•6 medium green and yellow zucchini
•1 pound penne
•4 large free-range or organic egg yolks
•1/2 cup heavy cream
•2 good handfuls freshly grated Parmesan
•Salt and freshly ground black pepper
•Olive oil
•12 thick slices pancetta or lean bacon, cut into chunky pieces
•A small bunch fresh thyme, leaves picked and chopped, flowers reserved (if you can get hold of flowering thyme)
•Optional: a few zucchini flowers

Carbonara is a classic pasta sauce made with cream, bacon and Parmesan and is absolutely delicious. Try to buy the best ingredients you can, as that’s what really helps to make this dish amazing. I’m using a flowering variegated variety of thyme but normal thyme is fine to use. When it comes to the type of pasta, you can serve carbonara with spaghetti or linguine, but I’ve been told by Italian mammas (who I don’t argue with!) that penne is the original, so that’s what I’m using in this recipe. 

Before you start cooking, it’s important to get yourself a very large pan, or use a high-sided roasting pan so you can give the pasta a good toss. 

Put a large pan of salted water on to boil. Halve and then quarter any larger zucchini lengthwise. Cut out and discard any fluffy middle bits, and slice the zucchini at an angle into pieces roughly the same size and shape as the penne. Smaller zucchini can simply be sliced finely. Your water will now be boiling, so add the penne to the pan and cook according to the package instructions. 

To make your creamy carbonara sauce, put the egg yolks into a bowl, add the cream and half the Parmesan, and mix together with a fork. Season lightly with salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat a very large frying pan (a 14-inch is a good start – every house should have one!), add a good splash of olive oil and fry the pancetta or bacon until dark brown and crisp. Add the zucchini slices and 2 big pinches of black pepper, not just to season but to give it a bit of a kick. Sprinkle in the thyme leaves, give everything a stir, so the zucchini is coated with all the lovely bacon-flavored oil, and fry until they start to turn lightly golden and have softened slightly. 

It’s very important to get this next bit right or your carbonara could end up ruined. You need to work quickly. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water. Immediately, toss the pasta in the pan with the zucchini, bacon and lovely flavors, then remove from the heat and add a ladleful of the reserved cooking water and your creamy sauce. Stir together quickly. (No more cooking now, otherwise you’ll scramble the eggs.)

Get everyone around the table, ready to eat straightaway. While you’re tossing the pasta and sauce, sprinkle in the rest of the Parmesan and a little more of the cooking water if needed, to give you a silky and shiny sauce. Taste quickly for seasoning. If you’ve managed to get any zucchini flowers, tear them over the top, then serve and eat immediately, as the sauce can become thick and stodgy if left too long.

Directions

The last decision – to top or not to top – is easily dispensed with. Resist the temptation to fiddle around with bread crumbs, corn flakes, tortilla chips and other ingredients that have nothing to do with the dish. When there is enough cheese in and on top of your creation, a brown, crisp crust of toasted cheese will form naturally. There is nothing more delicious.

The moral of the story: When in doubt, add more cheese.

INGREDIENTS

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons flour

• 4 1/2 cups milk
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  DIRECTIONS

  In a saucepan, heat up the milk, and bring to a gentle simmer. In another saucepan, melt the butter and immediately add the flour. Lower the heat, and mix until the butter has absorbed all the flour and is the consistency of thick dough. Make sure the butter-flour mixture does not burn or brown. 
  
  Remove the saucepan from the heat, and whisk in a couple of ladles of heated milk into the butter-flour mixture. Whisk until the flour has absorbed all of the milk. Put the saucepan back on the burner over medium heat, and whisk in the remainder of the milk. Continue whisking until the sauce thickens and becomes a creamy velvety consistency.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced
• 4 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 4 fresh sage leaves, chopped
• 1 sprig rosemary, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
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  DIRECTIONS

  Preheat oven at 400 degrees F. 
  
  Put the potatoes in a roasting pan and sprinkle with the basil, sage, rosemary and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. 
  
  Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil on the potatoes, put the roasting pan in the oven and bake until golden brown and tender, approximately 45 minutes. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound/450 g rigatoni pasta
• 4 tablespoons/60 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large eggplant, cubed
• 10 large sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 15 infornate olives, pitted and chopped
• 2 dried chile peppers, crushed, optional
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

• 1 (25-ounce/750 ml) jar tomato puree
• Salt
• 12 ounces/400 g freshly grated mozzarella
• Smoked scamorza cheese, as much as desired, roughly chopped
• Freshly grated Parmigiano cheese, for sprinkling
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  DIRECTIONS

  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 
  
  While the rigatoni cooks in salted boiling water, prepare the sauce. In a saucepan heat up the olive oil and saute the eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, chile peppers, if using, and garlic, for a few minutes. Add the tomato puree and salt. Let the sauce cook for approximately 10 minutes on medium heat. 
  
  Drain the rigatoni; add the pasta to the saucepan, sprinkle with some Parmigiano and cook for another 30 seconds. Then place 1/2 the rigatoni in a baking dish, adding a layer of 1/2 the mozzarella, 1/2 the scamorza and another sprinkle of Parmigiano cheese over the pasta. Add the remaining rigatoni, and follow with a final layer of all the cheeses. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.