Penne pasta mixed with summer squash and zucchini and tossed with a traditional carbonara sauce. One of my favorite pastas!
Ingredients
2medium zucchini or squash
8oz.penne pasta
4large egg yolks
1/2cupgrated Parmesan cheese, plus garnish
4-6slicesthick bacon
Few sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Instructions
Chop your zucchini and fresh squash into half-circles about the size of the penne pasta. Also chop your bacon into cubes.
Whisk your egg yolks, 1/2 Cup Parmesan, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a separate bowl. Set aside for later.
Cook Penne according to the box.
In a large pan with high sides, cook bacon over medium-low heat until very crispy and brown. Remove bacon from pan.
When your pasta is done, drain it and reserve about 1 Cup of cooking water.
Add veggies to the pan with the bacon grease along with a few thyme sprigs if you want and some salt and pepper.
Cook the veggies over medium-high heat for just a minute or two. Any longer than that and they’ll get soggy and mushy.
Combine pasta with veggies and add your bacon back in.
Whisk 1/2 cup of pasta water to the egg sauce. Turn off the heat and slowly add in your egg yolk mixture, stirring furiously while you add it. If you do this over the heat, your eggs will just cook, but they should into a creamy sauce if the pan isn’t on direct heat.
If it looks too thick, add a bit of reserved pasta water to make the sauce thicker.
Sprinkle carbonara with more cheese and serve immediately.