“The result may disorient you, but I consider it a fun and tasty taste”. Jordi Roca transforms carbonara into a dessert... using plantains!
Photo of the dish: @Joan Pujol Creus
The dish: carbonara, from first course to dessert
Say “carbonara” and you automatically think of the eternal debate about the perfect recipe. Long or short pasta? Bacon or pancetta? Only yolks or egg whites too? Everyone, from the home cook to the expert chef, will give a different answer each time: there is no magic formula to generate the much-loved contrast between silkiness and crunchiness, nor to maintain the right consistency of the sauce while avoiding the “carbo-cream” effect. And yet, each version tells a story of trials, successes and failures that contributes to fueling the hype of this delicious first course that generates so much debate.
But one thing is certain: Jordi Roca has everyone else completely stumped with his semi-sweet variety, where the golden color comes from nothing less than...plantains! Yes, that's right: the exotic fruit obtained from some particular cultivars of banana (containing more starch and less sugar than the original species) acts as a real “substitute” for the carbohydrate; in fact it is sliced and placed in the center of the plate, while the peel is used to make a thick syrup to use as a topping. The sauce created by the great pastry chef of El Celler de Can Roca is based on Campo Capela cream flavored with vanilla and combines perfectly with the pancetta cooked in butter and sugar.
Blasphemy or genius? We are undoubtedly faced with an atypical dessert, which emphasizes the play of references between form and substance: to look at it, it really does look like a savory dish. The comment of the youngest of the Roca brothers? “The result may disorient you, but I consider it a fun and tasty taste.” Let's look at the procedure in detail, following the steps reported on the BBVA website, for which the signature sweet carbonara was prepared.
Jordi Roca's plantain carbonara recipe
For the carbonara sauce
- 50 g butter
- 13 g sugar
- 80 g bacon
- 1 vanilla pod
- 250 g Campo Capela cream
Melt the butter together with the sugar. Cut the smoked bacon into julienne strips and fry it in the butter with the sugar. Add the cream with the vanilla pod and reduce to two thirds. Set aside.
For the coffee and rum sauce
- 60 grams honey
- 40 grams butter
- 55 g ground coffee
- 55 g rum
- 1 vanilla pod
Place the honey and rum in a hot pan and flambé. Add the coffee and vanilla pod and boil for 20 seconds. Add the butter and reduce until it has a honey-like consistency.
For the stewed plantain in coffee and rum sauce
- 200 g coffee and rum sauce
- 1 plantain (the “Canarian banana”)
Cut the plantain into 1 cm wide cylinders. Add to the sauce and boil for 10 minutes. Leave to cool. Set aside.
Assembly and finishing
Cut the banana into slices using a grater or a potato peeler and arrange the slices in the center of the plate. Pour the carbonara sauce on top and place a slice of stewed plantain on the coffee and rum sauce. Season with more coffee and rum sauce.
For the plantain peel syrup
- 200 g plantain peel
- 200 g sugar
Wash the peel, dry it and peel the banana. Cut into 1 cm thick slices. Mix with the same weight of sugar and leave to stand at room temperature for 24 hours. Strain and keep in the fridge. Garnish the sweet carbonara as you like.
The El Celler de Can Roca website
