This seasonal pasta recipe looks amazing! Published on the Globe and Mail online site, it features zucchini and zucchini blossoms in a light cream sauce, which would be updated to be a lemon cream sauce, or maybe even by adding a little thyme. Mostly I'm copying it here so I have it to hand when guests are coming over next week. I'm praying for zucchini in the CSA but can hit up a farmer's market if needs be.
Ingredients
6 ounces fresh fettuccine or dried spaghetti cooked al dente
12 baby zucchini with flower, cut into 1/4-inch rounds
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, chopped finely
1/2 clove garlic thinly sliced
1 tablespoon grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 ounce butter
salt and pepper to taste
Method
1. Put a large pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta.
2. Warm enough olive oil to amply cover the bottom of a large lidded sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add shallot and, with the lid on, sweat them off (cook until translucent but not brown), stirring occasionally.
3. Add the zucchini rounds and, with the lid off, cook until somewhat soft, approximately 6 minutes, flipping the rounds halfway through.
4. Add the butter and the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano to the pan, stir it in and turn up the heat to medium to let it thicken into sauce.
5. When the salted water comes to a boil, and while the sauce is thickening, add the fettuccine to the pot and cook until it is al dente, according to the instructions on the package. It will not take long.
6. Once the fettuccine is cooking, add the zucchini flowers and a tablespoon or two of the pasta water to the sauce, and give it a stir. Season to taste.
7. Drain the cooked pasta, incorporate it into the sauce, and serve immediately.
8. Fall in love.
The amounts listed only serve 2 as an appetizer, so keep the ratios in mind when you scale up to feed more salivating mouths.
I've decided that reading your blog after lunch is a much safer approach! Keeps me from getting the munchies to early :)
ReplyDeleteSo long no post! Come on, I need something to distract me from these blisters and all this red meat! I´ve given up ordering salads in Spain as I´m only met with disappointment and mayonnaise.
ReplyDeleteBesitos!
I recently did a hybrid of the recipe you posted with this one http://bobbyflay.com/contents/recipe_print.php?id=217
ReplyDeleteminus the crab of course. I made home made linguini for the pasta, and fed 10 people. It was a major hit. The white wine and chili flakes plus the zucchini - which I shaved into thin strips on my mandolin, along with caramelized shallots . . . so good! If I did it again I'd leave the blossoms out until the very end and use as a garnish, as they sadly wilted as soon as they hit the heat of the sauce. They were delish though.