Vegetarian Spaghetti alla Carbonara
I love pasta with cheese sauces. Baked Ziti, Alfredo, Carbonara, Mac n Cheese… This factoid kind of sucks for my coworker Mia, who always wants me to make her lunch, but doesn’t really like cheese. Sorry Mia..
This vegetarian version of Spaghetti alla Carbonara was so easy and super tasty. The bold Paremsan pairs perfectly with the smoky veggie bacon. I also liked it a lot more once I realized how much healthier it is than Alfredo. Where Alfredo uses butter to make it’s creamy sauce, Carbonara uses egg yolks in place.
It’s important when making this dish to prepare everything while hot. This way when adding the egg mixture the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.
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Vegetarian Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 pound dry spaghetti
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces vegetarian bacon, prepared and sliced into small strips
4 egg yolks
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving
Freshly ground black pepper
Preparation:
- Prepare pasta in a large pot until cooked al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over Medium heat. Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss to coat the strands in the olive oil. Beat the egg yolks and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg & cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble
- Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the Carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mix in the vegetarian bacon strips. Top with a sprinkling of cheese.
Filed under: Recipe on October 22nd, 2010
