Pasta With Zucchini

Creamy pasta with zucchini is such a luxurious dish. The thing is, there is no cream in this recipe! the pasta is finished like a carbonara recipe to create the "creamy" sauce. This dish is fairly simple dish and has a ton of flavour! plus, it's vegetarian.

RIGATONI WITH ZUCCHINI CREAM (no cream)

Recipe by Mark Calaminici | Food Loves Company

Serves 4

Ingredients

1lb rigatoni

8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 large zucchini, deseeded and diced

3 tbsp butter

½ of a sweet onions, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

chili flakes, to taste

Salt

Freshly cracked pepper

2 egg yolks

1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

Method

1. In a large frying pan over medium heat, heat 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Before cutting up your zucchini into chunks, slice a few round slices, as many as you like to fry. Salt them so some of the moisture can be released, about 10 minutes. Just before frying, pat them dry with a paper towel. Fry them in the oil until golden brown and set aside on a plate lined with paper towel.

2. In a large frying pan over medium heat, heat up 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Add butter, onions, garlic, chili flakes and season with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Add zucchini and sauté until zucchini is tender, about 5-6 minutes, depending on size of diced zucchini.

3. In a medium bowl add the egg yolk and cheese and whisk until you form a sort of cream like texture. Set aside.

4. Cook the rigatoni in a large pot of boiling salted water. Remove pasta 2 minutes before done. Reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water.

5. Add zucchini mixture to a blender. Add a little bit of the pasta water and blend until everything is smooth.

4. Add a splash of pasta water to the pan and the cooked rigatoni. Add the zucchini mixture and toss to incorporate all ingredients, about 2-3 minutes. Remove pan off the heat and add the egg yolk mixture. Quickly mix and toss to incorporate the ingredients so the egg yolk doesn’t scramble.

Until next time, ciao!