"zucchini pasta" news and stories

Zucchini is the garden's gift that keeps on giving . . . and giving . . . and, well, enough already. We love the bright orange blossoms peeking out from under the vines, and get excited by the first squash, and then, after we've eaten about 30 of them, we run out of ideas on how to prepare them. So today and tomorrow I'm featuring a couple of recipes that will make you fall in love with those omnipresent veggies all over again.

Blogger everybodylikessandwiches keeps it simple, with her recipe for this pasta dish. She uses sliced baby zucchini, which she sautés in olive oil with garlic, chili flakes and fresh peas, then mixes in salty crumbled feta and fragrant basil and mint leaves. And a squeeze of lemon makes it pop.

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Zucchini is a shape-shifter if you give it half a chance. Or, I should say, if you give it a go on a mandoline. Sliced lengthwise, about one-eighth-inch thick (which you can also do it with a sharp knife, but it's easier with a mandoline), zucchini ribbons can stand in for regular pasta. (Steam them for a couple of minutes until they're crisp-tender.) Whether you need a gluten-free base or if you're just in the mood to experiment and amp up the vegetables, whisper-thin zucchini slices are the answer.

And basil, with its heady fragrance and luscious taste, doesn't always have to be the go-to herb for pesto. Parsley may not be the showiest herb at the market, but, when combined with almonds, as in this recipe, it makes a subtly seductive pesto.

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For most of my life I ate zucchini one of two ways. It was always sliced into rounds and then was either steamed or pan fried in a little bit of olive oil. Occasionally it was cut lengthwise and grilled, but mostly that happened at the hands of cooks other than my mother, so it was very infrequent. I was 22 before I discovered that zucchini could be cooked down to a creamy consistency over low heat or that it could be finely chopped and quickly sauteed.

Once my eyes were opened to a world of zucchini cooking options I started playing around. A while back, I hit upon a way of mimicking spaghetti noodles with zucchini that has become one of my favorite ways to prepare it. I use the fine matchstick blade on my mandoline (Amazon has some for under $10 that would do the job nicely) and slice the zuck lengthwise, so that I come away with long strings of squash that look like squared off spaghetti (don't use the inner seeded area, as it just shreds).

I heat a little olive oil in a nonstick pan, mince a couple of cloves of garlic and toss it all together over medium heat until the zucchini softens but isn't mushy. I like to eat it just like that, a sort of "pasta" alio olio that's a bit healthier than the traditional one due to the use of veg instead of starch. You could also top it with pasta sauce or toss other veggies in for a primavera. Play around, anything goes as long at it tastes good.