Pasta and zucchini are a favorite combo any time of the year. I have a few recipes already, but different. This one uses mascarpone cheese (yum) and a gremolata garnish. It cooks quick all in one pot and the sauce just loves the pasta shells, inside and out, and coats them beautifully. 1-inch rigatoni works well too in this pasta dish.
I had a tech problem and an engineer from WP fixed it but he messed up my pictures and how I handled them. Now, I have another issue to deal with so I started by making the pictures smaller…
This is another recipe from New York Times Cooking by Alexa Weibel. When the rating gets 5 stars (out of 5) and has 2857 views this pasta-zucchini dish must be good!
One-Pot Zucchini-Basil with Gremolata
- 2-3/4 cups vegetable stock (I ended up using 32 oz. of broth)
- 12 oz. medium pasta shells (or 1-inch rigatoni)
- 2 medium zucchini (14 oz.) trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 4 oz. mascarpone (I ended up using the whole container of 8 oz. as I increased the sauce – can never have too much cheese)
- 1 large garlic clove (I grated it versus chopping)
- basil slivers to taste
In a large, deep 12-inch skillet, bring stock to a boil over high heat. Once boiling stir in the pasta, zucchini, mascarpone, garlic and basil slivers. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Reduce the heat and cook stirring frequently, until the pasta is tender and liquid is reduced until thickened and creamy, 12-15 minutes. After the dish was cooking awhile I added the additional mascarpone (optional) amd vegetable broth. Adjust seasonings if needed…
Gremolata is the Italian version of French persillade. There are many versions of this Italian green sauce and the following is what the chefs chose to use in this recipe. No garlic (there is some in the pasta) or lemon but two fragrant herbs and some roasted almonds. Some recipes add capers and grated orange zest or rosemary and crushed red pepper for more variety – depends on the recipe the gremolata is garnishing.
- basil slivers to taste
- 3 tbsp. roasted, salted almonds, chopped (I used unroasted and unsalted whole almonds)
- 3 tbsp. Italian parsley, chopped
Place the nuts on a prepared baking sheet. I roasted the almonds in a 325 degree oven for 12 minutes. You will smell the nutty aroma of the almonds when you open your oven door. I did not add any seasonings…
Plate your pasta mixture and sprinkle gremolata on top.
Recipe by cookingwithauntjuju.com
Ingredients…
Manchego cheese is added to give this pasta its luscious, creamy flavor…
I usually roast larger nuts such as these almonds in the oven and smaller nuts such as pine nuts I like to toast on top of the stove…
Love this pasta dish!
This dish is definitely to my liking. So fresh and flavorful. 🙂
Thanks Ronit – I prefer this kind of a sauce versus red sauce in the warmer months, however I will rarely turn down any pasta dish 🙂
This is fabulous! I love the pasta AND the gremolata!
Thanks – the gremolata was a nice touch to this cheesy pasta dish – I need to make it more often 🙂
I know I’m odd but I don’t like or often eat pasta. Only when I have to 🙂 I do love mascarpone and zucchini tho!
I remember that you are not fond of pasta as you are the only one I know who doesn’t like it 🙂 On the other hand I love pasta too much!
This is such an unusual dish in its preparation…adding the cheese while it is cooking. I never would have thought of that. That certainly is a one pot meal.