A way to avoid having too many zucchini? Stuff and fry the blossoms. / iStock photo.
By Nancy Pollard
After owning one of the best cooking stores in the US for 47 years—La Cuisine: The Cook’s Resource in Alexandria, Virginia—Nancy Pollard writes Kitchen Detail, a blog about food in all its aspects—recipes, film, books, travel, superior sources, and food-related issues.
SINCE MY NEW HOME is in Italy, the land that apparently bequeathed to us zucchine (the Italian 
plural of the singular zucchina), I stand ready to increase my green squash repertoire. Plus I plan to cook more recipes with the blossoms—check out this earlier post on this overlooked bonus—because the more blossoms that you fry, steam or bake, the fewer green honkers you’ll have at the end of August.
How and why we made our term zucchini for both singular and plural from the Italian zucchina, not even the trusty crew at Wikipedia knows, except that we “borrowed” the word. Italian gardeners and farmers, however, don’t allow the squash to get so overblown as we do in the States. I have yet to see a bloated green specimen dumped at anyone’s front door or praying to be sold in a produce market here.
Before adding cooked pasta to the serving plate, ladle a base of sauce into the dish. / Photo by Nancy Pollard.
But on to a tasty solution! The addition of mint, basil and pine nuts makes this zucchini-based sauce for pasta an exceptional dish for August. One of the things I learned from the Italy Insider (and also from several nonne in the adorable series created by Vicky Dennison, Pasta Grannies) is to place some sauce at the base of the platter that you will use to dress the pasta. Then slide the drained pasta on top, start folding the pasta into the sauce and adding some additional sauce or even some pasta water, as needed. I think we have a tendency in the US to pile the sauce on top—and often too much of it—and then try to mix it downward.
Don’t peel the zucchine, as the green skin provides the flavor, another thing I learned from a Pasta Granny! I got another flavor enhancer from this recipe from the website Giallo Zafferano (which now offers its recipes in English as well as Italian): Cook the pasta in the same water that you used for blanching the zucchine.
August Alternatives
An Austrian zucchini cake.
Zucchini sformato in ramekins. / Photo by Nancy Pollard.
An Italian standard with vegetables is the sformato, a custard base incorporated with a purée of a seasoned vegetable, frequently used with a leftover cooked vegetable such as beets, carrots etc. This one featuring zucchini is from an earlier post has made several hundred readers very happy. This grilled zucchini salad and a delicious Austrian cake are two other possibilities for what may be lurking on your doorstep.
Tagliatelle With Zucchini Cream
- 14 ounces zucchini
- 500 g (a bit over a pound) egg-based tagliatelle, fresh is better
- Olive oil
- 30 g (1 ounce) pine nuts
- 70g 2½ ounces) grated Grana Padano cheese
- Mint leaves
- Basil leaves
- Fine sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- Bring a large pot of water to boil.
- Wash the zucchini, cut off the ends and slice the squash into cubes.
- Take a fourth of them and set aside; the rest you will cook in the salted boiling water for 5 minutes, then remove them with a slotted spoon and refresh in cold water.
- Leave the zucchini water simmering over low heat.
- Sauté the remaining uncooked zucchini in some olive oil in a fry pan over medium heat until golden.
- Put the boiled zucchini in a blender or food processor with the pine nuts and grated Grana Padano and 70ml (1/3 cup) of olive oil, some salt and pepper.
- Blend these ingredients until you get a creamy sauce and then add a few (no more than 20) basil leaves and about half that number of mint leaves—then pulverize again.
- Cook the tagliatelle in the zucchini water.
- When cooked, drain the pasta and mix it in with the zucchini cream.
- Season to taste, garnish with the sautéed zucchini cubes and serve immediately, with a drizzle of olive oil to finish off.
