Pasta with Fried Zucchini and Cheese

Name: Pasta with Fried Zucchini and Cheese: Bucatini in 30 Minutes
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Pasta (bucatini, spaghetti) 250 g; Water for boiling the pasta 2–3 l; Salt for boiling the pasta 14–21 g; Young zucchini 1; Onion 1; Garlic 2-3 cloves; Olive oil 2 tbsp; Herbs (parsley, dill, basil) to taste; Aged hard cheese (pecorino, Parmesan, Grana Padano) 2 tbsp (14 g); Lemon juice 1 tsp; Dried hot pepper a few pods; Salt for the vegetables, black pepper to taste

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30 mins

Italian pasta, for all its amazing variety, is just dried dough. What gives pasta its flavor is the sauce, which is every bit as varied as the pasta itself. Make a good sauce and you get a delicious carbonara, pasta with zucchini, pasta with basil, pasta with ham. There is endless room for imagination.

Italian pasta has a fairly branched classification. It is hard to master completely, though possible. Roughly speaking, pasta is divided by the kind of flour it is made from, and by type, which corresponds to its shape, length and purpose. The ending of a pasta’s name also tells you its size.

Take spaghetti, which everyone knows. The name covers almost all long, thin pasta. But even here it’s not that simple. Spaghetti are long, round in section and about 2 mm thick. Spaghettini are thinner than spaghetti, and spaghettoni are thicker. Flattened Ligurian spaghetti are bavette. Hair-thin pasta is capellini, a very interesting pasta, by the way, especially with a chicken sauce (pasta with chicken recipe). Then there is bucatini, which also makes excellent spaghetti with chicken.

Bucatini are fairly thick Italian spaghetti with a “channel” running through the center, like thin tubes. The name most likely comes from buca, meaning a hole. Bucatini come from central Italy, the Lazio region, with Rome at its center.

Bucatini are usually served with buttery sauces, meat, vegetables and cheese. The classic sauce for bucatini is amatriciana (see the recipe here). But very often this pasta is served with zucchini, with vegetables, or simply with basil and tomatoes, topped with pecorino, Parmesan or other aged cheeses.

A vegetable topping for pasta is easy to make. Zucchini cooks very quickly, so you can always make the topping while the pasta boils. A little fried onion, young zucchini, herbs and spices, and the whole dish goes beautifully with an aged hard cheese.

More with parmesan and pasta

Spaghetti alla Nerano with Fried Zucchini and Provolone

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Tortiglioni Carbonara with Mushrooms

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Chicken Thigh Fillet Pasta with Parmesan

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Cacio e Pepe – Pasta with Cheese and Pepper

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Pumpkin Ravioli with Parmesan

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Ingredients

2 servings

Pasta (bucatini, spaghetti) 250 g
Water for boiling the pasta 2–3 l
Salt for boiling the pasta 14–21 g
Young zucchini 1
Onion 1
Garlic 2-3 cloves
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Herbs (parsley, dill, basil) to taste
Aged hard cheese (pecorino, Parmesan, Grana Padano) 2 tbsp (14 g)
Lemon juice 1 tsp
Dried hot pepper a few pods
Salt for the vegetables, black pepper to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Ingredients and pasta

Pasta with zucchini is a simple, quick dish that takes up to half an hour. Zucchini is now a year-round vegetable, it’s just a matter of price.
Prepare the ingredients. For two servings, one young zucchini with shiny green skin is enough. Besides olive oil and spices, you also need a small onion, a few sprigs of mixed herbs and an aged Italian cheese (pecorino, Parmesan, Grana Padano and so on).
Choose a long pasta. I chose bucatini, which is thicker than ordinary spaghetti and has a hole running its whole length. This pasta swells a little as it cooks and gets thicker. Bucatini goes well with a vegetable sauce of large pieces of zucchini and onion. Spaghetti or any similar long pasta will do just as well.
In a large pot, bring 2-3 liters of water to a boil over high heat and add salt, 7 g per liter.
Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente, following the time on the package. Don’t overcook it, or the dish will turn into a mush of dough.

Vegetables

While the water comes to a boil and the pasta cooks, you can prepare the vegetables.
Peel the garlic cloves and flatten them with a knife.
Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and fry the garlic until golden. As it fries, the garlic flavors the oil, and then it should be discarded.
Peel the onion and cut into thick strips.
Fry the sliced onion in the flavored olive oil until soft. Cook over high heat without covering the pan, and stir the onion so it browns evenly. Don’t overfry the onion, or the pasta will have an aftertaste. It’s enough for the onion to just become soft.
Wash the zucchini, trim the ends and cut crosswise into sticks or slices, as you prefer. A young zucchini with beautiful shiny green skin doesn’t need peeling. The pieces should be fairly large, or the zucchini will fall apart during cooking.
Add the sliced zucchini and a few whole dried hot peppers to the onion. Dried pepper makes the pasta aromatic and adds practically no heat. If you like spicy food, though, you can add sliced fresh chili.
Fry the zucchini and onion for 3-4 mins over high heat, stirring.
Season the vegetables with salt and pepper to taste and add 1 tsp lemon juice.
Take the vegetables off the heat and cover with a lid.

Combine and serve

When the pasta is cooked, drain it in a colander and let the water run off.
Mix the pasta with the fried vegetables and add the very finely chopped herbs. Toss.
Divide the pasta with zucchini among plates and sprinkle with finely grated hard aged cheese. Sheep’s-milk pecorino, Parmesan or Grana Padano are all good. You can toss the pasta with the cheese or serve it as is.
Serve right away, without waiting for it to cool. If you like, add more black pepper. Pasta with cheese and zucchini is delicious any way you serve it.