Cheesy Zucchini Pasta Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Knife and cutting board
- 1 Tongs
- 1 Wok or large pot
- 1 Medium pot to cook your chosen pasta
- 1 Silicon or wooden spoon
Ingredients
Cheesy Zucchini Sauce
- 2 Medium to large Zucchini or Aubergines
- 50 gr Cream Cheese
- 20 gr Red onion optional
- 3 gr Vegetable stock
- splash Extra virgin olive oil
- pinch Salt
- Parsely
- Basil
- Grana Padano cheese optional
Pasta
- 140 gr Wholewheat pasta of your choice I reccomend Spaghetti or Fettucine for best outcome!
- 500 ml Fresh water
- pinch Salt
Instructions
- Dice the onion into small pieces and quarter the zucchini. Then cut the zucchini again from their ends into smaller chunks. I prefer when I can still taste and feel the chunks of zucchini but if you prefer an even creamier sauce, you can cut them as small as you'd like.
- Leave the zucchini to one side and start cooking the onion in your large pot at medium heat with a little bit of water. This is so the onion loses a bit of its original acidity while retaining the flavour. Add the stock and leave to cook for 5 minutes.
- While the onion softens, we get the pasta going!In a medium pot add fresh water and bring to a boil. If you're in a bit of a rush you can boil the water beforehand with your kettle and then add it to the pot. When the water is boiling, add a pinch of salt and your chosen pasta. Let cook as per package instructions.If you went for spaghetti or fettucine, do not break them in half! I know it's tempting but an Italian grandma may appear and hit you with her slipper.Also, it's genuinely better to have them at full length as they are specifically designed that way to retain your sauce and give you a full mouthful of the goodie. If you break them, your sauce won't be able to grip onto your spaghetti as nicely.
- Once the onion looks soft and has lost a bit of its colour, add the diced zucchini with a bit of pasta water - from the pot where you're cooking the pasta - to your large pot. We use pasta water because we want that starch to help with the creaminess of the sauce! Sprinkle with parsley and basil. It's best to add them fresh for maximum flavour but if you just have the dried versions, that works too. Leave to cook at medium heat with a lid on for 10 minutes, regularly checking and stirring.
- Once the zucchini starts to break down you can add the cream cheese. I prefer the zucchini to be a bit crunchier but for extra creaminess leave them cooking for a bit more. Mix the cream cheese into the other ingredients well until you get a creamy bubbly sauce! Lower the heat and add a spoonful more of the pasta water.
- Check the pasta - when it's cooked we do not want to use a sieve to drain it but use a pair of tongs or other utensils with holes to transfer the pasta from its pot directly to your sauce pot. This is so the pasta doesn't dry out and brings a bit of the starch it's been cooking in with it into the sauce.
- Mix well, add salt and oil to your taste and sprinkle with Grana or Parmigiano cheese. Your Cheesy Zucchini Pasta Sauce is ready to be enjoyed!Keep refrigerated and consume within 2 days
