zucchini pesto pasta

This is a really simple, quick one pot pasta that is super delicious. We make it often with many different shaped pastas since its invention several years ago in Napoli with foglie d'olive (olive leaf) pasta by our good friend Laura. The pesto is not a full dose, but just complements the zucchini and cheese. We keep some fresh pesto on hand in the fridge for this dish when the mood strikes us (often).

ingredients

1 lb Delverde™ Mezzi Rigatoni (or any short pasta: orecchiette, farfalle, strozzapreti,...)
4 medium zucchini, coarsely chopped (thick julienne works well)
1/2 c freshly grated parmigiano (pecorino romano for an extra kick) plus more at the table!
2 T butter 2/3 c pesto (use fresh or bottled already prepared pesto)
Kosher salt (for pasta water and seasoning) and freshly ground black pepper

instructions

  1. Start the pasta water boiling.
  2. Prepare the zucchini, cleaning and chopping them coarsely.
  3. Boil the zucchini in the salted pasta water a bit until partially cooked.
  4. Then add the pasta and cook until al dente.
  5. Drain the pasta zucchini mixture, reserving some pasta water to add to the drained pasta if needed (it should not be too dry), and return to the pot to mix in the butter (which should melt in the hot pasta), pesto and parmigiano, and add in freshly grated lack pepper to taste. Check for salt and add if necessary.
  6. Serve immediately with optional additional freshly grated cheese on each serving at the table.

notes

  1. Recipe posted at https://www.facebook.com/Delverde.Eng Facebook page, many recipes, but hard to search.
  2. https://www.delverde.com/us DelVerde USA, few recipes.
  3. This is a downsized repackaging of our previous presentation inspired by the Delverde USA pasta Facebook page. which won us a prize of 3 packages of DelVerde pasta (including our favorite Mezzi Rigatoni!) and a bottle of Lucini Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which we began using from then on for our salads, more recently being carried by Costco at an economical price, and making a recent list of credible quality supermarket brand olive oils.
  4. The original illustrations are many. See also the rewards package.
zucchinipestopasta.htm: 30-dec-2018 [what, ME cook? © 1984 dr bob enterprises]