Zucchini Pasta Carbonara

There’s something magical about the combination of pasta, eggs, Parmesan, and cured pork. The flavor base is the salty, fatty pork (in this case prosciutto), noodle-y pasta makes it filling, and a creamy sauce is created with eggs, lemon zest, and Parmesan (the eggs getting sufficiently cooked by the heat of the hot pasta).

In the case of this dish, I was looking to use up some of the gloriously yellow patty-pan summer squash from our garden (yes I know the title says “zucchini”, you can use any summer squash for this recipe), as well as some of the garden basil which is still thriving. So good!

Zucchini Pasta Carbonara Recipe

This recipe uses thinly sliced prosciutto, which works well with the more delicate flavor of the summer squash. But you could also use pancetta (diced), bacon (thin strips), or even thinly sliced ham.

Ingredients

• Salt
• 3/4 pound egg noodles
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1/4 pound prosciutto, thinly sliced
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-4 summer squash, yielding 4 cups chopped squash
• Salt and pepper
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (plus more for topping)
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 cup basil leaves, sliced thin*

* To slice the basil leaves, chiffonade them by stacking basil leaves on top of each other, roll them up into a cigar shape, starting at one end and working your way down the "cigar" take thin slices from the end.

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