I’m totally aware that I did another cauliflower recipe very recently, but I love cauliflower and when I’m testing recipes I tend to test recipes with similar ingredients at the same time, that way there’s less food waste and you know I’m all about that. So we have another delicious cauliflower recipe!

This one is super quick and simple and yes it uses bacon. And no bacon is not a health food! But it’s used fairly sparingly here and I prefer to use nitrate free bacon. You can buy this at most organic grocery stores or be like me and have a dad that smokes his own bacon and pester him to do a nitrate free version for you. Thanks Dad! Nitrate free bacon is not as pink in it’s raw state but looks the same once cooked.

The bacon in this recipe adds flavour and texture but isn’t the main ingredient. I’d love to be a vegetarian but I’m not there yet so eating meat sparingly is my move for now. The protein in this recipe also comes from the cheese and eggs, so loads of meat in not necessary.

This super simple carbonara is loaded with almost 2 serves of vegetables as is, you can up the ante by serving it along side a rocket and avocado salad with a red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing. The bitter leaves are great for digestion and work really well with something creamy like carbonara. I love eating this as a quick and easy dinner as it’s so satisfying.

I never use cream in my carbonara as I like how much lighter it is with just eggs, you won’t feel sick and gross after this one either. The sauce should be thick and glossy but to do this you need to time eveything carefully, you want your pasta, bacon and cauliflower to be hot when you mix the egg mixture through them. It’s important you do this as soon as the pasta is cooked so the timings below are for pasta that cooks in 8-12 minutes.

Serves 2

Ingredients

150g spaghetti (enough for 2 serves)

4 short rashers of streaky bacon, diced (about 80g)

2.5 cups cauliflower florets, broken into small bite size pieces

2 Tbs thyme leaves

1/4 cup spring onion, finely chopped (or one french shallot)

2/3 cup freshly grated parmesan

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

2 tsps extra virgin olive oil

black pepper

Directions

Put a large pot of generously salted water on to boil.

Whisk together the eggs, yolks, oil and parmesan. Set aside.

Place a a steaming basket over the boiling water and add the cauliflower florets. Steam with a lid on for 2-3 minutes or until tender. Set aside. Add your pasta to your water and cook according to packet directions. When it has about 6 minutes to go start the next step.

Place a large pan on medium heat and add the bacon, fry for 1 minute and then add the thyme, spring onion and steamed cauliflower. Continue to fry until the bacon is crispy and the cauliflower has some colour. This should take about 3-5 minutes. Keep warm until your pasta is cooked.

Drain pasta, reserving a cup of cooking water. Place the pasta back in the cooking pot, off the heat add the bacon and cauliflower mixture and then add the egg mixture along with 2 Tbs of the reserved pasta water. Use tongs to stir the eggs mixture through the pasta. The heat of the other ingredients and the pot should gently cook the eggs and thicken the sauce. If it’s too dry add a little more  hot pasta water.

Serve with extra parmesan and lots of black pepper.

HH. x