The first time I had zucchini it was floating in a bowl of vegetable soup, cut into little rounds, and so overcooked it fell apart in my spoon as I was bringing it to my mouth. I was not a fan, and since we never had it again, I’m fairly certain my parents weren’t fans either.
About 20 years later I was buying groceries for Thanksgiving and came across a bag of baby zucchinis and decided to give them a try. I sauteed them with olive oil, diced tomatoes and garlic, and was careful not to overcook them. We didn’t have leftovers. From that point on I started to experiment with different ways of including zucchini into meals.
It has been a love affair that I’ve happily introduced to my children.
Zucchini has been easy to find, but pasta has been a little more difficult. I had a box of shells in my cupboard that I’d been saving for a few weeks and I knew exactly how I wanted to use it. I wanted to do something special that would mean more to my son than opening a jar of tomato sauce.
My son loves the flavor of zucchini but cannot stand the texture, and thinking back to my first time biting into that yellow-green mush, I don’t blame him. I’ve discovered that if I blend the zucchini and serve it with pasta he will go back for seconds and sometimes thirds.
When I make this sauce I usually use a can of coconut milk and add in asiago cheese at the end to help round out the flavors and add some creaminess to the texture. I’ve been having a tough time finding coconut milk, but I have plenty of cream cheese, so I subbed out the coconut milk for the cream cheese and left out the asiago entirely. Also because I don’t happen to have any asiago.
While the flavor profile turned out a little differently than what we were used to, it was still very good, and once again resulted in no leftovers.
Pasta with zucchini sauce
Ingredients:
- 2 zucchinis, cut into large chunks
- 4 cups of water
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon of garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon of dried basil
- 1 tablespoon of dried oregano
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- 3 tablespoons of butter
- 3/4 block of cream cheese
- My last box of pasta
Directions: Blend zucchini with 1 cup of water. Set aside. In large saucepan, melt butter then add garlic salt and red pepper flakes. When butter begins to brown add blended zucchini and stir. Add bouillon, basil, oregano, and remaining water. Bring to a boil, then after a minute lower heat to simmer. Add in cream cheese, stirring occasionally. In separate pot, cook pasta according to directions. When cooked, strain pasta. Top pasta with sauce, serve with cheese.
The Link LonkJuly 29, 2020 at 05:26PM
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Zucchini sauce for my last box of pasta | Cabin Fever Cookbook - Chico Enterprise-Record
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Pasta
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