Zucchini and Yellow Squash Pasta Carbonara

*Post by Angela.

On Monday, we had a Labor Day lunch feast that left us with quite a few leftovers to use up, which is always fun. I had made some ratatouille and vastly overestimated the amount of zucchini and yellow squash I would need.  Now, I love squash in all forms, but zucchini and yellow squash are not Mark's favorite vegetables.  It doesn't matter with this recipe, which utilizes bacon fat and egg to coat the veggies and the pasta in a luxurious sauce. 

List of ingredients:

• Salt and pepper
• 6 oz bacon
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 3/4 lb (12 oz) egg noodles
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 zucchini, diced
• 2 yellow squash, diced
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced basil

This recipe is all about the timing, so I made sure to have all my ingredients prepped before I started. Once I had chopped and sliced everything that needed it, I put the bacon in a big pot and heated it over medium heat, until it had rendered about 2 tbsp of fat and was crispy. I removed the bacon to a paper-towel lined plate, leaving the liquid gold in the pot, and in a separate pot, started boiling heavily salted water for the egg noodles.

Next, I beat the eggs together with the Parmesan and lemon zest in a small bowl.

I added the onions to the pot with the bacon grease and cooked for about 3-4 minutes over medium heat. In the meantime, I started cooking the egg noodles, which take about 7-9 minutes to cook. I added the zucchini, squash and garlic to the onions and cooked until just tender, another 3-4 minutes. Then I removed the veggie pot from the heat to wait for the pasta.

Once the pasta was done, I quickly drained it, added it to the veggies, poured in the egg mixure and thoroughly mixed everything together. It's important that you add the egg mixture when the pasta is still steaming hot, because you need that heat to cook the egg into a creamy, shiny sauce.

Once everything was thoroughly mixed, I added the basil and crumbled in the bacon and mixed again.

This is a sneaky dish. The zucchini and yellow squash trick you into thinking that this is a healthy dish. But then you factor in the egg and bacon....and, well, suffice it to say, this is a wonderfully rich pasta, and so very quick and easy.