Tag: Pasta with zucchini

ZUCCHINI FLOWERS and Preserved Artichokes

My generous friend who has space in her garden for zucchini plants and is able to collect their flowers has been lavishing me with kindness once again. She surprised me with a small brown paper bag with some of her zucchini blooms.

Unfortunately, the colder temperatures and rain aren’t friends of these delicate blossoms, and I think that this last gift could be my last.

Zucchini flowers can be prepared in various interesting culinary methods. However, due to their short shelf life, I prefer to cook them the same day I receive them, regardless of my schedule.

Sometimes, the best meals come together quickly with what you have on hand. With a few fresh ingredients and a bit of creativity, you can easily make a delicious dish that’s both satisfying and flavourful.

I therefore select the easiest and quickest option taking the ingredients I have at hand to achieve a satisfactory outcome.

I had pale-skinned zucchini, spring onions, fresh basil, saffron, and a jar of preserved artichokes. Since fresh artichokes aren’t in season right now, the preserved ones in oil added just the right touch, bringing a rich and tangy flavour to the dish and transforming it into something memorable. A little stock and a generous knob of butter rounded everything off, making for a simple yet delicious pasta sauce dressing.

The photos below should explain the cooking method.

Cut zucchini in half (I used 3), then quarters, and toss in hot pan with extra virgin olive oil. Cook for about 5 minutes. I like to cook these separately and not overcook them to preserve their unique flavour and their shape. Remove them from the pan and set aside. 

Slice 3 spring onions and sauté in extra virgin olive oil.

Add the flowers and basil, then sauté briefly. At this stage I also added a bit of saffron that I had been soaking in about 1/2 cup of stock.

I added the drained artichokes (I cut them in halves), warmed them, then added the cooked zucchini.

I finished with a generous lump of butter.

The type of pasta was rigatoni.

This dish tasted and smelled like Spring, brightening our dull Melbourne day. A friend came to dinner that evening and it was her first time for zucchini flowers.

She left very content.  

ZUCCHINI FLOWERS, A Simple, Sweet Delight

STUFFED ZUCCHINI FLOWERS

EGG PASTA WITH ZUCCHINI FLOWERS, ZUCCHINI, PINE NUTS and STRACCIATELLA (egg drop)

 

EGG PASTA WITH ZUCCHINI FLOWERS, ZUCCHINI, PINE NUTS and STRACCIATELLA (egg drop)

Zucchini are coming to the end of the season but in home gardens there still seem to be flowers.

A friend gave me some zucchini flowers; they are delicate and fragile and always a pleasure to receive.

The flowers have to be used quickly.

As you can see from the photo above I decided to make a quick pasta dish using zucchini and pine nuts. I have plenty of young rosemary twigs that are soft enough to chop finely.

If I had some stracciatella (a soft, fresh cheese) at home I would have added it after incorporating  the pasta with the zucchini. I  improvised and stirred 2 eggs with a fork and used this instead,  after all , the word means little, torn rags or shreds and  ‘Italian egg drop soup,’  is also called stracciatella. In this Roman soup , egg is stirred into the hot broth forming strands.

The  free range eggs were very fresh and yellow.

I used butter for the cooking, because butter would brown the zucchini more effectively. I also like the taste of butter in cooking.

I used egg ribbon pasta and because the pasta cooks quickly I put on the pasta to cook while I finished the zucchini component.

Once the zucchini slices were coloured I added the pine nuts to toast.

I quickly added the zucchini flowers; they soon softened in the heat and did not need any further cooking.

I also added the stirred eggs  and a ladle of  the cooking water from the pasta. The heat, plus the water will cook the eggs and make them creamy.

Drain the pasta and incorporate the two together.  I always add a blob of butter or a good drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil to any pasta I make.

The fresh taste of the ingredients is what I wanted and it was not necessary to add  parmesan cheese, however, each to their taste!

See:

STUFFED ZUCCHINI FLOWERS

PASTA CON ZUCCHINE FRITTE (Pasta and fried zucchini)