A creamy pasta dish with no cream! This pasta is a quick and easy dinner option with things you probably already have in your kitchen.
Vegetable Carbonara
Carbonara is an Italian Pasta Dish traditionally made with some kind of cured pork, eggs, Parmigiano reggiano or pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper. The cured pork is the base flavor of the dish, the eggs with the cheese emulsify to make the sauce, the cheese acts as salt, and the pepper adds a kick. The dish is simple, meant to be creamy and satisfying without being too heavy. In America, carbonara is often prepared with cream in the sauce and served with mushrooms and peas. Though not traditional, the addition of these vegetables makes the dish more filling and provides some nutrients. In my rendition, I decided to stick with the Italian method, but use the American presentation. My dish can be made with a variety of vegetable additives or even the use of shrimp or chicken to add protein. However, the bacon, eggs, and cheese must be present to make the dish a carbonara.
Ingredients:
8 oz spaghetti
4 slices bacon,chopped
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp garlic, minced
4 ea mushrooms, chopped
1 cup frozen broccoli, chopped
2 eggs
⅓ cup parmesan, shredded
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 cup salted pasta water
salt/pepper tt
Procedure:
1. Grab a large sauce pot, fill it with water, and then heavily salt the water. Bring this water to a boil.
2. While water is coming to a boil, microwave the frozen broccoli in order to thaw it. Once the broccoli is thawed, squeeze out as much water as you can from it, so when you cook it, it does not water down the dish.
3. In the now boiling water, add spaghetti and cook until al dente around 7-8 mins. Strain the pasta and reserve 1 cup of the water. The pasta should be slightly less done than you want it to be in the end, because it is going to cook again.
4. While pasta is cooking, in a small bowl or cup, mix eggs, parmesan, salt, and pepper. Beat this mixture together with a fork, then set aside.
5. In a medium sautoir, heat the butter and sweat the garlic until fragrant.
6. Into the garlic, cook down mushrooms until they have realized most of their moisture, then add in broccoli and spaghetti. Sauté all these ingredients together until they are thoroughly mixed.
7. Turn the heat under spaghetti off. While moving the spaghetti around the pan, pour in egg mixture and salted pasta water. As you mix the spaghetti around, you will see the eggs and water emulsify with the cheese to create a creamy sauce. The residual heat in the pasta will cook the eggs.
*At this stage make sure to work quickly, because if the egg mixture gets to hot or sits in one place to long; it will become scrambled eggs.
8. As soon as the mixture is looks creamy, is warm throughout, and all the cheese has melted, remove the carbonara from the pan and serve with shredded parmesan on top.
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