Vegetarian Carbonara
This vegetarian carbonara is the perfect alternative to a traditional guanciale carbonara. The nuttiness from the freshly ground pepper and spicy aromatic flavor of the garlic truly come together to emulate a guanciale flavor. Once that creamy sauce makes love to the pasta, this dish becomes the most amazing vegetarian pasta recipe; my spin on the traditional for anyone unable to eat pork.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 15 min
- Yield
- 2 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 Large zucchini (Or two medium )
- 200 grams Dry pasta (7.05oz I used fileja Calabresi)
- 3 Eggs (2 egg yolks, 1 entire egg)
- 5 tbsp Pecorino romano (Up to 6 heaped tbsp.)
- 2 cloves Garlic (1 per person)
- Sunflower oil (to fry the zucchini)
- Extra virgin olive oil (as much as required)
- Salt and pepper (as much as required)
Instructions
- 1
Cut the zucchini into thin disks, place the disks on top of one another, and slice them thinly
- 2
Make sure the oil is hot, and fry the zucchini strips.
- 3
Once the zucchini turns crispy brown, take them out and rest them on a paper towel over a plate.
- 4
Start boiling water and add 1 tablespoon of rock salt.
- 5
Once the water is boiling, and you have prepped your sauce add the pasta and follow the cooking instructions on the package.
- 6
After the pasta is cooked, strain the pasta, but be sure to keep about 1 mug of pasta water for the sauce.
- 7
Combine 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg. (The egg white can be used to make amaretti while the egg yolks are used for carbonara!) Then add a generous amount of pepper.
- 8
Add some pecorino cheese - a small amount at a time so it can be thick but still runny. This will turn into cream, so make sure it doesn’t get too thick.
- 9
Leave some pecorino on the side so that you can use it as a topping for your pasta.
- 10
Cut the garlic, so it is very, very thin, and then smash it and/or cut it even smaller.
- 11
Heat a frying pan on low heat and add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil letting the smell of garlic fill the room.
- 12
After approx 30 seconds, add the zucchini. Once cooked, take them out and place them on a plate with a new paper towel.
- 13
Add the pasta to the frying pan and add about half a mug of pasta water. Stir the this through.
- 14
Take the pan off the heat and add some pecorino cheese then mix everything together.
- 15
Add the egg mixture into the pan then combine. The water and egg will combine and create a beautiful cream.
- 16
Then sprinkle some more of the pecorino and zucchini then mix everything together, and you have a beautiful vegetarian carbonara!
- 17
To serve, carefully scoop some of the carbonara onto the center of the plate and top it off with some pepper, pecorino, and zucchini.