You know that moment when you meet someone new? And they ask you where you are from and you say “Chicago/New York/ Atlanta…..” or where ever? And then they say “Oh, I have a friend in “Chicago/ New York/ Atlanta….” and expect you to know them? Happens all the time, right?
As if.
Well, actually, if you ask me that about my city, Rome, there is a pretty good chance I will know that person.
While Rome is definitely a city, sometimes it feels more like a little village. And in my world of expat, food-obsessed, journalistic writers, we do, in fact, know each other. And run into each other all the time.
One of the people who I’m lucky enough to run into quite often is Rachel Roddy. I first met Rachel when she was working at the American Academy, helping my friend Mona edit this very excellent cookbook. Although, to tell you the truth, I felt I already knew Rachel from her blog, which I was a big fan of.
These days one of the places I am most likely to run into Rachel is the Testaccio Market. Rachel has been living, and cooking and writing, about this neighborhood since she moved to Rome from England. It is now most definitely her home, and the market is the place she finds inspiration on a daily basis for what she cooks up in her kitchen and, most recently, on the pages of her new book: My Kitchen in Rome.
The book is a gorgeous exploration of not just the neighborhood, and Rachel’s discovery of it through its dishes, but a way of life that is truly Roman and seems on the verge of disappearing.
Last week I wandered around the market with Rachel, and then we headed back to her kitchen were she made me the most delicious lunch, cooking up one of my favorite recipes from the book. It’s a carbonara of sorts, although you won’t find any guanciale here. Instead vibrant, seasonal zucchini get tossed with onions and are then combined with an eggy-cheesey mixture that lusciously coats every strand of pasta. Carbonara-ish, in the most delicious of ways.
But don’t take my word for it. Watch this video. And then, of course, buy the book.
Â
zucchini carbonara
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 4
Although Rachel used zucchini in this recipe, she suggests that you can use other vegetables like artichokes or peas or.....use your imagination.
Ingredients
- 2 fresh onions
- 8 small zucchini
- 4 tblsp olive oil
- 400 gr spaghetti or linguine
- 2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
- 1 cup grated parmigiano
- 8 basil leaves
Instructions
- See video
Rachel’s very excellent blog is here, and her website is here and she can also be found writing a weekly column for The Guardian called A Kitchen in Rome.
Rachel’s book : My Kitchen in Rome: Recipes and Notes on Italian Cooking
(The book is also available in the UK: Five Quarters: Recipes and Notes from a Kitchen in Rome)
If you would like to know more about the food of Testaccio, you can join me for a private food tour.Â
I thoroughly enjoyed this, Elizabeth! I loved seeing Rachel in action at the market and in her famous! kitchen. How lovely that you got to spend the day with her. I’m so happy to have befriended you both and hope to meet you soon in Italy. A presto!
Thanks so much! Glad you liked it!!
Hmmm … Filmed on May 29, 2016, eh? Just how far ahead IS Rome’s time? It’s only May 17 here in Toronto. 😉
Oh, I always mess up something. At least I got the year right this time!
well done, enjoyed the video!
Very nicely done! But filmed in the future? May 29, 2016?
Yes, I know! The perils of editing your own work. I checked and rechecked and still make mistakes!!
It’s no problem Elizabeth!!! You really did not need to reply!!
Pecorino or Parmigiano? Does it matter?
Rachel used pecorino, I sometimes use a 50/50 mixture of the two.
Coincidently one of my daughters and one of my sons and I all made it on the same night. All agreed, one of the best dishes and it will remain in our rotation. I think pecorino is the call.
Glad to hear it!
Just loved this, Elizabeth! I’m still learning how to really prepare pasta the Italian way so your videos are a big help. Without a Mama in the kitchen, I need the visuals 😉 Love Rachel’s blog, too, (recognized her sink) and am reading her book bit by bit at the moment! Thanks for sharing!
This pasta dish looks delicious!. Do you think it would work as well with fusilli or penne?
I think I would pick penne over fusilli, but the long pasta (spaghetti or linguine) work well, and certainly look nice, with the long strips of zucchini.
So glad we heard about Rachel from a friend when we were in Rome last October! Could hardly wait to get home and order her book. Simple but tasty food! Just planted my Romanesco zucchini and I’ll use the first harvest to make this version of Carbonara!
Yes, Rachel’s book is a way to take a bit of Rome back home with you!
At 2.06, are those Nespole?
if they are, it must be very hot in Rome already…can’t wait to get there!
Yes, they are. They are just in season now, but coming, I think, from a bit further south.
Will be making it tonight!?
I made this and it turned out great. I don’t love eggs so I left out a whole egg and it still came together nicely.