Pasta Masterlass (Skillshare Course) https://stephenlarosa.co/courses/
Recipe
serves 4
6 Zucchini, sliced
1 Lemon
6 cloves of garlic, sliced
Handful of mint & basil
1/2 chili, sliced
Pecorino or Parmesan (measure from the ehart)
500g short pasta
4 tbsp EVOO
*Detailed Method
Add chili + Garlic
Saute zucchini
Add mint, basil, lemon zest, lemon juice
Blend 1/3rd
Cook Pasta
Combine with cheese
I feel like I messed up. Summer is officially over and I’ve barely cooked any zucchini. So, whilst the zucchini here are still pretty delicious, I am going to make this insane pasta dish that is packed with zucchini and just brings out the best in it. Many people think this is and rightly so a little bit of a boring vegetable. So, we’re going to make it exciting. We’re going to make it delicious. It’s kind of healthyish for plain pasta. Check this out. Now, this recipe uses a ton of zucchini for both a creamy sauce and for plenty of sauteed pieces folded through the pasta. So, we’re going to start by removing the tops and tails from our zucchini, splitting them in half, and using a knife or mandolin, we’re going to slice them into half moons about the thickness of a thick coin. To flavor our zucchini, we have a supporting cost that includes plenty of sliced garlic and the last summer chili hiding in the back of my fridge, hanging on for dear life, which I’m going to deseed and slice up nice and thin. Next, in a hot pan, we’re going to add a generous lug of oil, as well as all of your sliced garlic and chili. We’re going to saute this over medium heat until the smell of garlic is so moving that all your worldly troubles fade away. This beautifully perfumed oil, add all of your sliced zucchini. Now, I may have overdid it with the zucchini, so I added this in multiple additions, but there’s really no need to. To this, add a good pinch of salt and give everything a really good mix. And after a minute or so of light sauteing, you can put a lid on your pan. Let this cook for 10 or so minutes, occasionally opening up the lid and giving things a good stir. And once the zucchini is tender but not mushy, you can remove the lid all together and cook away any of the remaining liquid in the bottom pan. At this point, I added some mint and basil leaves that have admittedly seen better days, as well as some lemon zest and a little squeeze of lemon juice. You can remove about a third of zucchini from the pan. Add it to a blender and blend this until it is nice and smooth and creamy. If you’re not going to be cooking this immediately and you want the color and the flavor to remain as bright and vivid as possible, you can be an overachiever like I was. Set up a bowl filled with ice water and place another bowl inside of it with a strainer set inside of that and go ahead and strain your puree into the topo. Both of these steps are optional, veering on useless in this case. By straining, we ensure that our sauce is nice and smooth. And by keeping the puree nice and cold, we are preserving the color and the flavor. When you’re ready to eat, you can go ahead and boil your pasta according to packet instructions, minus 2 minutes in boiling salted water. I usually use a ratio of 1 tbsp of salt to 1 lit of water. Once your pasta is a couple minutes shy of being perfectly cooked, you can reserve some pasta water, strain your pasta, and add the pasta back to the sauteed zucchini. Add a good splash of our reserved pasta water and cook everything together for 1 to 2 minutes. If you want to understand more about the fundamentals of pasta cooking and pasta techniques, you can go ahead and check out my Skillshare course for free using the link in the description. Finally, turn off the heat, add your sauce, as well as plenty of grated parmesan, some more fresh herbs, a little zest of lemon, and a small squeeze of lemon juice, and mix everything together until it’s luxurious, creamy, and sounds just like this. At this point, plate up your pasta topped with even more cheese and a little bit of lemon zest and enjoy this immediately. Although, having said that, this is also delicious as a cold pasta dish. Okay, let’s see. Let’s see what we’re working with. It smells amazing. Bite. M. M m. Thank you so so much for watching and I’ll catch you in the next
Dining and Cooking