pancetta or bacon instead of guanciale but we are only trying to replicate a much loved dish outside Italy.

For this recipe, I am replicating the Parmigianno-regianno with haloumi cheese , keeping the eggs and substituting the guanciale with lountza. Lountza is traditionally Cypriot and is basically dried smoked tenderloin.

So, let’s get cooking!

Dina x

Cypriot inspired carbonara

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Serves: 4 Prep Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 30 min 30 min

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 4 voted )

Ingredients

• 500 gr Italian rigatoni
• 100 gr lountza
• 150 gr grated haloumi cheese
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 2 eggs
• 2 garlic cloves
• some parsley finely chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Step 1

In a pan, add some water and salt and bring to the boil. Add the pasta and cook to your preference.

Step 2

Whilst the pasta cooks, in another pan add the chopped onion and lountza with the olive oil. Saute until the lountza begins to cook and turns golden. Then, add the garlic and saute for 1 more minute. Remove from the heat.

Step 3

In a bowl, beat the eggs and add most of the haloumi (keep some to serve). Add a bit of salt and lots of pepper. Mix well.

Step 4

When the pasta is ready, drain and add it to the lountza and onion mixture. Add the egg and haloumi mixture and mix quickly until all the ingredients are combined.

Step 5

Serve with a bit chopped parsley and some more haloumi cheese.

Enjoy x

Notes

If you cannot find lountza where you live try the polish sopocka as it's quite similar.