Beautiful courgette carbonara | Jamie Oliver pasta recipes (2024)

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Beautiful courgette carbonara

Made the proper Italian way with penne

Beautiful courgette carbonara | Jamie Oliver pasta recipes (2)

Made the proper Italian way with penne

“Carbonara is a classic pasta sauce made with cream, bacon and Parmesan and is absolutely delicious. I've added gorgeous courgettes for a summery twist. Try to buy the best ingredients you can, as that’s what really helps to make this dish amazing. I’m using a flowering variety of thyme but normal thyme is fine to use. When it comes to the type of pasta, you can serve carbonara with spaghetti or linguine, but I’ve been told by Italian mammas (who I don’t argue with!) that penne is the original, so that’s what I’m using in this recipe. Before you start cooking, it’s important to get yourself a very large pan, or use a high-sided roasting tray so you can give the pasta a good toss. ”

Serves 6

Cooks In20 minutes

DifficultyNot too tricky

Jamie at HomeItalianPorkCourgetteMains

Nutrition per serving
  • Calories 459 23%

  • Fat 14.3g 20%

  • Saturates 5.4g 27%

  • Sugars 6.5g 7%

  • Salt 0.8g 13%

  • Protein 20.4g 41%

  • Carbs 66g 25%

  • Fibre 4.2g -

Of an adult's reference intake

Recipe From

Jamie at Home

By Jamie Oliver

Ingredients

  • 6 medium green and yellow courgettes
  • 500 g penne
  • 4 large eggs
  • 100 ml single cream
  • 1 small handful of Parmesan cheese
  • olive oil
  • 6 slices of back bacon
  • ½ a bunch of fresh thyme , (15g)
  • a few courgette flowers , (optional)

Tap For Method

The cost per serving below is generated by Whisk.com and is based on costs in individual supermarkets. For more information about how we calculate costs per serving read our FAQS

Recipe From

Jamie at Home

By Jamie Oliver

Tap For Ingredients

Method

  1. Put a large pan of salted water on to boil.
  2. Halve and then quarter any larger courgettes lengthways. Cut out and discard any fluffy middle bits, and slice the courgettes at an angle into pieces roughly the same size and shape as the penne. Smaller courgettes can simply be sliced finely.
  3. Your water will now be boiling, so add the penne to the pan and cook according to the packet instructions.
  4. To make your creamy carbonara sauce, separate the eggs and put the yolks into a bowl (saving the whites for another recipe). Add the cream and grate in half the Parmesan, and mix together with a fork. Season lightly with sea salt and black pepper, and put to one side.
  5. Heat a very large frying pan (a 35cm one is a good start – every house should have one!) and add a good splash of olive oil. Cut the pancetta or bacon into chunky lardons and fry until dark brown and crisp.
  6. Add the courgette slices and 2 big pinches of black pepper, not just to season but to give it a bit of a kick. Pick, chop and sprinkle in the thyme leaves (reserving any flowers), give everything a stir, so the courgettes become coated with all the lovely bacon-flavoured oil, and fry until they start to turn lightly golden and have softened slightly.
  7. It’s very important to get this next bit right or your carbonara could end up ruined. You need to work quickly. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water. Immediately, toss the pasta in the pan with the courgettes, bacon and lovely flavours, then remove from the heat and add a ladleful of the reserved cooking water and your creamy sauce. Stir together quickly. (No more cooking now, otherwise you’ll scramble the eggs.)
  8. Get everyone around the table, ready to eat straight away. While you’re tossing the pasta and sauce, grate in the rest of the Parmesan and add a little more of the cooking water if needed, to give you a silky and shiny sauce. Taste quickly for seasoning.
  9. If you’ve managed to get any courgette flowers, tear them over the top, then serve and eat immediately, as the sauce can become thick and stodgy if left too long.

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Recipe From

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© 2024 Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited

© 2024 Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited

Beautiful courgette carbonara | Jamie Oliver pasta recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick about carbonara sauce? ›

Whisk Like You Mean It

You're using more egg yolks than whites here, which is what makes carbonara so rich and luxurious. But there's still two eggs-worth of whites in there. Whisking your eggs so that the whites are completely incorporated into the yolks will give your sauce a more uniform texture.

What should not be added to carbonara? ›

What not to put in Spaghetti Carbonara? Don't put garlic, cream, milk or butter. It is not needed. It is fine if you want to make a dish with those ingredients, but if you want to learn how to make this dish correctly, use only pecorino, eggs/egg yolks, black pepper, guanciale, and pasta water.

How do I make my carbonara better? ›

Add Parmesan to your whisked eggs at the very beginning of the recipe. This helps the distinctive salty cheese infuse the whole dish, giving it an intense richness for a truly perfect carbonara. Flavour your pancetta (or bacon) with garlic while it fries, but take the cloves out before adding your pasta.

What's the difference between carbonara and alfredo sauce? ›

Cooking process: Thick, creamy Alfredo sauce involves cooking down butter and heavy cream in a sauté pan or saucepan to make a thick, rich cream sauce. On the other hand, carbonara involves combining pasta and a bit of pasta water with rendered guanciale, raw eggs, and grated cheese.

What kind of cheese is good in carbonara? ›

Pecorino Romano: This aged sheep's cheese is always traditionally used in the Roman pastas, and its salty, grassy, earthy flavor is absolutely delicious in carbonara. That said, if Pecorino is unavailable at your local grocery store, you can use Parmesan as a non-traditional substitute.

How to stop eggs from scrambling in carbonara? ›

Using a large mixing bowl and setting it over the boiling pasta water to create a makeshift double boiler helps prevent you from accidentally scrambling the eggs.

Do you put raw eggs in carbonara? ›

What distinguishes carbonara from other pasta dishes is its technique of combining eggs, hard cheese, cured pork, and black pepper into a rich, silky sauce. This recipe calls for raw eggs that are gently cooked by the hot sauce. If you prefer, you can use pasteurized eggs instead.

What vegetables are good in carbonara? ›

There's no weeknight dinner more comforting than creamy, cheesy carbonara. We've added fresh mint, peas and broccoli to give this Italian classic a summery twist.

What does adding egg to carbonara do? ›

Because the eggs and cheese are now mixed together, they will both emulsify on contact with the starchy water, creating a smooth sauce. Transfer the pasta into the pancetta pan.

Why do people put cream in carbonara? ›

While adding cream dilutes the flavor and the richness of an actual carbonara it does offer two benefits to the english pasta eating community that are important to them, and not important to Italians. It makes the dish easy to make. Carbonara is a very technique driven dish.

What meat should be in carbonara? ›

Carbonara is traditionally made with guanciale, or cured pork jowl, though pancetta is often substituted, and both are fatty, salty and deeply savoury.

Should there be garlic in carbonara? ›

Must-have ingredients

that there are only five ingredients: pasta, pork cheek, eggs, cheese and pepper. That's it. A real carbonara does not contain onion, garlic, or cream.

What can I add to bland carbonara? ›

So next time you make carbonara and don't have a nice, sour cheese on hand, try adding in a teaspoon of vinegar, whether you're heating up a premade mix or making it from scratch. And if you have sauce leftover, try mixing it with some mochi.

What is the ratio of eggs to carbonara? ›

The eggs vigorously mixed with the guanciale fat and pasta water is what creates the magical sauce! Notice there is NO cream in this Carbonara – you won't need it! I like to use a ratio of 1 whole egg to 3 egg yolks because it balances the richness.

How to stop carbonara sauce from curdling? ›

Now the the trickiest step is adding the egg and cheese mixture to the pasta to create the famous carbonara sauce. I personally find it works best if I add the beaten eggs while the pasta is taken off the burner. This way you get gentle heat that will cook the egg but not curdle it.

How does Gordon Ramsay make carbonara sauce? ›

How to make Gordon Ramsay's 10-minute Carbonara
  1. 125g of spaghetti (4.41 ounces)
  2. 80g of streaky bacon or pancetta (2.82 ounces)
  3. 30g of frozen peas (1.06 ounces)
  4. Two eggs.
  5. Two mushrooms.
  6. One chili.
  7. Two garlic gloves.
  8. One and a half tablespoons of creme fraiche.
Nov 7, 2023

Why don t Italians use cream in carbonara? ›

Authentic Italian carbonara does not contain cream. The absence of cream in traditional carbonara is a matter of culinary tradition and the desire to preserve the simplicity and purity of the dish's flavors.

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