Recipe: Spaghetti carbonara from Il Massimo chef/co-owner Joe DeQuattro
"At first, I wasn’t sure if some guests would be turned off by a dish made with raw eggs," said Esther DeQuattro, co-owner at Il Massimo.
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Husband and wife team Esther and Joe DeQuattro had already achieved success with their award-winning Providence, R.I. restaurant, Il Massimo, when they decided to open a second location at Legacy Place in Dedham last year. A couple of months after the Dedham restaurant’s one-year anniversary, COVID-19 hit; now, in addition to keeping their kids up to speed on schoolwork, the DeQuattros are doing all they can to supply comfort food to their communities.
Family-style platters, rich pastas, and saucy eggplant parmesan are all on the Italian restaurant’s takeout and delivery menus, alongside espresso-drenched tiramisu and homemade marinara and bolognese sauces offered by the quart. Esther said that the continuous support from customers has helped keep spirits high.
“[It] means the world to us that they’re thinking of us during this time,” she said. “We didn’t expect such a huge wave of thanks for remaining open, so it’s extremely touching that our community has been so appreciative and happy to be able to take our food home.”
To help diners recreate a slice of Il Massimo outside the restaurant, Esther shared Joe’s recipe for spaghetti carbonara while dishing on their family’s pantry staples and the restaurant’s biggest learning curve.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Il Massimo owners, Joe and Esther DeQuattro.
How are you holding up?
We’re doing alright, thanks. We are very lucky to have healthy children, family, and friends, and that support is extremely meaningful to us right now.
What do you miss most about being in your restaurant(s) right now?
Human interaction! Our staff, our guests, the hustle and bustle of a room full of happy people. We are normally open for lunch and dinner daily, so seeing our dining room closed every day is surreal.
How has takeout been going?
We’ve always offered takeout, but that was only a small percentage of our service operation. It’s certainly been a learning curve for us as we’ve worked hard to implement the best practices of operating strictly off-premise. We continue to learn and improve every day and make adjustments as needed.
What has been a constant in your fridge/pantry as you’ve been cooking more at home?
Pasta has definitely been a family favorite. My husband does the cooking and I chase him around the kitchen cleaning up after him. Chefs can make a huge mess when they cook at home! My kids love broccoli rabe so we enjoy making pasta tossed with rabe, and we may add chicken or sausage depending on what we have available.
Tell us about this recipe.
This is a very dear dish to us. It’s one of our absolute favorites, so we knew from the beginning that we had to have it on our menu. At first, I wasn’t sure if some guests would be turned off by a dish made with raw eggs, so I suggested modifying it by adding ingredients that might have more appeal, like using cream instead of raw eggs and adding peas. My husband convinced me that we should be true to the Roman tradition and follow our family recipe, confident that our guests would love it as much as we do. I’m so glad he did, because our carbonara has been a huge hit since we opened early last year. We serve it with a beautiful egg yolk on top that you can break and mix in with your fork. It adds such an amazing creaminess that we love. I have to force myself not to eat it every day!
Spaghetti carbonara
Serves two
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 pound of guanciale (if you don’t have guanciale, diced pancetta or thick cut bacon can be used)
3 to 4 eggs
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/2 pound spaghetti (or bucatini or fettuccine)
Salt and black pepper to taste
Directions:
Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. Add one tablespoon of salt for every two quarts of water. While the water is coming to a boil, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the guanciale (bacon or pancetta) and cook slowly until crispy.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs and mix in about half of the cheese. This will produce a creamy consistency; you can add more egg yolk for an even creamier result.
Once the water has reached a boil, add the dry pasta and cook, uncovered. When the pasta is al dente (still a little firm, not mushy), use tongs to move it to the sauté pan with the guanciale. (It’s okay if the pasta brings a little water and is dripping wet.) Toss the pasta with the guanciale so the fat and flavor mix in.
Move the pasta and guanciale from the pan to the bowl containing the beaten eggs with cheese and toss quickly to combine, as you want the pasta to be hot. You don’t want to add the sauce to the pasta while it’s in the pan because the eggs will scramble from the heat.
Top with an egg yolk and remaining cheese and black pepper.
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