This soba noodle carbonara is a healthy spin on traditional carbonara using soba noodles, vegetables and milk.
There’s an amusing story that goes along with this carbonara.
I shall call it “A Peak into What’s it’s Like to Work From Home: a short story by Gina Matsoukas”
12 o’clock hits and instead of going straight to the kitchen for lunch, I decide it’s way too beautiful outside to spend one more minute indoors and grab a beach towel from the laundry room where they’ve been held captive for the past 7 months to head outside.
Ginger comes with me, I lay down and since I’m in workout clothes (per usual), I decide to roll up my running shorts to a ridiculous “it’s 1998 and I’m a cool high school soccer player level” and take my tank top off (I was wearing a sports bra) to soak up the sunshine.
Ginger frolics off into the woods to sniff/roll in shit/eat grass and all the other fun things hunting dogs like to do while I enjoy about 15 minutes of sunshine in peace thinking about what I want for lunch.
And then it hits me.
I want pasta, I want bacon and I want some sort of creamy sauce.
Not exactly the pinnacle of health and kind of contradicts what I just said yesterday in this single serving chocolate cake post, but whatever.
So I immediately get up and head to the fridge to see how I can make this work in some sort of healthy way.
Ginger is nowhere to be found so I leave her outside figuring she’ll come back soon enough.
20 minutes later I’m knee deep in chopped vegetables, boiling soba noodles, raw eggs and bacon grease when I start to hear barking.
A very specific bark. The kind a certain weimaraner who hates small children uses when said children are trying to cross our backyard and she wants to eat them.
Shit.
So there I am with nothing more than rolled up shorts and a sports bra on while friggin soba noodles are boiling away on my stove.
In case you’ve never cooked soba noodles, they only take 3-5 minutes to cook. I was on about minute #3 already, standing there waiting for everything to come together because the whole premise behind carbonara is that the pasta needs to be HOT to cook the eggs when you toss it all together.
There’s no room for taking your time and letting the pasta drain while you run outside to save the neighbor from your child-phobic dog.
The logical decision was obviously to make a run for it outside and attempt to corral her in the one minute I had before the soba noodles overcooked.
Overcooked pasta is a tragedy even when it’s Japanese but so are maimed neighbor children.
I’ll let you visualize the 30 year old, barefoot, half naked me running through my backyard in the middle of the day yelling at Ginger with tongs in my hand (because apparently I forgot to put them down in the heat of that decision making moment) to get her ass inside.
It wasn’t pretty. It was probably a glimpse into what I’d be like as a mother. I’m not proud.
But the dog came inside, the pasta wasn’t overcooked and somehow I’ve avoided any weird neighborly glances (so far).
Moral of this story, kids?
Keep your clothes on.
It’s good advice for many situations in life, even when making soba noodle carbonara.
Love a good noodle dish? Try these spicy udon noodles too!
Soba Noodle Carbonara
Ingredients
- 6 oz. soba noodles, 2/3 of a normal package
- 1 orange pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 baby bok choy, thinly sliced
- 3/4 cup frozen peas
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated & divided
- 2 strips bacon, cooked & crumbled
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Meanwhile, combine eggs, milk, 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese, salt & pepper in a large serving bowl.
- Once water is boiling, cook soba noodles for 3-5 minutes until al dente.
- Drain noodles, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water and immediately toss with the egg mixture in the large bowl to cook the eggs.
- Add the vegetables and remaining cheese and toss to combine until peas are heated through.
- Top with bacon and serve immediately.
- If there are leftovers, store with the reserved pasta water to help retain moisture as carbonara tends to dry up easily.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
Your pictures are so sharp and clear it blows me away…gorgeous lighting, color balance, and of course, the food itself…love that swirly stack of noodles with the veggies in it!
I agree, Averie!
And what camera lens and program do you use?
Canon 5D Mark II with a 24-70mm lens with LR 4 (just upgraded from LR 3) – that’s my usual set up
Hahaha well glad you saved the children and the soba too. This recipe looks incredible though… never knew carbonara used raw egg yolk to make it creamy.
yep! Some people get all worked up about the raw egg, I think it’s delicious and slightly healthier than cream. :)
yeah. the visual on this pleases me.
Love this story. It’s always a good thing to avoid naked glances. This pasta sounds so good. I love soba noodles!
I loved reading this story! And what is it with dogs and rolling around in shit? The park where I take my dogs most mornings has a ton of goose poop and if they’re not trying to roll in it, they’re trying to eat it! Disgusting! My puggle does the same thing with worms, bird poop…I can’t handle it.
I’ve never heard of soba noodles, btu I live in rural Minnesota so really thats no surprise. If it isnt lefse or lutefisk you can’t find it at the store around here. We finally got panko this year. Yeah. I’m excited to try this, do you think it’ll be good with whole grain thins spaghetti noodles?
absolutely, you can definitely use regular pasta or whole wheat, the cooking time will obviously be a little longer but the rest will work just fine :)
I just LOL’d at my work desk. I thank you for that :)
LO-freakin’-L. You’re too funny. I didn’t realize that Ginger hated little beings.
ps- I really need to find some of these noodles – they look amazing (as does the whole recipe). I bought thick lo mein noodles the other day at the store because they were on a really good sale (yup…that sums me up) and P has been eating them non-stop. I made one dish with them and ended up eating just the chicken and veggies because the kid stole all my pasta and kept asking for more. I bet she’d LOVE these. (as would I if I figure out how to hide them from her)
OMG! That is hilarious! Oh that’s happened to me! Just last week, I was cooking dinner and I decided to take the garbage out, since it was over flowing and I had vegetable guts every where. I opened up the front door and my boy took off like bat out of hell. I was wearing short shorts, because I was n the house and didn’t care, and ugly t-shirt, no make-up (that can be scary), hair in ugly pony tail. Let’s just say I wasn’t pretty and there I am running after my dog. Well when I opened the door, I forgot to shut it behind me, and my good girl Samantha ran out and she ran, and ran, and ran!!! I live near Main Street which is always busy and I panicked! I got the bad boy in the house and I took off in my car and looked for her. I was freaking out!! I drove up and down the street and there she was two blocks later standing on the corner. I opened my car door and she hopped in like no big deal!! Not only was I freaked, she was in my car. I have a new car, leather seats and it’s my pride and joy and now it had dog in it. :( Dogs are certainly entertaining! When I came in the house my vegetables burnt!
Love this healthy version – and the story. At least we have dogs to blame for our crazy actions once in a while. :)