Lemon and courgette carbonara

When I talk about a dish as a ‘carbonara’, I mean the method of creating a creamy pasta sauce with eggs that are cooked just enough to emulsify and thicken but not so much as to become scrambled or solid. I prefer carbonara sauces made without the traditional pancetta/guanciale, as I find the classic version of the dish quite heavy, so I instead like to use vegetables. Artichokes, peas, broad (fava) beans and braised greens all make delicious carbonaras, as do courgettes (zucchini). This courgette carbonara is lifted by a hefty hit of lemon (both zest and juice), which cuts through the richness of the eggs beautifully. It is also essential to counteract the sweetness of the braised courgettes, which become almost jammy after slow sautéing in plentiful olive oil and garlic. Courgette and lemon is a combination you will often see in my recipes, and it is a happy and mutually complementary marriage; the sweetness of the vegetable is cut by the acidity of the fruit, and the innate lemony-ness of courgettes accentuated by both the zest and juice of the citrus. Choose small, young courgettes if you can find them, their flavour is superior and they have a lower water content. I also use pecorino sardo, which has both a lemony flavour and nutty sweetness that work perfectly here. If you can’t find it, use Parmesan or a mix of pecorino romano and Parmesan. I often make the sautéed courgettes the night before, and keep them in the refrigerator before putting this together the next day for a last-minute lunch. I like using smooth penne, but spaghetti or rigatoni also work well.