I see me eating a lot more of this as the summer goes on

I love zucchini. I can only dream of living in one of those towns where people lock their houses and cars during zucchini season to prevent people from leaving bags of squash and running away. If I thought there was the slightest chance that someone might put a zucchini in it, I would happily carry around an empty bag and open it up occasionally, looking away and whistling.

My mom gave me one of the early zucchinis from her garden when I was upstate and I used this recipe to make this dish. [edited to correct link]

I oversalted it pretty badly, which I don't mind so much, but I would have been embarrassed if I had been cooking for anyone other than myself. So, even though she tells you to salt the pasta water liberally, aim for Greenpeace, not the Earth Liberation Front, since you add some of the pasta water to the final dish to moisten it. I was pretty happy that I could use my very own basil and mint for the first time. I should have used more though.

It's more of a narrative than a recipe: saute a chopped onion in olive oil, add vegetables and fresh herbs, cook until tender, add a spoonful of balsamic vinegar and cook it off, then add pasta and enough of the pasta water to moisten the dish, add some parmesan. It's more time standing over a stove than is really ideal for the height of summer, but it does make enough for several meals, it's cheap and tasty and it'll be a good way to use whatever's in season without thinking too much about it. There's a similar recipe in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle where they grate the zucchini, which I might try next. It would probably cook more quickly.

Comments

[Melissa]

The link didn't work for the recipe, but I'd love to see it because what you made looks YUMMY!

[LeighB in ATL]

I ended up with some exceptionally large zucchini (and i mean large, a la Crazy Aunt Purl), and I grated them and mixed with a little chopped onion, breadcrumbs, and egg and some spices and made zucchini pancakes. YUM! Salt and drain the grated zucchini though, so some of the water will come out.

I don't know how these things get so big. One day there's no zucchini in the garden and then two days later there is a freaking baseball bat.

[carolyn]

mmmm salt. :)

[Martha]

I've been crazy about a zucchini recipe this summer also. It's zucchini carpaccio from epicurious.com. The recipe is at:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/107802

Totally fresh (uncooked zucchini) and wonderful for summer. I think I've already made it about 4-5 times.

I'm going to cruise Cook's Companion in the next couple of weeks. Their ice cream makers are going on sale.
-Martha