As I mentioned last week, my neighbor Jerry has been giving me tomatoes from his garden. He has also been giving me zucchini! So far I’ve made zucchini bread, zucchini fries, sautéed zucchini with tomatoes and balsamic vinegar, zucchini brownies, and pasta with zucchini and tomatoes and I still have a few more zucchini dishes I want to make.
Today I’d like to share the pasta with you. The quantities I give for the ingredients are all approximate as I was using mostly fresh produce and didn’t bother weighing or measuring any of it. But that’s one of the great things about pasta—it’s not an exact science. And I don’t know how much pasta I added to the sauce. Because my kids don’t like zucchini, I made a bunch of pasta but only put some of it into the sauce. While Robbie and I ate fresh harvest pasta, they had noodles with spaghetti sauce from a jar.
A lot of advanced-skilled cooks would probably skin the tomatoes before adding them. Too much time and effort for this point in my life so the skins stay on.
I would also add more salt and pepper when making this for Robbie and myself, but went more conservative for those who don’t like as much salt and pepper. Just taste and adjust as necessary.
Summer Harvest Pasta (Pasta with Zucchini and Tomatoes)
About ¾ lb. spaghetti or fettuccine, preferably whole wheat
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
5-6 medium tomatoes, cut in wedges or 30 oz. canned diced tomatoes
1-2 tsp. salt plus more
½ tsp. pepper plus more
½ tsp. oregano
Small bunch fresh basil leaves, torn or ½ tsp. dried
1 large zucchini, cut into large chunks
Parmesan cheese (optional)
Boil pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat skillet over medium-high heat; add oil. When oil is hot, add onion and sauté until translucent.
Add garlic, 1-2 tsp. salt, and ½ tsp. pepper; sauté until fragrant. Stir in tomatoes, oregano, and basil.
Continue to cook until fresh tomatoes are cooked down and heated through. Stir in zucchini and continue to cook until desired tenderness.
Add additional salt and pepper as desired. Stir in hot, drained pasta.
Serve with Parmesan cheese if desired.
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| From this... |
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Add garlic, 1-2 tsp. salt, and ½ tsp. pepper; sauté until fragrant. Stir in tomatoes, oregano, and basil.
Continue to cook until fresh tomatoes are cooked down and heated through. Stir in zucchini and continue to cook until desired tenderness.
Add additional salt and pepper as desired. Stir in hot, drained pasta.
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| A rogue corkskrew snuck in there! |
Serve with Parmesan cheese if desired.
4 comments:
Mmm, yummy, and yet another way to use up the ever-prolific summer zucchini (I have no idea how Raley's can get away with selling it for 99 cents per pound this time of year when people can’t even give the stuff away!). You inspired me to make some of this up for my family tonight, but mine was decidedly more fattening than yours :-). I melted some cream cheese and parmesan in my sauce and threw in some Italian sausage for good measure (otherwise, my skinny husband and scrawny sons might starve to death, hee, hee). I had mine low-carb style; I sliced more zucchini in thin strips and grilled it until almost blacked in a hot cast iron skillet and used those for the “noodles” under my sauce. I think I actually prefer the zucchini over noodles! Thanks for the idea. If you have any more zucchini recipes, I would love to hear ‘em!
Sounds yummy, Stacey!! You beat me to my next experiment--zucchini fettuccine alfredo! And yes, I do have more zucchini recipes to share in the very near future!
Our favorite go-to zucchini dish is called colache (sp?). I take zucchini, yellow or white onions and green peppers from the garden and throw in some garlic. Then I pulse it all a few times in my food processor until they are in small pieces (but definitely not blended mush). Then I cook it all in very hot oil in a cast iron pan until there is no more liquid and it is all browned/blackened. Then I throw some cotija cheese on it and serve it hot in a corn tortilla with beans, salsa and sour cream. We can go through MASSIVE amounts of zucchini that way. Unfortunately, I had a big serving of it last summer when I was pregnant and now every time I smell it I am reminded of morning sickness :-( ,but my family still loves it!
Thanks again for another wonderful recipe! I tried this tonight (I did add a pound of diced chicken breast with the onion) and it was FANTASTIC!! Another great recipe to add to my repertoire. :-)
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