Linguine with Courgettes, Egg and Parmesan
Think meat-free carbonara with this uncomplicated recipe for linguine with courgette. The silky Parmesan and egg mixture creates a luscious sauce that envelops each strand of pasta.
From the book
An A-Z of Pasta
Discover the stories, histories and recipes behind 50 different pasta shapes.
Learn to make fresh pasta dough from scratch and how to roll, shape and cut everything from spaghetti to ravioli.
Match your favourite shapes to sauces, from carbonara to ragù
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Introduction
A family favourite which never fails to feel like ordinary alchemy. It is important that you cut the courgettes thinly, almost as thin as the linguine. The effect is rather like carbonara, in that the egg and cheese meet the fat and starch from the pasta and form a cream sauce. As with carbonara you need to be careful you don’t get a scramble; the key is hot courgette and hot pasta so there is enough residual heat for you to bring it all together off the stove.
Ingredients
| 5 tbsp | extra virgin olive oil |
| 1 | medium onion (or 4 spring onions, thinly sliced) |
| 300g | courgettes, cut into 5cm long, 2mm thick strips |
| salt and black pepper | |
| 400g | linguine, spaghetti, bucatini, pici, fusilli |
| 2 | whole eggs, plus |
| 2 | extra yolks |
| 70g | Parmesan, grated |
| A Few | fresh basil leaves |
Method
Bring a large pan of water to the boil.
In a large frying pan, warm the olive oil over a medium-low heat, then cook the onion and courgettes gently with a pinch of salt, turning them regularly with a wooden spoon until they are very soft and tender – which will take about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
Add salt to the boiling water, stir, then add the linguine, fanning them out, and using a wooden spoon to push them down. Cook until al dente (check the cooking time of the packet and start tasting at least 2 minutes before).
While the pasta is cooking, in a large bowl whisk together the eggs, extra yolks, Parmesan, a pinch of salt and lots of pepper. During the last minutes of pasta cooking time, put the courgette pan back on the heat to thoroughly warm the fat and vegetables and add the ripped basil.
Drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the frying pan, stirring so it tangles with the vegetables. Take the pan off the heat, and, working quickly, add the egg mixture and a splash of pasta cooking water, then stir and swirl the pan vigorously until each strand is coated with creamy sauce and the consistency is slithery. Add a little more pasta cooking water if it seems too stiff and stir again.
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