So it appears that we have hit that point of the summer where the zucchini is flowing like and open tap. I love summer squash of all kind, but sometimes I find it a little bit of a struggle to keep things interesting. Yesterday I decided to try and play around with incorporating a few zucchini into a carbonara, which for some strange reason I kind of associate with the summer. I think I heard somewhere once that carbonaras developed because Italian miners would be away for days at a time sometimes, so they would take along foods that survived well without refrigeration, namely pasta, eggs (which my farmer friends confirm do not need refrigeration) cured meat (traditionally pig jowl), and Parmesan cheese. I'm not sure how true that all is, but it does add up to a quick and tasty sauce that requires minimal cooking (the hot pasta is added to the beaten eggs and tossed to quickly "cook" the sauce which also contains the grated cheese and usually some freshly ground black pepper).
My twist on this dish added zucchini which I sauteed in duck fat (because I wasn't using pork of any kind I needed some source of yummy fatty flavor!) along with some green garlic. I then added some chick peas and chopped parsley (also from the CSA), with a little pasta water to round out the veggies. The cooked whole wheat pasta was tossed into four beaten eggs along with about half a cup of grated cheese and lots of freshly ground pepper. I then mixed in the veggies and served with a little more cheese and pepper to taste. This is really a pretty light sauce, as opposed to many American versions which add heavy cream (absent from the traditional Italian preparation).
