When it was plated the veggie-lovers fell upon it like two hungry wolves and the sense of longing from the non-veg eaters was tangible.
The purist in me cannot call this carbonara, but that’s how it came about: a promise to cook carbonara with crisped guanciale (cured pork cheek) for a friend, and us wanting to share the love with his vegetarian daughters.
I cooked the carbonara, while Brandon took up the challenge of making it with courgettes, turning it into a lesson on mastering the art of a silky, spaghetti-hugging sauce.
When it was plated the veggie-lovers fell upon it like two hungry wolves and the sense of longing from the non-veg eaters was tangible.
That summer-holiday memory remained long after plates were scraped clean. So guess what we cooked for our New Year’s Eve dinner a few days later? The veggie version, using some sunshine-yellow pattypans that had traveled home with us.
It is that good, especially when uncorking a bottle of Kumusha Chenin Blanc to go with it. And it got us thinking that when cooked just right, courgettes may even rival pork cheek, but you be the judge.
We learned the foundation carbonara method from chef Andrea Volpe, which you can read about here. With this particular take, the focus is on browning courgette cubes (as pictured above) to develop deeper layers of flavour.
Here are the key moves:
Get good browning
Create delicious fat
Make a savoury custard
(The quantities below are to feed two.)
The courgettes
Create delicious fat
As Andrea says: ‘The fat is where the flavour is!’ Carbonara centres around a cut of pork (guanciale) that is more fat that meat. That fat renders out in the cooking and, as we observed with Andrea, adding that (cooled) fat back into the eggs is the magic-trick moment.
The courgettes need fat that is as flavoursome: salted cultured butter. (Guanciale is cured so we want the salt.) And by the time the courgettes are finished cooking the butter will be infused with all kinds of caramelised flavours too.
Get good browning
Andrea cooks the cubed pork until the colour of hazelnuts, and the same applies here. Good browning all over each piece of courgette (as pictured above) is what delivers a complex savoury quality to play off the vegetable’s inherent sweetness.
In direct contrast to last week’s low-and-slow technique this takes a higher heat to get good colour on the courgettes but perhaps as much patience when turning them individually to make sure there’s at least a touch of dark gold on each side.
Just like guanciale, the cubes of courgettes do shrink in the cooking, so they can be cut into fair-sized squares to start with.
Wash and dry 200g firm and shiny courgettes, quarter them lengthways and cut into equal-sized 1cm wide pieces or triangular wedges.
Add 40g salted cultured butter (around two generous tablespoons) to a medium-sized pan and heat over a medium-high heat until it melts and starts to bubble. Add the courgettes and cook, turning onto each side until each piece looks evenly browned. It sounds a little finicky, turning over every courgette piece, but it’s worth it.
When you’re happy with the browning, take the pan off the heat and tilt it, scraping the courgettes up towards the handle side so all the butter separates out and runs towards the other side. Tip this into a small heatproof bowl and cool slightly before adding it to the eggs. You can leave the courgettes in the pan until adding them to the spaghetti and the sauce, towards the end of the cooking.
The sauce
Make a savoury custard
Cooking the eggs very gently, as you would a custard, is what gives the sauce a silky texture and smooths out that back-of-the-throat-raw-egg-taste you get if the eggs don’t ever really cook. To avoid cooking the eggs at too high a heat, cook the eggs in a heatproof bowl that fits snugly on top of a small pot (we use a large, glass mixing bowl).
First fill the pot with water until about a third full – the water shouldn’t touch the bottom of the bowl (it is heated by the steam, not direct contact with the boiling water). Only place the bowl on top of the pot of boiling water when you need to start cooking the egg mixture.
Add four egg yolks to the bowl and whisk in 35g finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano and 35g finely grated Pecorino Romano until it resembles a paste. Whisk in the courgette cooking butter, 30ml (two tablespoons) cold water, and a generous grinding of black pepper.
The finish
Cook spaghetti and sauce side by side
The spaghetti and sauce cook separately but at the same time and for around the same amount of time. They are tossed together briefly (over the steam) with some pasta water just before serving.
Have everything ready, because once the cooking starts it helps to maintain the flow until reaching the finish line.
Heat a large, stockpot-sized pot filled with water over the highest heat until the water comes to a rolling boil. Salt generously. Heat the water in the pot that the bowl will sit on. Once the water in both pots is boiling, you’re ready to start cooking.
Add 200g spaghetti to the large pot, replace the lid until the water comes back to a rolling boil. As soon as it does, remove the lid, stir the spaghetti around and set the timer for seven minutes.
Place the bowl with the egg mixture on top of the small pot of boiling water, start stirring the mixture with a sauce whisk and keep whisking constantly. The cheese will begin to melt and eventually the mixture will begin to ‘custardise’ i.e. start looking smoother, paler, thickened and creamy.
Over a low heat this should happen in roughly the time it takes the pasta to cook. If you have one, use a kitchen thermometer to check the sauce stays below 64°C during cooking (to ensure a smooth sauce). If not, watch the egg mixture closely and if gets too hot or starts cooking too quickly, take the bowl off the heat for a few minutes (while whisking) to allow it to cool down. Once it’s reached the right consistency, take the bowl off the pot.
Use pasta water to finish the sauce
As soon as the spaghetti is cooked, scoop out one cup of the cooking water, and drain the pasta in a colander. Leave both the water and the pasta to cool slightly so they don’t raise the temperature of the egg custard when added.
Transfer the pasta to the egg custard in the bowl and place the bowl on top of the small pot (with the water in it back at a simmer). Add some pasta water, say two tablespoons to start and, if necessary, going up to four tablespoons and use a pair of tongs to mix and stir everything around.
Err on the side of sauciness
Toss the spaghetti and egg custard until the sauce is coating each strand of spaghetti with some residual sauce around the pasta. From the moment the pasta hits the plate the sauce will start ‘setting’ and thickening up, so you need to allow for that. If in doubt, err on the saucy side!
Add the courgettes in two halves
Add half the courgettes, toss around and serve onto plates. Add the rest of the courgettes over the top to add colour and texture. Finish with some more finely grated Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper and serve immediately.
This is the second part in our courgette series, to see last week’s story (that included a three-ingredient supper) click the link below. Still to come: can courgette stand in for pork sausage too? And how to work with the blossoms.