Some days I just crave some creamy rich and fatty carbonara. However, being conscious of one’s health and weight, a rich and fatty, and creamy dish with pasta might not always be the healthiest option. But a pasta dish will not be the same without pasta.

A trick that I have lately been using is to half the carbs in the dish and replace them with a counterpart of vegetables. For example, pasta when you cook and eat it al dente is as the word translates: toothsome, or a little on the tough side. I do not want to use the word crunchy because then it might sound like the pasta is undercooked. But to my mind, broccoli stems are a perfect counterpart to pasta because it is somewhat toothsome when just barely cooked.

So, what I do: add only half the amount of pasta you would normally have used, add the remaining half consisting of broccoli stems, and why not add some broccoli for good measure as well?

And there you have it: Make dishes somewhat healthier by using fewer carbs and replacing them with a vegetable counterpart!

But let me stop musing and show you how I make this dish, and give you some tips on making an extra creamy carbonara sauce using only cheese, egg, fat, and heat!

Recipe/Ingredients

Divide broccoli into stems and the flower head. Then you have two ingredients! The rest of the ingredients:

• Eggs,
• Hard cheese,
• Any smoked type meat (not authentic but seriously delicious!),
• Pasta (half of what you are used to),
• Pasta water,
• Pepper, and
• The fat from whatever meat you used rendered out (or olive oil).

Method(s)

There are various ways to make carbonara and some people are very strict about making an authentic version of the dish. And I am also one of those who do not like it when people call something carbonara then add different ingredients that do not belong in a carbonara.

But I will for the sake of this recipe walk into my own trap and add different ingredients to the authentic dish. Thus rendering it not an authentic carbonara dish. But I like to experiment, and people should not stick with their routines to the detriment of creative thinking. Cooking is after all about experimentation! So let us get creative.

I first brown the broccoli stems. This gives them an extreme depth of flavor and they remain crunchy to simulate the pasta we removed from the dish.

Whilst this is going on, I crack some eggs into a heat-safe bowl.

I add the grated hard cheese with the eggs and lightly mix it all.

The next step all depends on how fast and efficient you work and how confident you are. It is a bit of a show-off dish if you are confident in your abilities. If the pasta is almost cooked, and all the other ingredients are prepared, begin to slowly cook your egg and cheese mixture over the pasta water that is still boiling.

You will begin to see how the cheese melts, the egg starts to cook, and the mixture begins to slightly thicken.

You can also slowly begin to drizzle in the fat/oil that you used to cook the meat in. You will effectively begin to make a type of hollandaise sauce. Be very careful to not add too much oil too quickly. Slowly drizzle it in whilst constantly whisking. The sauce will thicken even more.

If your timing was just right, the pasta will be cooked when the sauce is almost finished. Add all of the ingredients – that is the pasta, broccoli, and meat – together and stir constantly so that the sauce does not split. Add some pasta water to loosen the sauce a bit.

And there you have it. A very complicated dish made simple, healthier, and more delicious (according to me!).

This has been a go-to recipe for me over the years. I have made it countless times, sometimes with stunning success, sometimes not so much. But if you understand the basics to this sauce, the options are endless. I mean, you can actually get rid of all the meat and pasta to make it vegetables with a hollandaise sauce. Okay, but then it is not carbonara anymore….

One can get very philosophical about this dish. Similar to the thought experiment of how many grains of sand make a heap, or how many planks can you remove from a boat before the boat is not the same boat anymore (Theseus’ Ship), one can wonder how much you can change a dish before it gets something totally different.

But this opens the space for creative thinking and experimentation. Some people are happy with merely following a recipe. And that is totally fine! But some people are not. I am part of the group that makes recipes or creates dishes. I do not like to follow a recipe. In fact, the only time I follow a recipe is when I bake bread. When I cook, I let my creative mind just flow without restrictions.

Irrespective of what type of cook you are, I hope you try this dish and get inspired to create your own version of it! All of the photographs are my own and the musings as well. The recipe is based on countless articles and YouTube videos and many renditions in my own kitchen. Have you tried to make carbonara? Have you ever changed a carbonara dish? Please comment below! Happy cooking, and stay safe.