Paleo Carb-Loading

It’s been far too long since I have made any attempt to write or create a recipe. I was at a point in my head where it was either pull the plug or get back on the horse. You’re reading this so you know which decision I made.

The past couple months have been pretty incredible and I missed many great opportunities to share some experiences and adventures, but I may revisit them and recall them through photographs at another time, but for now, I’m back in the kitchen.

Last weekend was my marathon and I am happy to report that I made it and even achieved several personal records:

1. Best time for a full marathon: 4 hours and 57 minutes (I’m not fast, I’m stubborn)
2. Best time for a half marathon: 2 hours and 9 minutes (this is why I suffered so much during the second half—too hot out of the gate)
3. Most beer consumed in a race: 3 small pours and 1 beer bong (they said it was only half of a can)

The training was the hardest part for me. Both due to the fact that it was summer and I wanted to go to grill outs and party away the weekends and my work travel schedule became a bit more frequent than I had anticipated. All things considered, I hit a lot of the points I wanted to do by losing over twenty pounds and logging hundreds of miles.

Since shifting to Paleo, I’ve learned you don’t need gluten-based carbs to properly fuel for your exercise as I had thought previously. In races past, we’d all pile around the table and engulf mounds of spaghetti and meat sauce or other wheat-based pasta or bread dinners.

My personal favorite, and what I’d almost always get if we went out to eat the night before the race, was Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Tonight, I found myself in the kitchen craving that pre-race tradition meal. However, I wanted to make it Paleo. I researched several other blogs and they hit a lot of the right notes, but there was a critical element missing: eggs. How can you make Spaghetti Carbonara without eggs?!   I decided to make my own and see how it turned out.

I pulled from my own personal memories of the dish and the four main components of Carbonara that I recollected were: Pasta, Eggs, Bacon and Black Pepper. I also personally like the addition of vegetables and in my own rendition I add sweet peas and Portobello mushrooms.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Serves 2

• 2 large Summer Squash or Zucchini, peeled and sliced into pasta (see below)
• 1/4 lb Bacon, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1 large Yellow Onion, diced
• 2 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup Full Fat Coconut Milk
• 2 Eggs, beaten
• Portobello Mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• 1/2 cup Frozen Peas (optional)
• Salt and Pepper

Prepare the “Pasta”

Knowing that spaghetti, or any traditional pasta, would not have a place in my dish, I first replaced it with a couple large yellow summer squash (3-4 smaller ones). I prefer transforming squash or zucchini into noodles by using a Spiral Slicer, but you can also use a mandolin or julienne peeler. It is a very simple process in which you slice the vegetable into noodle-like strands. 

Take the strands and salt them and place them in a strainer for about 30 minutes to draw out the moisture. Finally, rinse the salt off and again strain the noodles or lay them on paper towels so they will be as dry as possible when you are ready to cook.  I’ve seen advice to put them in a 200 degree oven for 10-15 minutes to further dry out the “pasta”.

Make the Sauce

With the pasta ready, I’m ready to begin cooking the sauce. I diced up a quarter pound of bacon into quarter inch pieces and put them into a hot skillet. As the bacon is rendering down, I begin to prepare the rest of the ingredients:

• Dice up a yellow onion
• Mince two or three cloves of garlic
• Slice up a Portobello cap into strips
• Whisk two eggs in a dish
• Open a can of full fat Coconut Milk
• Grab a bag of frozen peas

Once the bacon has crisped and rendered a good amount of fat, remove the pieces of meat from the fat and place them on a paper towel to drain. Add the onions and garlic to the pan with the bacon fat. If there is not a lot of fat in the pan, add a tbsp of olive oil or coconut oil to properly coat all vegetables. Let them sweat in the pan until translucent. Once they have become almost transparent, add the mushroom and cook for 3 minutes until tender. Toss in about a 1/2 cup of frozen peas.

I omit the use of Parmesan Cheese, so in order to add additional creaminess I add about a 1/3 to 1/2 cup of full fat Coconut Milk to the pan. It won’t add the salt factor to the sauce, so season it with salt and pepper to your taste. Bring the sauce to a boil and allow a majority of the liquid to cook out so it is not runny.

Assemble the Dish

Add the bacon pieces and squash noodles to the pan and toss with the sauce. Allow the noodles to warm in the sauce and soak in some of the leftover liquid. Add the beaten eggs at this time and toss until the eggs have fully cooked and coated the noodles like a cream-based sauce would.

Once everything is hot, you are ready to eat. I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it; whether you are training or just looking for a more healthy version of a classic Italian dish.

Thanks for eating.