Pasta Con Zucchini Recipes

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Put olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini, onion and thyme, and cook, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper and adjust heat so onion and zucchini release their liquid without browning. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until very tender.
• Add tomatoes and their liquid to zucchini and raise heat a bit so mixture bubbles. Cook pasta until it is nearly but not quite tender. If sauce threatens to dry out, add a little pasta cooking water.
• Drain pasta and finish cooking it in sauce. Serve, garnished with parsley or Parmesan.

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook orecchiette in the boiling water until tender yet firm to the bite, 3 to 6 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking water.
• Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook shallot in the hot oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in squid; cook until coated with oil, about 2 minutes. Pour in wine; simmer until reduced by half, about 3 minutes.
• Stir tomatoes and zucchini into the saucepan; season with salt. Cook until softened slightly, 5 to 8 minutes.
• Stir orecchiette into the saucepan. Cook until coated with tomato and zucchini mixture, adding reserved cooking water a little at a time to make a moist sauce, 2 to 3 minutes. Garnish with parsley and black pepper.

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente, 9 to 11 minutes. Reserve 1 cup pasta water, then drain the pasta.
• Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic; when it begins to sizzle, add the zucchini and saute for a couple of minutes. Add 1/4 cup of the pasta water and cook until the zucchini is tender, about 5 minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and half of the basil. Remove the garlic.
• Add the pasta to the skillet along with about 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking water; shake the pan vigorously, adding a little more cooking water if the pasta looks dry. Cook, tossing, until the liquid is absorbed, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the parmigiano, pecorino and the remaining basil; toss. Top with more Parmesan.

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain and reserve.
• Fill a medium sauce pan with lightly salted water. Add zucchini and bring to a boil; boil for 10 minutes or until tender.
• In a large skillet, saute garlic in oil and hot pepper flakes. Add drained zucchini and parsley, then mix all together and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Toss with pasta; then add cheese and salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

Steps:

• Place zucchini slices on a plate and let dry for 1 hour.
• Heat 1/2 cup oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini slices in batches and deep fry until brown, 10 to 15 minutes per batch. Drain on paper towels and allow to cool. Mash 1/3 of the zucchini.
• Place 3 tablespoons olive oil and garlic cloves in a large saucepan over low heat. Watch carefully and simmer until garlic cloves are a light golden brown and oil is infused with garlic flavor, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in mashed zucchini. Add zucchini slices.
• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 12 minutes. Drain spaghetti, reserving some cooking water.
• Add spaghetti and provolone cheese to the saucepan. Toss and add hot pasta water until sauce becomes creamy. Mix in basil, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Steps:

• In a large (at least 12-inch) cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter and oil. When it's foaming, add the zucchini, garlic, the basil stems and half the basil leaves. Season with 1 1/4 teaspoons salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cover and cook until pooling with liquid, 5 to 7 minutes. Uncover and cook until the liquid evaporates and the zucchini starts to sizzle, 7 to 10 minutes.
• Continue to cook until the zucchini is very soft, dark green, and reduced to about 1 cup, another 20 to 25 minutes. When you see a build up of browned bits on the skillet, add a couple tablespoons of water and stir, scraping up the browned bits. Repeat anytime more browning occurs. If you see burning, deglaze with water and lower the heat. (Caramelized zucchini can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to a week; it also freezes well.)
• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When the zucchini is about done, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente. Reserve 2 cups of pasta water, then drain the pasta. If the zucchini is ready before the pasta, keep cooking it; the zucchini will only get better the longer it cooks.
• When the pasta's drained, remove the herb stems from the zucchini. Reduce the heat on the zucchini to medium, then add the pasta, 1 cup pasta water, and the Parmesan. Stir until the pasta is glossed with sauce. Add more pasta water as needed to thin the sauce. Stir in the lemon juice and remaining basil, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with more basil, Parmesan and black pepper.