Can you tell how much I love zucchini with the number of zucchini recipes I have on here? Well, here’s another one and it’s so scrumptious! It’s a healthy and light dish that it’s also vegetarian if you choose to make it that way, which I did, but you can easily add shredded chicken in this or any other meat. I went all health snob with this dish by using whole wheat pasta and all organic zucchini and pesto.
Speaking of pesto — I LOVE pesto. I don’t know why I don’t cook with it as much as I should. When I worked at an Italian restaurant in high school, I would always get the pesto pasta dish there. Why I never chose to replicate it blows my mind. I probably should keep that in mind for my next craving of pesto.
It’s also really easy to make your own pesto, BUT I calculated the cost and time and that’s why I chose to buy mine already canned instead of making my own. It takes about 2 cups of basil and 1/2 cup of pine nuts, amongst other ingredients, and if you don’t have a large amount of basil and pine nuts just sitting around, buying all those will cost you well over $5 and I bought my jar of pesto for $3.50. I’m not trying to deter you from making your own pesto, I’m just giving my reasoning as to why I didn’t make my own :)
Basil Lemon Pesto Pasta with Zucchini
Ingredients:
1 lb. whole wheat pasta (I used rotini because of the spirals, it picks up the sauce really well)
2/3 cup of basil pesto (I bought a 6.5 oz. jar of organic basil pesto and it was exactly 2/3 cup)
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 medium zucchinis
2 large cloves of garlic or 1 tbsp., minced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions:
- In a small bowl, put your pesto and lemon juice in it and stir to combine. Set aside.
- In a large pot, boil water for your pasta. Season the water with a liberal amount of salt and a couple drizzles of olive oil.
- Cook the pasta until done. Whole wheat pasta takes a little longer to cook, about 9-12 minutes.
- While the pasta is cooking, cut your zucchini. First cut off the ends then cut in half lengthwise and then slice into half-moon slices.
- In a large frying pan (big enough to hold all the pasta when it’s done), drizzle some olive oil and turn the stove to medium high. Once oil is hot, add in the minced garlic and saute until you can start to smell the garlic, about 1 minute. Don’t burn it!
- At this point, add the sliced zucchini, salt, and pepper, and saute until tender-crisp. You can taste a piece to see if it’s as done as you like. It took me about 5-7 minutes to cook it to the tenderness I liked.
- Add the pesto to the cooked zucchini. If the mixture is too thick/clumpy, add a little bit of the pasta water to thin it out.
- Drain the cooked pasta in a colander and add it to the zucchini and pesto mixture. Gently toss and mix together until well combined.
- Grate fresh Parmesan cheese on top before you serve.
Adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen
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