1 large egg and 3 large yolks, room temperature
1 ounce grated pecorino romano, plus additional for serving
1 ounce grated parmesan
Coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 ounces of slab guanciale (recipe), pancetta or bacon will do in pinch but not fatty enough really), sliced into pieces about 1/4 inch thick by 1/3 inch square
1 lb. dry pasta or 24 oz fresh pasta
4 cloves garlic
1 cup of shelled peas (optional)
Place a large pot of lightly salted water (no more than 1 tablespoon salt) over high heat,and bring to a boil.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and pecorino and parmesan. Season with a pinch of salt and generous black pepper.
Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat, add the pork, and sauté until the fat renders, on the edge of crispness but not hard. Remove from oil and set aside
Add garlic and sauté in pork fat until opaque. Remove from oil and set aside
Remove all but 3 Tbs of pork fat and set aside in case you feel you would like to add some back
Remove from heat and set aside.
Get water to rolling boil
Add pasta to the water and boil until a touch firmer than al dente or as you like it.
When the pasta is still a couple of minutes short of target, rewarm the guanciale garlic mixture with medium heat setting
Before draining remove and reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water and let cool
Add this 1/2 cup of pasta water to egg and cheese mixture, mix
When ready, drain the pasta while reserving 2 additional cups of pasta water
Add the drained pasta and another 1/2 cup of reserved pasta to the frying pan with garlic and guanciale and cook while stirring for a minute or so until pasta has consistency that you desire.
Turn off heat and mix in the egg and cheese mixture
Add, bit by bit starting with a couple of quarter cups of water and ending with Tbs measures, the remaining reserved pasta water. Use only as much water as you need to attain the rich creamy texture. The object here is to achieve creaminess with the starchy pasta water quickly enough to serve a warm dish while not cooking the egg mixture and not so slowly that you have perfect creaminess and are serving a tepid meal
Serve immediately, dressing it with a bit of additional grated Pecorino and pepper
The trick here is adding a mixture of egg white and yolk to a hot pan containing the pork fat, fried garlic and the hot drained pasta without "scrambling" the eggs. The way to do so is by tempering the egg and cheese mixture with about 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Take out this quantity of pasta water out while cooking the pasta and let it cool before mixing.
You can now confidently add this mixture, bit by bit, to the saute pan after you have reheated the pork fat and garlic mixture and added to them the drained pasta.
This whole finishing step takes only minutes, so If you are using dry pasta, that is the gating item and getting the pasta started is the first step. If you are using fresh pasta, the first step will be cooking or rewarming the guanciale garlic in the finishing pan.
We have always added about a cup of shelled peas to this mixture at the end. So make the peas, keep them warm and toss them in with the pasta and cheese mixture at the end.
