Zucchini Doesn’t Have to Be Watery and Sad
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If you’ve ever wondered what to do with all that zucchini piled up at the farmers market, this pasta is what.
It’s the kind of dish you really can’t screw up. And it will make all the zucchini haters out there (paging Carla Lalli Music) demand to know how you transformed a relatively bland, somewhat watery vegetable into something so deeply flavorful and—while I really don’t like this word I’m gonna use it anyway—truly unctuous.
The trick is to cook down the chopped-up zucchini until it’s almost unrecognizable, or what David Chang might refer to as “ugly delicious.” In the case of this recipe, the more ugly, the more better. (Please see my iPhone photo, below.)
Lately, I’ve been describing the texture of the finished dish as “sludgy,” though you may want to follow the lead of Chris Morocco, who developed the recipe, and call it “jammy.” In this age of the jammy egg, everyone likes jammy.
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Garlicky oil and a liberal amount of salt infuse the zucchini (or yellow summer squash) with flavor, while pasta water and grated parm finish it off. I also like to add a knob of butter at this point because, well, butter.
In Chris’ recipe, the zucchini takes on depth thanks to a generous amount of fresh basil, another farmers market staple this time of year. But I take my cue from Ruthie Rogers of London’s River Cafe, who cooks a similar dish. She opts for fresh mint, stirring in a handlful while the zucchini cooks down, and then another handful, just before serving, once the pasta is incorporated into the sauce.
My only other deviation from Chris’ recipe is timing. Chris calls for about 15 minutes of cooking time for the zucchini; I go for double that. I want my zucchini extra sludgy—excuse me, jammy.
Get the recipe:
Summer Squash and Basil Pasta
Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit
