A Family That Eats Together: Vegetarian Asparagus Carbonara

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear. Here's Nicole's meal plan for this week.

Being the bacon fanatic that I am, I have to admit one of my most favorite pasta dishes is carbonara. But I have been so inspired by this warm spring and all the bounty from my garden and the farmer’s markets that I wanted to twist around the traditional carbonara to make it healthier and lighter using asparagus and making it vegetarian. The sauce is raw so I do use raw eggs, but the key to using raw eggs in any recipe is to use the most farm fresh cage free eggs available. Don’t be afraid to use fresh raw eggs. As with any carbonara, the heat of the pasta cooks the eggs as you toss all the ingredients together leaving a silky, smooth sauce that gently coats to the pasta. In no time you will have spectacular meal that screams “Spring is here!”

Servings: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb spaghetti
• 1 bunch of fresh asparagus, bottoms snapped off and cut into one-inch pieces
• 4 large eggs
• ½ cup grated pecorino cheese
• ¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• zest of one lemon
• juice of ½ lemon
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground pepper (use ¼ tsp if you don’t like your carbonara too peppery)
  

Directions

1. Prepare the pasta per the package instructions.

2. In the last 5 minutes of the pasta cooking add all the Asparagus except the tips to the boiling pasta water. In the last 2 minutes of the pasta cooking, add the tips. When finished cooking, drain and add to a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, cheese, basil, garlic, zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
4. Pour the egg mixture over the pasta and toss well to coat the pasta evenly.
5. Garnish with a little extra pecorino cheese.
6. Serve immediately.