Peppery Zucchini Pasta Recipes

ZUCCHINI PASTA

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Put olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini, onion and thyme, and cook, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper and adjust heat so onion and zucchini release their liquid without browning. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until very tender.
• Add tomatoes and their liquid to zucchini and raise heat a bit so mixture bubbles. Cook pasta until it is nearly but not quite tender. If sauce threatens to dry out, add a little pasta cooking water.
• Drain pasta and finish cooking it in sauce. Serve, garnished with parsley or Parmesan.

HERBY ZUCCHINI AND RED PEPPER BAKED PASTA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
• Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until the garlic is golden, about 2 minutes. Add both cans of tomatoes and 1 cup of water. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat slightly, add the basil sprigs and simmer rapidly, uncovered, until thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard the basil sprigs and stir in the chopped basil and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl with a slotted spoon.
• Cook the farfalle in the salted boiling water until very al dente, about 2 minutes less than the package directions. Drain the pasta and add it to the bowl.
• Add the tomato sauce, red peppers, half of the provolone and half of the pecorino to the bowl and stir well to combine. Transfer the pasta to a 3- to 4-quart baking dish and top with the remaining provolone and pecorino. Bake, uncovered, until browned, about 15 minutes. Let the pasta stand about 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with parsley.

ZUCCHINI PASTA BAKE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add penne pasta, cook for 10 to 12 minutes, until al dente, and drain. Lightly grease a medium casserole dish.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a blender or food processor, thoroughly mix the Parmesan cheese and crackers.
• Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place the onion in the skillet, and cook and stir until tender. Mix in the zucchini, tomato, and garlic, and season with oregano, basil, celery, salt, and pepper. Continue to cook and stir until the zucchini is tender.
• In the prepared casserole dish, mix the pasta with the vegetable mixture and mozzarella cheese. Top evenly with the Parmesan cheese mixture.
• Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the topping is lightly browned. Allow to sit 5 minutes before serving.

CARAMELIZED ZUCCHINI PASTA

Steps:

• In a large (at least 12-inch) cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter and oil. When it's foaming, add the zucchini, garlic, the basil stems and half the basil leaves. Season with 1 1/4 teaspoons salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cover and cook until pooling with liquid, 5 to 7 minutes. Uncover and cook until the liquid evaporates and the zucchini starts to sizzle, 7 to 10 minutes.
• Continue to cook until the zucchini is very soft, dark green, and reduced to about 1 cup, another 20 to 25 minutes. When you see a build up of browned bits on the skillet, add a couple tablespoons of water and stir, scraping up the browned bits. Repeat anytime more browning occurs. If you see burning, deglaze with water and lower the heat. (Caramelized zucchini can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to a week; it also freezes well.)
• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When the zucchini is about done, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente. Reserve 2 cups of pasta water, then drain the pasta. If the zucchini is ready before the pasta, keep cooking it; the zucchini will only get better the longer it cooks.
• When the pasta's drained, remove the herb stems from the zucchini. Reduce the heat on the zucchini to medium, then add the pasta, 1 cup pasta water, and the Parmesan. Stir until the pasta is glossed with sauce. Add more pasta water as needed to thin the sauce. Stir in the lemon juice and remaining basil, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with more basil, Parmesan and black pepper.

ZUCCHINI PASTA

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain and reserve.
• Fill a medium sauce pan with lightly salted water. Add zucchini and bring to a boil; boil for 10 minutes or until tender.
• In a large skillet, saute garlic in oil and hot pepper flakes. Add drained zucchini and parsley, then mix all together and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Toss with pasta; then add cheese and salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

PEPPERY ZUCCHINI PASTA

Steps:

• In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 teaspoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is softened, 3 to 4 minutes.
• Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil, pepperoncini, salt, and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes to flavor the oil. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Reserving 2 tablespoons of pasta cooking liquid, drain pasta.
• Add pasta, reserved pasta cooking liquid, zucchini, cheese, tomatoes, and basil to skillet; toss to combine. Cook over medium heat until pasta is just heated through and cheese is melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with additional pepper to taste and serve warm.

PEPPERY PASTA

Steps:

• In a large straight-sided saute pan over medium heat, add the olive oil, pepper and a pinch of salt. Heat and toast the pepper until the oil is fragrant with the pepper scent, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain in a colander and allow the moisture to evaporate from the pasta for a couple of minutes.
• Add the pasta to the pan with the olive oil, raise the heat to medium-high and continuously toss the pasta with tongs to coat with the olive oil and pepper. Remove from the heat, add the lemon zest and cheese, toss and then transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

ZUCCHINI PEPPER BASIL PASTA TOSS

Steps:

• Cook pasta in plenty of boiling, salted water as directed.
• Meanwhile, in large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.
• Add zucchini, red pepper and garlic. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Saute, letting all brown lightly.
• Sprinkle basil evenly over skillet. (If necessary, reduce heat a bit, so that vegetables don't burn.).
• Drain pasta, then add pasta to skillet with vegetables. Add vegetable broth. Cook and stir briefly.
• Add Parmesan cheese.
• Serve.

ZIPPY ZUCCHINI PASTA

Steps:

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute zucchini and garlic in oil until zucchini is crisp-tender. , Add the tomatoes, parsley, oregano and pepper flakes; heat through. Drain pasta; serve with zucchini mixture.