This recipe, from Renzo Rizzo, former R&D chief of Barilla Pasta Meals, is rooted in the gastronomy of Puglia, the family cuisine of Renzo’s wife. She inherited the region’s taste for simple recipes, using a lot of fresh local vegetables and insisting on high-quality ingredients and clean and recognizable flavors. This recipe is the Rizzo family’s Pugliese interpretation of the original pasta carbonara from Rome. Instead of the bacon of the traditional recipe they actually like to use an Italian lean smoked ham, a specialty from the Alps called “speck.” If you find it in specialty stores, go for it. Or use a lean smoked raw ham, or prosciutto di Parma. As with the traditional cuisine from Puglia, vegetables appear in most of the family’s recipes, and their trick is to prepare them in ways that appeal to young children. Like all Italian children, Renzo’s children love pasta (they don’t even call it a meal if pasta is not there!). What better way to make vegetables appealing than mixing them with pasta? This pasta meal is excellent as a main dish; it provides a good balance of healthy proteins, carbs, vegetables, and oil (yes, also a bit of butter, but not too much!)—all in one delicious dish.
2 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons high-quality extra virgin olive oil
2 medium zucchini (about 1 pound), thinly sliced and quartered
1 large egg
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano Regganio
2 tablespoons milk, plus more as needed
¼ pound prosciutto di Parma (speck or ham can be used instead)
1 teaspoon butter
8 ounces pasta (preferably whole grain)
Note: If you have leftovers, you can make a pasta frittata. Scramble 2 large eggs with 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Regganio and 2 tablespoons milk. Add the leftover pasta. Heat 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, pour in the pasta mixture, and cook until the egg is firm and the liquid is absorbed.
Renzo and Margherita Rizzo for “The Oldways Table”
Lisa C says: I would recommend starting the pasta, then doing the ham and doing the zucchini last. Also far less ham, it was way too overpowering and I love ham.
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