Creamy Zucchini Pasta

Creamy Pasta and Zucchini

There are certain pasta dishes that remind you how little you actually need to make something really good. Pasta, zucchini, onion, basil, Parmigiano, olive oil. That’s basically it.

This is my version of pasta with zucchini, one of those simple Italian dishes where the vegetables aren’t something you toss into the pasta at the end—they actually become the sauce.

The trick here is blending about half of the zucchini after it has simmered. You still get plenty of pieces of zucchini in the finished dish, but the blended portion creates this wonderfully creamy base for the pasta. Then the pasta cooks right in that same pan, releasing its starch into the zucchini mixture.

And, of course, there is Parmigiano.

A generous amount.

There’s no cream in this recipe. It doesn’t need it. The zucchini, pasta starch, olive oil, and Parmigiano do all the work.

It is simple, inexpensive, and exactly the kind of pasta I like making when I want something comforting without spending the entire afternoon in the kitchen.

Annotated Cooking Notes

Use a small pasta.Ditalini or tubetti are ideal because they cook beautifully in the zucchini mixture and give the finished dish that almost risotto-like consistency. You could use another small pasta shape, but I would avoid anything too large.

Ingredients

• 500g (1 lb) ditalini or tubetti pasta

• 500g (1 lb) zucchini, cut into small cubes

• 1 yellow onion, diced

• Extra virgin olive oil

• 4½ cups water, plus more as needed

• Fresh basil

• Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano

• Salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Heat a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a large, deep skillet or sauté pan over medium heat.

Add the diced onion and a few leaves of fresh basil. Cook until the onion has softened and become translucent.

Add the zucchini and season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pour in 4½ cups of water and bring everything to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the zucchini has begun to soften.

Transfer about half of the zucchini mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Carefully return the blended zucchini to the pan and stir everything together.

Add the pasta directly to the zucchini mixture.

Cook over medium to medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the pasta is al dente. The pasta will absorb the water and thicken the sauce as it cooks. Add additional water a little at a time if the pan becomes too dry before the pasta is finished.

Once the pasta is cooked, turn off the heat.

Add a generous amount of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano and stir vigorously until the cheese melts into the zucchini and the pasta becomes creamy.

Taste and adjust the salt and black pepper.

Spoon into bowls and finish with more Parmigiano, a drizzle of good olive oil, and a few fresh basil leaves if you like.

Serve immediately.

This is one of those dishes that proves a pasta sauce doesn’t have to simmer for three hours to be worth making. Sometimes a zucchini, an onion, some cheese, and one pan are enough.