Cascading Kitchen Notes
Autumnal Bacon Veggie Carbonara
Preheat oven to 425° for roasting squash.
Roast the Squash
Cut winter squash in 1/2" cubes to yield about4 cups. Toss with olive oil, layout on a flat cooking sheet and roast at 425º until cooked. Depending on your oven it should take about 15-20 minutes. You want a bit of caramelization on at least 1 side. The goal is to reduce the moisture and bring forward the sugars in the squash. Set aside to cool.
Using a large frying pan
- slowly saute half a package of bacon. Thin cut is best.
- Once the bacon has rendered some fat add 1 large diced onion
- After the onion has slowly cooked for about 10 min. add 6-8 cloves of minced garlic, being careful not to burn it while the bacon and onions become soft and jammy.
Turn the heat off while you:
- prepare the greens, see below
- Shred 1 cup of Parmesan. Set aside.
- In a small bowl thoroughly whisk 4 eggs together. Set aside.
In a Pot, boil the Fall Harvested Greens(kale & collards)
- 2 large bunches of greens
- Wash, remove stems and chop greens into a rough mince size. You don't want to find strings of greens in your pasta.
- Fall greens are more robust than those of spring and summer and should be cooked in boiling water for approximatey 5-7 minutes depending how soft your family likes them. DO NOT salt the water. There's enough in the bacon and cheese.
- Once the greens are cooked, remove with a sieve and bring over to the frying pan containing the bacon. Stir together. Reserve the water for cooking the pasta.
To the Skillet
- Add the cooked winter squash cubes and bring them up to temperature.
- KEEP THE HEAT VERY LOW ON THE FRYING PAN WHILE THE PASTA COOKS
Cook the Pasta
Shell noodles work nicely because they scoop up the greens, cheese and sauce when plated.
- Reheat the water, adding more if needed. After it boils, add 2 tsp salt.
- Cook 1 lb of noodles according to time on the box.
- 2 MIN BEFORE THE NOODLES ARE COOKED AL DENTE, TURN THE HEAT OFF ON THE FRYING PAN.
- Once the noodles are cooked, use a sieve to bring them over to the frying pan.
You'll drag enough water over to the frying pan to help create the sauce with the starch in the noodle water.
- Shake the frying pan to coat all the noodles and greens with the pasta water.
- Use a spoon if necessary to evenly distribute the pasta and greens.
Remember, at this point there is minimal heat in the frying pan. Only the heat of the pasta and residual heat of the bacon mixture will cook the eggs. Allow the pasta/veggie mixture to cool a bit so when you add the eggs you don't end up with "scrambled eggs" but rather a silky sauce made with NO cream!
- Add the whisked eggs to the frying pan while shaking or stirring as you go. Don't let the eggs hit the bottom of the frying pan until they're incorporated into the pasta/ greens mixture.
- If it seems dry you can add half cup of salted pasta water to thin the coating
- Now add the shredded Parmesan and continue to stir to finish the sauce.
- Squeeze half a lemon over the top and stir it in.
- Serve immediately with a heavy grind of fresh black pepper.