Food - Drink
How Ina Garten Gives Carbonara A Fresher, Lighter Spin
By STEPHANIE FRIEDMAN
Spaghetti carbonara is delicious, but its staple ingredients of eggs, cream, Parmesan cheese, and pancetta make it rich and heavy, which some diners might find overwhelming.
In "Modern Comfort Food: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook," chef Ina Garten shares a lighter spin on the classic pasta dish with her Spring Green Spaghetti Carbonara.
Garten still includes traditional ingredients such as eggs, Italian Parmesan cheese, and pancetta, but adds snow peas, shelled fresh peas, asparagus, scallions, and chives.
Garten juliennes the snow peas, slices the scallions diagonally, and cuts the asparagus into two-inch pieces to keep the veggies light and fresh in the final dish.
The Barefoot Contessa also uses half a cup of heavy cream to add just enough richness, further lightening the recipe and allowing the fresh vegetables' flavors to shine.
Garten says traditional carbonara is tasty, but makes "you want to take a nap afterwards." Her version is full of crisp spring flavors to balance an otherwise rich dish.