Spring Courgette Pasta is a classic, quick, and tasty recipe for early-season young courgettes.
These young vegetables are sweet and firm and perfect for whipping up a quick pasta sauce in the time it takes to cook the pasta. Use wild or early-season garlic to flavour the sauce with mint, wild lesser calamint, dill or parsley. Whatever fresh herbs you have to hand. I use a lot of mint at this time of year – it’s a great complement to spring or early summer vegetables. But on a more practical level, our mint plants tend to wither as the weather gets hotter, so we love to use it as much as possible while it lasts!
Ingredients
To add a slight creaminess but not heaviness to the sauce, I add either the Greek fresh Myzithra cheese or a similar Greek fresh Anthotyros cheese, both closely resembling Ricotta. Use whichever of the three is easiest to source and local. It binds the sauce without overpowering the vibrant taste of the young courgette. Here, courgettes or zucchini are known as kolokithakia; they tend to be slightly lighter in colour and gently striped – also known as the field pumpkin squash or ribbed pumpkin. Interestingly, it grows well if planted with dill, garlic, and oregano—all good additions to our sauce 😃. Whichever variety you choose, select young, firm vegetables for this recipe. Courgettes tend to be more watery as they mature. It’s not a problem, but you must squeeze the extra juice and dry them. If not, the wateriness will spoil the texture of the sauce.
Method – Spring Courgette Pasta
Put the pasta of your choice in salted boiling water. Roughly chop the courgettes, spring onion, salt, garlic, and small fresh chilli or slice of something like a banana chilli or peperoncino and whizz it in a mini mouli or food processor. In a large pan, saute the mixture in olive oil and sweat the vegetables. Don’t fry them. You want to extract the flavour and soften it. Meanwhile, add the Myzithra or Ricotta cheese, a tablespoon of hot pasta water, a small dash of olive oil, lemon zest, and parsley to the same mixer. Whizz until smooth.
Add the creamy sauce to the vegetables, season with a good grind of black pepper, and taste for salt. When the pasta is ready, toss it in the sauce with half the parmesan. Serve with the rest of the parmesan. And there you have it—lunch or supper in the time it takes to cook the pasta.
If you are looking for vegetarian inspiration, why not try Pasta Soffritto, Creamy Broccoli Pasta turning your courgettes into Zucchini Fritters (Kolokithokeftedes) or whipping up a delicious Asparagus Risotto?
Spring Courgette Pasta
Ingredients
- 160 g pasta of choice recipe allows for 80 g pasta per person
- 200 g young courgettes, trimmed and chopped
- 3 cm piece of banana chilli or peperoncino optional
- 2 cloves wild or new season garlic
- 1 spring onion – roughly chopped
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- 150 g Myzithra or Ricotta Cheese
- generous tbsp mint, dill or basil or a combination of all three! Optional.
- generous handful parsley
- 50-60 g finely grated Parmesan Cheese
- ½ tsp salt
- olive oil
- salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Put the pasta into salted boiling water.
- In a large pan, saute the courgette mixture in olive oil. Sweat the vegetables, but don't fry them. You want to extract flavour and soften them, but not caramelise or brown them. Keep that wonderful vivid spring green colour.
- Meanwhile, in the same mixer, add the Myzithra or Ricotta cheese, a tablespoon of hot pasta water, a small dash of olive oil, lemon zest, a tablespoon of herb(s), and parsley. Whizz until creamy.
- Add the creamy sauce to the vegetables, season with a good grind of black pepper, and taste for salt. Heat through for a couple of minutes. When the pasta is ready, toss it into the sauce with half the Parmesan – stir gently to melt the Parmesan.
- Serve sprinkled with the rest of the Parmesan and some finely chopped fresh herbs.
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