Thursday, July 12, 2012

Summer Zucchini with Pasta

If your farmer's market or garden is anything like ours - zucchini are everywhere! At the farmer's market they're piled high at every stand and in our gardens a new batch is coming in before we've had a chance to eat the first. Oh the stresses of summer!

One of our favorite ways to enjoy zucchini is Pasta with Zucchini, a Positano classic. It's a simple Mediterranean dish and you can always add your own twist, perhaps with a few quartered cherry tomatoes. For a more complete meal add some whole shrimp. Serve with a chilled bottle of Falanghina - compliments this dish perfectly on a warm summer evening.

Pasta e Zucchine ~ Pasta with Zucchini
Serves 4-6

4 zucchini, sliced into disks
Peanut (or olive) oil for frying
½ stick butter
Grated Parmesan cheese
Basil, ripped by hand 
Pasta, spaghetti or penne

Cut off ends of zucchini and slice into thin disks.  Heat a large pan with oil.  Test the oil with a piece of zucchini; it should rise to the top immediately when dropped in.  Add the zucchini until it covers the bottom of the pan and fry until golden on both sides (about 5 minutes). Drain on a paper towel and fry the rest of the zucchini in batches.  

The zucchini can be fried even the day before.  Then as you are boiling your pasta, prepare the final steps of the sauce.  In a frying pan, add butter and zucchini and heat.  Add several spoonfuls of grated Parmesan and rip basil leaves into zucchini mixture. 

Add cooked pasta to the zucchini and toss together for a minute over the heat before serving.  Serve sprinkled with additional Parmesan cheese and a basil leaf garnish. 



Email us anytime for more zucchini recipes...we've got plenty! info@cooking-vacations.com






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