Skip to main content

Local And Seasonal: Carbonara With Peas

Support Provided By
Peas2
Photos: Maria Zizka

Just before the official start of summer, as market bins begin to fill with squash, tomatoes, and peaches, I briefly crave the comfort of wintertime foods. It might sound odd, but it happens every year. Throughout spring, I get my fill of bright, green leaves -- nutritious dandelion, baby artichokes, and crunchy purslane -- and I eat as many stalks of asparagus as I can find. But then, June Gloom sets in, covering Southern California in a blanket of gray sky, and my culinary hankerings turn to cured meats, silky eggs, and cheese. That's the moment when I make pasta alla carbonara.

I begin by following the traditional Roman recipe, which calls for frying cubes of guanciale, salt-cured pork cheek. This Italian specialty isn't the easiest to find, so I sometimes substitute pancetta or bacon, though I would never admit this to my Roman friends. While the pasta boils, I whisk eggs with grated cheese and lots of coarsely ground black pepper. This mixture is combined with the hot pasta and becomes a silky sauce, thickened and barely cooked by the steaming noodles. To my June Gloom pasta alla carbonara, I add one nonconventional ingredient -- peas -- because I like the pop of freshness and color that they bring to this dish.

English peas (sometimes called garden peas) are sweetest when freshly plucked from the vine. They differ from flat snow peas in that their rounded pods, which are fibrous and inedible, encase a row of nearly spherical peas. The recently developed sugar snap pea is an in-between; it has an edible pod that is not as flat as that of a snow pea but not quite as plump as that of an English pea. All peas are cool season crops. By the time summer heat arrives, their brief season will have come to an end. Farmers from Tehachapi, such as Alex Weiser of Weiser Family Farms, are still bringing sweet English peas to the Santa Monica Farmers' Market. Grab them while you can, and try this bucatini alla carbonara recipe on a gray early summer day.

Peas1

Bucatini alla Carbonara with Peas
I like the intense, funky, barnyard flavor of guanciale, but pancetta or bacon also work well in this recipe. You can make pasta alla carbonara with spaghetti or any other noodle shape that will catch this luscious sauce.
Serves 2

¼ pound guanciale, pancetta, or bacon, sliced into ½-inch cubes
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 cup grated Parmigiano or Pecorino Romano, plus extra to serve
½ pound bucatini
¾ cup shucked peas (from about ½ pound in the pod)
Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook the guanciale in the olive oil until lightly colored and crisp on the outside, but slightly soft in the middle, about 6 to 8 minutes. Take the pan off the heat.

In a large bowl, vigorously whisk the eggs with the egg yolk, Parmigiano, and lots of black pepper. Set aside.

Drop the pasta into the boiling water, and cook until al dente. During the final 2 minutes of cooking time, add the peas directly into the pot with the pasta. They should turn vibrantly green in color. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid, then drain. Now get ready to work speedily: Immediately transfer the noodles and peas to the skillet with the guanciale. Pour in a splash of reserved cooking liquid, and stir well to coat each noodle. Transfer to the large bowl containing the whisked eggs. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens ever so slightly.

Serve promptly. Pass a bowl of grated cheese at the table, if you like.

Support Provided By
Read More
A black and white photo of an adult dressed as the easter bunny with a giant costumed head, holding a little girl on their left who gives it a kiss on the cheek and, with his right arm, holding a little boy who brings his hands to his eyes as though wiping away tears.

Behold the Bunnies and Bonnets of L.A.'s Past Easter Celebrations

The onset of the spring season heralds the arrival of fragrant flowers in bloom — and all the critters that enjoy them, including the Easter bunny and families who anticipate his arrival with egg hunts, parades and questionable fashion choices.
A black and white image of an elephant holding a broom with its trunk. A man is seen near the elephant, walking towards the animal.

Lions and Tigers and Cameras! How the Movies Gave Los Angeles a Zoo

The early days of the movies in Los Angeles inadvertently allowed visitors to experience the largest collection of animals in the western United States. When animals weren't appearing in a movie, they were rented out to other film companies, performed for studio visitors, or in the case of filmmaker William Selig's collection — an opportunity to create one of Los Angeles' first zoos.
A vertical, black and white portrait of a blonde woman wearing a sparkly four-leaf clover costume as she holds her arms out and extends a leg as though in a curtsy.

Irish for a Day: L.A.'s History of 'Going Green' on St. Patrick's Day

Whether it was a parade, dance, tea party, home celebration or just enjoying a good ol' wee dram of whisky, here's a photo essay of how Los Angeles donned its green apparel to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and embrace the luck o' the Irish over the years.