Smoked eel carbonara

Blend the smoked salt, sugar and black pepper together. Sprinkle this mixture on, under and around the 10 egg yolks

Transfer to the fridge and let the egg yolks cure for 3 days

Remove the egg yolks from the salt mixture and rinse off any excess cure, then let dry

Dehydrate the egg yolks in a dehydrator set to 30°C for 12 hours

Once the egg yolks are dried and cured, smoke the egg yolks with oak chips using a smoking gun. Blast the egg yolks with smoke every 10 minutes over a period of 1 hour, or until the egg yolks have a dark residue on the outside. Set aside

To make the smoked eel oil, vacuum pack the smoked eel bones and trim together with the rapeseed oil

Transfer to a sous vide heated to 85°C, and infuse the oil for 2 hours

Once infused, pass the oil through a fine mesh strainer and chill in in the fridge

While the smoked eel oil infuses, mix together the flour, egg yolk, olive oil and salt. Feed through a pasta extruder using a die for casarecce, and cut the casarecce when they’re the length you want. You might need to adjust the amount of flour or liquid to get the right consistency for your pasta machine

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to the boil

Add the pasta to the water in batches, and cook each batch for 90 seconds

Drain the pasta, and then transfer to a tray to cool. Drizzle the cooked pasta with olive oil to stop it sticking

Portion the pasta out to 60g servings

To make the carbonara base, bring the chicken stock to the boil with the smoked eel bones, skin and head, parmesan rind and salt

Simmer until the stock has reduced to 200ml, and then pass through a fine mesh sieve

Add the sauce back to a pan, and whisk the butter into the sauce a few cubes at a time to emulsify it. Alternatively, use a stick blender to blend the butter into the sauce

Heat the smoked oil to 65°C in a low oven

Add the egg yolks to the warmed oil

Cook the egg yolks in the oil at 65°C for one hour, or until the yolks have a jammy texture. Set aside

Once the smoked eel oil is cool, whisk the ingredients for the smoked eel vinaigrette together with 200g smoked eel oil

Dress the julienned beetroot in the smoked eel vinaigrette to taste

Add the sugar and vinegar to a pan and bring to a boil. Pour the syrup over the preserved lemon rind and set aside

To make the rye crumble, mix the flour, salt and water together to form a crumble. Heat up the smoked eel oil in a pan, and then add the crumble. Fry until golden and crisp

Strain the excess oil from the crumble, and then set aside on paper towels to drain

To make the carbonara, first remove the skin from the smoked eel fillet, as well as the layer of fat underneath it

Chill the skinned fillet and then, using a sharp knife, dice it up

Bring 100g of the carbonara base to the boil, and add 240g of the casarecce, the parmesan and 50g of the diced, smoked eel

Stir until the pasta is warmed through and the cheese has melted. Add the chopped chives and stir to combine

Warm four bowls for serving the pasta, and then spoon the carbonara into the bowls

Top each serving with a confit egg yolk, and then scatter over some of the pickled preserved lemon and rye crumble

Finish by grating over some of the smoked, cured egg yolk and garnishing with the dressed candy beetroot and some dill fronds