New Age Vegan Pasta Carbonara

The past couple of weeks have been beyond hectic here at the DDD household, what with a surprise party (at my place) for my office mate; a wedding shower (no, not mine–okay, breathe normally now); two new courses to prepare for my return to teaching next week (what?? Seriously, is my vacation over already?); and some heavy-duty baking from Sweet Freedom so I could deliver samples to a slew of people. Not to mention the energy it took to get over my excitement at having Ellen read my cookbook!**

With all this frenzied activity, I haven’t had a huge amount of time for cooking–at least, cooking anything that takes up more time than your standard elevator pitch. I searched through my mental archives for quick, easy recipes–and then I remembered Leticia.

Leticia (well, actually, I don’t remember her real name, but I do know it was seemed somewhat exotic to me at the time, and it started with “L” and ended with  “A”), was a fellow don in residence when I was there during my PhD years.  And who knows more about the ins and outs of “quick and easy” food than students living in residence over the long and lonely summer months?

Leticia (or was it Lydia?) was a new-agey, hip and–to my mind–somewhat radical young woman.  One evening as we sat out enjoying the summer air on the residence balcony, she casually revealed to me that she’d once married another student during her undergraduate years, simply to help him avoid deportation.  Wow!  How daring!  How outré! How anti-establishment!  How illegal!

I was in awe of her.

Lydia (or Leora) was tall and thin as bullrushes, with thick, frazzled brown hair that seemed to be suspended around her square face like a floating birds’ nest, its stray strands protruding at erratic angles. She had a tendency to wear loose cotton dresses that were either tie-dyed or hand-painted, sporting faded splotches of color like an artist’s smock that had been bleached over and over.  Leora (Larissa?) actually had a very pretty face, with large, heavy-lidded eyes and Angelina Jolie lips.  And when Larissa (or Lorena) spoke, it was in a low, deep whisper like an FM radio announcer, as if she’d just unearthed a scandalous childhood secret.

Because of her Italian background, Lorena/Ludmilla informed me, she was an expert on pasta.  One evening, when the two of us roamed the otherwise empty corridors in the residence hall, she invited me to share her pasta carbonara.  I was entranced by how quickly it came together: she boiled the pasta, tossed it with a couple of beaten eggs and threw in crumbled bacon that had been fried as the pasta boiled.  The final touch was a handful of green peas; the entire dish was then topped with grated parmesan cheese and a liberal grinding of black pepper. I was amazed at how creamy the eggy sauce was, and how well the smoky bacon complemented the almost-instant satiny coating.

Never mind that I don’t eat bacon any more; the idea of eating raw egg (the heat of the pasta supposedly flash-cooks it) is, to my current-day digestive system, repulsive.  But the ease of preparation, the creamy-and-smoky texture and flavor combination–well, those still appeal. Big time.

So I set about finding recipes for pasta carbonara that I could adapt to my current dietary limitationss.  And you know what?  Not one of them contained peas!  I’m not sure if the peas were Latoya’s own addition or if they were generated by my imagination, but I couldn’t conceive of the dish without them. So my version may not be conventional–but then again, neither was Lillianna.

After examining various other vegan pasta carbonara recipes, from Vegan Dad’s coconut-milk based to Urban Vegan’s  with white wine to a more conventional recipe, I decided to go with my gut and create my own soy-free, wine-less version.  I still wanted the sauce to be creamy and eggy (but without any resemblance to raw eggs).  For the bacon, I adapted the tempeh recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance to create a super-quick, non-marinated version; and since I loved Loretta”s original creation so much, I retained the peas in the mix.

The result was a silky smooth sauce infused with a hint of smokiness from the bacon and a surprise burst of sweetness on occasion from the peas.  As is our wont when I cook a vegan main course, the HH and I sat down to individual plates so he could doctor his up with something more animal-centric.  With the the tub of parmesan by his side–something he perfunctorily dusts on every pasta dish I make–he decided to taste the pasta first, au naturel.

Slowly, he chewed, moving the penne around in his mouth, carefully assessing the flavor.  He swallowed.

“You know,” he said, “it doesn’t actually need the cheese.  I’m just going to eat it like this.”

It doesn’t need the cheese!  He ate it just like that! TRIUMPH! 

So we ate the pasta carbonara, the HH and I, both equally happy with its warm, filling, flavorful sauce and meaty, smoky bits of tempeh bacon.  As he cleaned his plate, the HH pronounced, “I don’t think you could improve on this with anything.” (I nearly fainted.) “It’s perfect as it is.”  Well, knock me over with a feather! (Okay, it would have to be a pewter statue of a feather, because, as we all know, an actual feather would have no impact on me whatsoever. . .but whatever).

If you’re looking for a quick and delicious weekday dinner and feel like some pasta, give this a try.  In no time, you’ll have a dinner that’s not only toothsome, but slightly unconventional and really hip, too.  Like Lucinda.  Or Leticia.  Or whoever she was.

** (The quest continues–so please feel free to let Ellen know if you’d like to see me on the show! You will win a free copy of Sweet Freedom if I’m on! Click here to send her a comment about how talented and witty I am. Oh, and what a good cook, too. 😉 )

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This post has been submitted to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays over at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free.

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Two Years Ago: Peanut Butter Biscuits (pre-ACD recipe)

© 2010 Diet, Dessert and Dogs

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