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The Weeknight Kitchen by The Splendid Table is a great resource for ideas and inspiration for practical, delicious weeknight meals. We feature a new recipe each week from great chefs around the world, and original creations from Lynne Rossetto Kasper. The newsletter also features tips, resources and cooking know-how to help you get the most out of the ingredients and the best part, it's free!

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The Weeknight Kitchen for July 2, 2008: Sally's Summer Zucchini Pasta

Dear Friends,

If it hasn't happened yet in your part of the country, it will happen soon, very soon - The Annual Zucchini Stalk. That is not us stalking the squash, but the squash stalking us at every turn. Short of anonymous phone calls with heavy breathing (which would happen if the green ones could figure out our language), zucchini will be omnipresent. Have you ever heard anyone express fear over a zucchini shortage?

Ignoring them is possible, but not wise - they possess cunning, like suddenly showing up at a party in melting goodness, hot from the grill, so succulent with garlic and lemon, or luring you to the farm stand with memories of this pasta dish.

If you're lucky enough to find zucchini flowers and have time enough to pan fry them, they top this pasta like nothing else. Sally Swift, producer of The Splendid Table radio show and my partner in writing How to Eat Supper, created a pasta you can do all in one pot. We share it here.

This could be an unusual addition to the July Fourth table since it's good at room temperature. The trick, though, is to never refrigerate it; make it an hour or so ahead and serve.

Sally's Summer Zucchini Pasta
From The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show (Clarkson Potter, 2008). Copyright 2008 by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift.

10 minutes prep time; 10 minutes stove time.
Serves 4 as a main dish.
The pasta could be served hot, or at room temperature.

Every single year for as long as I have known Sally she has planted zucchini. She is typically a very sensible person, but somehow she is unable to remember in May exactly how many zucchini will appear in July.

This pasta is her retaliation. It's cooked in one pot, with mostly raw ingredients and is perfect on a hot summer night or served at room temperature for a "pasta salad" even the Italians would approve of.

Cook to Cook: While penne works nicely, there is nothing sacred about using that particular shape.

• 5 quarts salted water in a 6-quart pot
• 1 pound small zucchini, about 4 or 5
• 1 pound imported penne pasta
• 4 tablespoons good tasting extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes, and more to taste
• 4 large garlic cloves, coarse chopped
• 2 cups grape tomatoes halved, or 2 cups fresh tomatoes, rough chopped
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/3 tight-packed cup fresh basil leaves, rough chopped
• Pan Fried Zucchini Flowers (optional; see recipe below)

1. Have the salted water boiling.

2. Trim off the ends of the zucchini. Cut the squash into matchsticks about the size of the penne.

3. Drop the pasta into the boiling water. In the last 3 minutes of boiling (check pasta package for timing), drop the zucchini into the pot. Boil, stirring often, until the penne are tender but still have a little bite. Scoop out 1 cup of the pasta water and reserve. Immediately drain the pasta and zucchini in a colander.

4. Return the pasta pot to the heat, turning it down to low. Film the bottom of the pot with the olive oil. Add the hot pepper flakes and garlic, and gently saute just until the garlic is fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute.

5. Remove the pot from the heat, add the drained pasta and zucchini, the tomatoes, feta, basil, and as much of the reserved pasta water as necessary to lightly coat the pasta. Gently toss, taste for seasoning, and serve. Top each serving of pasta with the zucchini flowers if you'd like.

LYNNE'S TIPS

• Green garlic, the young bulbs that haven't dried yet, are excellent here. Slice them clove, skin and all.



• So often to turn a simple vegetable sauté into a pasta sauce, cooks reach for the cream. To me, this is poor cooking, not to mention making a dish heavier and far more caloric than it need be. Cream covers up the delicacy of vegetables and clobbers your taste buds with fat. Instead, use the pasta water, and be generous with herbs and other seasonings. Rewards are lighter eating and much more flavor.



• Instead of zucchini, use all small tomatoes here, or par-cooked broccoli. You want male zucchini blossoms (females remain attached to the squash). Other squash flowers can taste bitter. You want them erect, not bruised or wilted. Cook them the day you buy them. And stay with the purist's mantra. Ignore recipes for stuffing, baking or whatever. They are for those with an unending pipeline of blooms. For the Italian summer classic - the "green" sweet tasting zucchini blossom -- you want a fast, crisp pan fry. Do this recipe and Italian grandmothers from Sicily to the Alps will applaud you.

THOUGHTS FROM LYNNE

If zucchini squash are the constants of summer, zucchini flowers are the ephemera, appearing briefly here and there throughout the season. In the Mediterranean they are delicacies; here they've become pricey specials of the day in upscale restaurants. What you need to know is how to buy them and the classic way of showing them off in all their splendor.

First you want only zucchini blossoms, not flowers from other squashes which can taste bitter. Second, you want male zucchini blossoms (females remain attached to the squash). You want them erect, not bruised or wilted. Cook them the day you buy them. Squash blossoms taste best simply pan fried.

Classic Italian Zucchini Flowers

Prep time: 15 minutes
Stove time: 20 minutes
Serves 4 to 6 as a starter, side dish or snack

Serve these as you make them, or fry just before topping the zucchini pasta.

• 24 zucchini flowers (the smaller the better)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 4 cups fresh bread crumbs (country-style white bread crumbed in a food processor)
• About 2 cups extra-virgin olive oil (for frying)
• Salt as needed

1. Gently rinse flowers and drain upside down on drain board. Do not remove pistils. In a shallow bowl, beat whole eggs and whites to thoroughly blend. In a shallow pie plate, combine salt, pepper and bread crumbs. Spread several thickness of paper towel on a cookie sheet.

2. You need about 1/2-inch olive oil in a 12-inch skillet. Heat over medium high to 375 F. (when a piece of bread takes one full minute to turn rich, golden brown, the oil is hot enough).

3. Dip 5 flowers in egg so it coats them inside (if petals are open) and out. Then gently roll in crumbs. Slip into the hot oil, adjusting heat so it stays at about 375. Fry flowers until golden brown on one side. Turn with tongs and take to golden brown on the second side. Drain on paper towels, salt and enjoy.

Have a great week and a great Fourth,

Lynne

 

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