Michelle Tchea
Michelle Tchea is a 4-time bestselling author. Her books include,…
Chef Marco Barbisotti creates black ink spaghetti carbonara with braised leeks, pancetta and poached egg in New York City.
Image: Carbonara – by Chef Marco Barbisotti
Chef Marco Barbisotti creates black ink spaghetti carbonara with braised leeks, pancetta and poached egg in New York City. Learn more about Sant Ambroeus here.

Course Main, Primi
Cuisine Italian
Ingredients
- 1 Lb. Black ink spaghetti
- 1/2 pound of smoky bacon
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 Leeks
- 4 tablespoons Butter
- 4 Organic eggs
- 5 tablespoons of Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
- Vegetable broth
- 4 tablespoons Pecorino cheese
Instructions
- To begin, clean and cut the leeks (Note: only use white and light green parts of the leeks) in a matchsticks (Julienne). Separately, cut smoky bacon in a medium dice. Render pancetta and add leeks. Then, salt and pepper before sautéing slightly.
- To build the pasta sauce, add vegetable broth to the pancetta and leeks, and cook for a few minutes. When the sauce is ready, add cold cubed butter (one piece at a time) and then swirl the sauté pan to emulsify the sauce.
Pasta Preparation:
- Bring 5 quarts of water to a boil. Then, add a generous amount of salt and the spaghetti. Cook until the pasta is al dente, then drain. After this, reserve 2 cups of the pasta water for later use.
To Serve:
- Add the pasta to the sauce, stir and then add pecorino cheese. Sauté over high heat for a minute to melt the flavors, thinning out the sauce as needed with some of the reserved pasta cooking water.
- For the poached egg, bring the water to a slow simmer than add 1 tea spoon of white vinegar add carefully place an egg in the water for 2 minutes. Place the egg on top of the spaghetti Carbonara, add some extra virgin olive oil, fresh pepper and buon appetite!
Michelle Tchea
Michelle Tchea is a 4-time bestselling author. Her books include, Building a Perfect Meal, My Little SoHo Kitchen, Signature Dishes (Australia's Best) and Chefs Collective. Her work can be found in other leading luxury travel and food magazines including Travel+Leisure Asia, SMILE, NUVO Magazine and The Telegraph