My love for longganisa knows no bounds, so it was only a matter of time before I figured out a way to combine this classic Filipino sausage with my favorite pasta style – carbonara! We’re borrowing the cooking technique of the classic Roman dish to create a velvety egg and Parmesan-based pasta sauce, but making it Filipino by subbing in garlicky longganisa sausage for the guanciale (or cured pork cheek) used in a traditional carbonara. I also used fusilli instead of spaghetti or bucatini since the corkscrew shape holds the crumbled longganisa sausage in its grooves, so every bite of this Longganisa Fusilli alla “Carbonara” has a punch of that savory goodness from the sausage.
My recipe for longganisa is based on longganisa hamonado, which has a vibrant red color from the use of achuete powder, a natural food coloring from annatto seeds with a subtle nutty peppery flavor, and is typically sweet from the addition of brown sugar. If you’re not a fan of sweet and salty flavors, you can easily reduce or remove the sugar from the recipe to produce a more savory vigan longganisa.
The rest of the ingredients follows a traditional carbonara sauce, from the egg, Parmigiano and black pepper, though I’ve gussied mine up by adding a little fried garlic for garnish, as well as a vibrant orange Japanese taiyouran egg yolk from Waves Pacific to the top of my dish. There’s something just so satisfying about breaking a yolk onto your pasta, which gets cooked with the residual heat from the hot fusilli, but since Japanese eggs are pasteurized, the egg yolk would be safe to eat raw since the bacteria is killed during production. You could also try adding chopped scallions for a pop of color and freshness.
If you leave a rating, please let me know in the comments what you liked/didn’t like about the dish so I can make improvements!
Longganisa Fusilli alla “Carbonara” for One with Garlicky Filipino Sausage and Yolk on Top
Ingredients
- 2 oz. dry fusilli
- 4 oz. cooked longganisa
- 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan or Pecorino, plus more for garnish
- Fresh ground pepper
- Salt
- Fried garlic (optional)
Instructions
- Cook fusilli to al dente according to package instructions in a small pot of well-salted, boiling water. Reserve 1/4 cup pasta water, drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat your longganisa sausage in a skillet with a 1/2 tbsp. olive oil, then add the fusilli, tossing to coat. Remove the pan from heat, then add 1 tbsp. pasta water, 1 beaten egg and 2 oz. fresh grated Parmesan or Pecorino and quickly stir to combine all of the ingredients and emulsify into a sauce, adding more pasta water if needed to achieve the right sauce consistency.
- Transfer to a bowl and top with the egg yolk, fresh ground pepper, sprinkle of fried garlic, and more freshly grated cheese. Serve immediately, breaking the egg yolk into the pasta to combine before digging it.
Notes
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see the final product. Tag your stories and posts on Instagram with #SarapSundayz and @IndulgentEats so I can see them!
