One of the quick dishes I love to make this time of year is pasta with whatever veggies are ready in my garden. I am not s huge meat eater (much to my husbands annoyance), so when I cook I am fine to just load up on veggies.
My assistant this summer is Italian-Canadian, and on our trips on the road the conversation often turns to what is going on in our gardens & our kitchens. The other day for lunch he had another version of what he calls "pasta slop". Basically he throws together whatever is in the garden with whatever meat is on hand and tosses it with pasta. So this is my version of pasta slop at the peak of zucchini & tomato season. It is somewhat based off of this recipe from Canadian Living for seared cherry tomato pasta.
- spaghettini (or whatever other pasta you have on hand)
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 small zucchini, shredded
- 3 big cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 pinch crushed hot pepper flakes (I usually add more since we like it spicy)
- grated Parmesan cheese
- chopped fresh basil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup pasta water
Cook the pasta to your taste (reserving about 1/2 cup of the pasta water). Heat 1 tbsp of the oil over medium-high heat. Sauté tomatoes until lightly seared, about 1 minute. Add zucchini. Cook until hot, and remove from pan.
Add remaining oil to pan; cook garlic and hot pepper flakes over medium heat until fragrant and softened ~ 2 minutes. Add tomato & zucchini mixture, pasta and reserved pasta water, stirring to combine. Toss with Parmesan cheese and basil.
This serves 4, but we like leftovers so it works perfect for us - but you could increase/decrease based on how much you want.
In true pasta slop style you could throw whatever else you have into the pan too (fresh beans come to mind earlier in the summer). If you are planning on having leftovers you might want to add a bit more pasta water so it keeps better in the fridge, as the pasta will absorb the leftover liquid. It is actually great cold for lunches too!
This serves 4, but we like leftovers so it works perfect for us - but you could increase/decrease based on how much you want.
In true pasta slop style you could throw whatever else you have into the pan too (fresh beans come to mind earlier in the summer). If you are planning on having leftovers you might want to add a bit more pasta water so it keeps better in the fridge, as the pasta will absorb the leftover liquid. It is actually great cold for lunches too!
No comments:
Post a Comment