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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
zucchini carbonara
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This lovingly bastardized version of the Roman classic puts it solidly in the realm of American comfort food, along with macaroni and cheese.
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serves 4
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prep time: 10 minutes |
cook time: 20 minutes |
salt
3 strips thick-cut (butcher) bacon
3/4 pound zucchini
1/2 yellow onion
olive oil
12 ounces dried fettuccine or linguine
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus extra
Freshly grated black pepper
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Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the bacon lengthwise in half, then crosswise into little pieces. Cut the zucchini into small dice. Set both aside, separately. Finely chop the 1/2 onion.
In a wide saute pan or frying pan over medium-high heat, warm about 3 tablespoons oil and add the onion. Stir a minute or two until starting to soften, then add bacon. Cook, stirring often, until bacon starts to get brown, but not crisp. Add zucchini and about a 1/4 cup of water to deglaze any brown bits in the bottom of the pan and cook, stirring, until zucchini is just tender, about 5 minutes. Turn off heat and set pan aside.
Drop pasta into boiling water and stir to separate noodles. While pasta is cooking, warm a bowl that’s large enough to hold the pasta by filling it with hot water. Pour out water and wipe bowl dry. Crack the eggs into bowl and whisk in the 1/2 cup cheese with a fork. Grind in a fair amount of black pepper, then whisk again until blended.
When pasta is just al dente (err on the side of undercooking it), drain it and at the same time, turn on the heat under the bacon mixture. Put the drained pasta in the bowl with the eggs and toss and toss with tongs; the heat will start to scramble the eggs on the pasta (if you are concerned about the eggs, you can put the pasta mixture back into the pasta pot and cook over low heat, tossing constantly, until the eggs scramble on the noodles). When the bacon mixture sizzles, use a slotted spoon to transfer the contents of the pan to the pasta. Toss well again, then divide among heated bowls and serve with more cheese grated over each portion. |
Note: for a vegetarian version, increase the amount of olive oil to 5 tablespoons and saute the onions until starting to turn golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook until it starts to browns slightly. Then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
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