I love zucchini! That gorgeous green punch of colour is so summery. It reminds me of Italy. I grow zucchini in the garden at the house. I usually plant one or two plants, but I seem to always get a bumper crop. I’ve made zucchini pickles (really good recipe coming), ratatouille, zucchini soup, gazpacho with zucchini (instead of cucumber) and Katharine has even made regular and chocolate zucchini bread.
Here’s a very quick and easy fresh sauce to make when your garden is overflowing with zucchini. The freshness of the zucchini in this sauce really shines through. It “cooks” when you add the hot pasta to it and I love the fact that you can prep it between stages, so it pulls together really quickly. This is a good recipe for students and parents who want their children cooking with them. It’s vegetarian and can easily be made gluten-free by using rice noodles or gluten-free pasta. BONUS: I’ve also added a quick reboot to transform your leftovers into another meal!
Prep time: 5 minutes; Cook time: 30 minutes (while you cook your pasta); Servers: 4 – 6 people
What you need:
- 2 medium zucchini
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp My Go-To Spice Mix (or more)
- 500 g pasta (your choice – or rice noodles if you are celiac or following a gluten-free diet)
- salt, pepper to taste
- fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (optional)
What you do:
- In a deep saucepan over medium-high heat, add the olive oil
- Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute
- Add My Go-To Spice Mix and cook for 1 more minute
- Remove from heat
- Grate your zucchini
- Add the zucchini to the slightly cooled oil/garlic/spice mix
- Stir
- Set aside for approximately 30 minutes as you cook your pasta
- Add water to a large pot to cook your pasta
- Reserve 1 cup of cooked pasta water
- Drain your pasta
- Add back to the large pot (the one you cooked the pasta in)
- Add your zucchini mix to the pasta
- Stir (add more oil or pasta water if you want it saucier)
- Serve with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, salt and pepper to taste
- Optional: add more of My Go-To Spice Mix for a bit more of a kick
- Enjoy!
- Want a fast reboot with the leftovers? Saute minced garlic in olive oil, add 400 ml of crushed tomatoes, stir, bring to a boil, add the leftover zucchini pasta to the tomato sauce, stir. Voila! New meal version!
This looks so delicious! And healthy!
Very healthy and vegetarian! Make it with rice noodles and you are gluten free! You are then all set my celiac sister!
Sounds fabulous except for one things… how is Parmigiano-Reggiano ever “optional”? In my house the boys would consider that mandatory ;-). Thanks for another great recipe.
Ha! I’m in the kids camp for Parmigiano-Reggiano, but there is a school of thought that says no cheese on vegetable sauces (and obviously fish/shellfish sauces).