While my son Adam and I very much enjoy exploring multi-step, complex recipes during our vacation time, we are also on the lookout for tasty and quick dinners for workday meals. For Adam in particular, the advent of small fry has limited the time and attention he has to devote to dinner preparation. Adding a few new “go-to” meals to the dinner repertoire is always welcome.
I came across this recipe in an old issue of Victoria magazine. It met all the criteria: extremely tasty, the ricotta provided a creaminess without the heaviness of a traditional carbonara.
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- Sauté the squash and bacon
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- Adding the ricotta
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- Tossing it all together
Summer Squash Carbonara
A creamy pasta perfect for weeknight meals. Quick to prepare, chockfull of vegetables and absolutely delicious.
- Total Time: 25
Ingredients
Scale
- 300 g thick-cut bacon, cut crosswise into ½-inch pieces (5 slices)
- 227 g or 8 oz whole milk ricotta
- 30 ml or 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 40 g or 1 1/3 oz small shallot, finely chopped (1 small)
- 600 g summer squash, halved lengthwise and sliced into ½-inch thick half-moons (3 medium)
- 2 g or 2 tbsp basil chiffonade
- 454 g or 1 lb linguine
- 27 g or ½ c Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and more for passing
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil.
- Mix the ricotta and 1 tbsp of olive oil in a medium bowl. Season with pepper and set aside.
- In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally (8 minutes). Leaving the bacon in the skillet, drain all but about 1 tbsp of the fat. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and the shallots. Sauté until they just begin to turn golden (1 minute). Add the squash and cook until lightly browned and tender ( 7 minutes).
- Cook the linguine until al dente (8 minutes). Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water and drain the pasta.
- Add the pasta to a large, pre-warmed serving bowl along with the squash mixture, the ricotta cheese, ½ c of parmesan cheese and the basil chiffonade. Toss gently but thoroughly, adding some reserved pasta water as required.
- Serve immediately.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 15
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
I’m sharing this post with Between Naps on the Porch.
This sounds wonderful! Using ricotta rather than cream and eggs makes it lighter and easier! I’m giving this a try!
It is both lighter and easier, Mary. We really enjoyed this one. There was none left!
I’m giving this a try later this week. This sounds delicious!
We love it, Zenda. Hope you do, too!