Green Carbonara

Searching for a way to up your vegetable intake - zucchini noodles or "zoodles" are a fun option.  These may not be for everyone but we love them and felt like being a bit creative with our cooking this week.  You can use zoodles in place of any pasta, they are easy to prepare and much lighter on the stomach.  There are various tools out there to make zoodles.  Most people recommend using a 'spiralizer' which creates lovely curly noodles.  I can't quite afford one of those, and don't much like appliances so have a julienne peeler similar to this one which I picked up for $11 (which comes in very handy for making salads).  I've even seen someone use a grater to achieve them!


The sauce we added to our zoodles is dairy-free 'carbonara' inspired by a lovely dish of Dr Libby's that a friend cooked for me the other week.  It is remarkably tasty and creamy despite being dairy-free.  We finished it off with basil, Parmesean (not dairy free!) and pine nuts to create a light, fresh dish suitable for an entree or side. 

If you would like something a little more hearty you can add bacon or chicken to make this dish more of a main.  Feel free to pick bits and pieces from this dish.  You may want to use the sauce with normal pasta, or zoodles with a normal creamy sauce.  We are just throwing ideas out there! 

Pantry Narrative's Green Carbonara

You'll need:

1 leek, well washed and chopped roughly
1 cup of raw cashew nuts
juice of one lemon
600ml water
4 large zucchini
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, shaved
basil, handful, roughly chopped
pine nuts, handful, toasted
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

 

To make:

Noodles

1. Julienne your zucchini with a tool of your choice (see above).   
2. Put the zoodles in a tray, salt them well (about 1 Tbsp), cover and rest for half an hour.  
3. Drain excess water from the zoodles, rinse and and pat dry with a paper towel.

Carbonara sauce

1. Combine the leek, cashews and water in a medium-large sized saucepan. Bring to the boil. Cook for a further 8 minutes, then take off the heat and allow to cool a little.
2. Transfer the mixture into the food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper and blend for a further 20 seconds. 

To finish

1. Heat a pan on medium and add olive oil.
2. Add garlic and sauté until just cooked.
3. Add zucchini noodles, you want to soften these a bit- I like them to still have a bit of crunch to them.  This should take approximately 2 minutes.
4. Add the sauce to your noodles and stir in to coat noodles (this should still be warm and not require too much extra heating).
5. Remove from heat and top with toasted pine nuts and Parmesan.

Non-vege option
If you would like to add some meat to the dish we recommend frying up some bacon of chicken.