This time of the year zucchini or other types of squash are abundant and so I decided to create a recipe for pasta with zucchini. To give the dish a nice flavor and a nice texture, I separated the seeds from the firmer flesh. I diced the firm part and sautéed the diced zucchini briefly over high heat. I chopped the soft part very fine and cooked it to a ‘sauce’ together with an onion and white wine. The resulting dish was very nice with a lovely flavor and texture just like I intended. Here’s what I did…
Ingredients
2 zucchini, 1 green and 1 yellow if available
1 small onion, minced
80 ml (1/3 cup) dry white wine
150 grams (.33 lb) dried tagliatelle (or 225 grams (.5 lb) fresh tagliatelle)
1 Tbsp minced fresh flat leaf parsley
freshly grated parmigiano reggiano
salt and freshly ground white pepper
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Preparation
Wash and dry the zucchini. Slice both ends off of each zucchini. Cut in halves and then slice each half into 8 wedges.
Cut the soft interior part with the seeds off of each wedge.
Dice the firm exterior parts of the zucchini (1 cm or 1/2 inch dice). Finely mince the soft parts of the zucchini.
Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Sauté the cubed zucchini over high heat until golden, about 5 minutes.
Remove the zucchini with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on kitchen paper.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt and tagliatelle and cook al dente according to package instructions.
Put the pan with the remaining oil back on medium heat and add the onion. Add some more olive oil if needed. Sauté for a minute or so until the onion becomes translucent. The onion will turn a bit green from the zucchini-infused oil.
Add the chopped interior zucchini and sauté over medium heat for a few minutes longer until soft.
Cook over medium heat, stirring, now and then, until the wine has evaporated.
Use an immersion blender to puree the zucchini and onion mixture.
Drain the tagliatelle and add to the zucchini puree, together with the diced zucchini and grated parmigiano.
Serve on warm plates, sprinkled with additional parmigiano and the parsley.
I love you the way you did the pasta with the zucchini even though zucchini is becoming my new best friend.It looks delicious.
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Thank you 🙂
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You are very welcome!!!
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Zucchini is my favorite! Roast butternut squash is a close second though 🙂
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Great. I hope you’ll like my recipe!
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Love vegetable pasta dishes: make them often and don’t think I have ever repeated a recipe! We have zucchini and what the Americans call patty-pan squash available and very cheap all year, so using 5-8 helpings of vegetables every day, these get used often. This is a lovely recipe . . . I often use a vegetable peeler to make fine strips of the zucchini and one almost cannot tell the difference twixt pasta and vegetable 🙂 !
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This is a great dish, Stefan. I make something similar from a recipe I saw Jamie Oliver prepare. I really do enjoy the mix of the zucchini and pasta flavors. It’s a light dish and a nice way to take advantage of the season’s harvest.
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These look so light, healthy and delicious Stefan
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Merci, Stéphane!
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Hi Stefan, this looks great and I second Eha’s suggestion to try making squash “tagliatelle” with the peeler to mix with the pasta ones, I made a cold salad with them once and came out visually stunning, especially when using different types at the same type (eg green and yellow zucchini, and pumpkin).
Also have you thought of finishing the cooking of the pasta in the pan with the purée and a bit of water from the pot? This in general is a nice way to finish off dry pasta with sauce and helps making it cook perfectly al dente. Just remove it from the pot at 3/4 of the cooking time when it’s still a bit too much al dente, add it to the pan of sauce with a couple of ladles of water from the pot, and stir vigorously on medium-high fire to activate the starch and bind pasta and sauce.
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Brilliant. I especially don’t like seeds in summer or yellow squash so I often remove them. But I love what you did with the soft inside flesh.
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I love the idea of the puree. Very nice indeed.
Best,
Conor
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Was just wondering what to do with all of mine. Thanks!
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🙂
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What a fantastic dish! I will definitely be trying this one. I love all things zucchini and any kind of squash for that matter. Great job Stefan. Your recipes are very inspirational!
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Thanks so much 🙂
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