Zucchini and Pasta

When it comes to technology, I'm always a little bit behind the times.

I own a first generation iPhone. Yes, the ones that don't even use 3G. It would be almost cool if I was one of the first people to buy one, but I bought mine used from my sister's father-in-law when he upgraded about three years ago. My husband used to bug me to upgrade for the love of Pete but after I explained to him several times that my phone still works and iPhones are hip he's finally given up.   

Under pressure from my husband, I finally donated my VCR to Goodwill two years ago when we were packing to move out to Utah. Not that I used it much by that point, but I wasn't sure if I'd need to pull it out and watch all those episodes of Trading Spaces that I had taped. 

I owned a hand-me-down TV from my parents up until two years ago, too. A hand-me-down TV isn't necessarily bad, but hand-me-down-TV-my-parents-bought-when-I-was-a-small-child is not so good. Sometimes I wonder if my husband married me just as an excuse to get rid of it.

Anyway, in keeping with all my luddite, late-adopting technology ways, I joined Twitter just yesterday. And found out that it's pretty fun, can be very addictive and is yet another way to waste my time. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about it. If you are already on there, please let me know so I can follow you and have even more excuses to spend time online. (Yes, I hear you can tweet from a phone, but so far that's beyond me and my phone's skills.)

Also in keeping with my coming to most parties a little late, I have one final zucchini recipe for you today. If you don't have zucchini coming our your ears anymore (or if you never did) I would say this recipe would even be worth buying a bunch of zucchini at the grocery story. It's simple, fast, and surprisingly flavorful. It's so good, in fact, that I braved additional insults from the farm stand lady last week to buy zucchini to make it again. (Luckily for me she wasn't there this time.) Thinly sliced zucchini is cooked with garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil until it is very soft and then it is mashed into a sauce that you use serve over pasta. How simple and ingenius is that? You can leave out the fresh mint if you don't have any, but I really liked the freshness it added. You can also add in some heavy cream or extras like pine nuts or peas if you want, but even in its most simple form it's a great, fast summer dinner.

Better late than never, right?

Zucchini and Pasta

3 T olive oil

1 clove garlic finely chopped

6 medium zucchini, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp kosher salt plus more to taste

pepper

1 lb penne, farfalle or other short pasta

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 T fresh packed mint leaves, torn

1 cup thawed frozen peas (optional)

1/4 cup pine nuts (optional)

1 T cream (optional)

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. When it is hot, add the garlic, zucchini, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring often, for 15 minutes or until the zucchini is quite tender,

2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes or until the pasta is tender but still has some bite. Dip a heatproof glass measuring cup into the pasta cooking water and remove 1/2 cup. Drain the pasta into a colander and return it to the pot.

3. With a potato masher, mash the zucchini until it is coarse. Stir in the Parmesan and add the mixture to the cooked pasta. Stir well over low heat until the pasta is hot. Add a few spoons of the pasta cooking water if the mixture seems dry. Add in peas, pine nuts or cream if using, season with salt to taste, stir in the mint and serve.

Serves: 4-6


Recipe Source: The Boston Globe; adapted from “The River Cottage Cookbook’’

Posted in: Main Dish