Summer just keeps going here in the UK - surprisingly - and it's great! I've been so inspired to experiment with more recipes and instead of falling back on my old faithful (winter) ones when times get busy, I've been building up a nice collection of summer dinners. So, combining everyone's love of pasta, here's my take on a bright and fresh courgette spaghetti dish.
Grated courgettes and garlic
Courgettes cooking with the pancetta
Courgette and Pancetta Pasta
Serves: 2-3 (really depends how much you can eat!)
Time: less than 30 mins.
Ingredients
2 medium sized courgettes (zucchini)
3 cloves of garlic
250g diced pancetta (you can use bacon too)
1 tsp. of dried chilli flakes (or to taste)
25g of freshly grated parmesan or mature cheddar, plus extra for topping
Juice and zest of half a small lemon
Extra Virgin olive oil for the pasta
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Good quality spaghetti (I'm terrible at measuring/gauging spaghetti servings so let's go with a fistful or whatever you wish to serve 2-4)
1. Grate the courgettes and garlic. You may get a lot of water from the courgettes but just pat them dry - don't remove all the moisture from them.
2. Bring salted water to the boil and cook pasta to instructions.
3. Heat some olive oil in a wide pan and cook the pancetta low and slow to get it just crispy.
3. Once the pancetta is cooked and just turning crispy, add the chilli flakes (if using) and the garlic, cooking until garlic is just fragrant.
4. Keeping the heat on a low-medium, add the grated courgettes to the pan, cooking only a few minutes until you notice the courgettes wilting slightly and any excess water evaporating (you want them to keep a bit of a crunch).
5. Add the lemon zest and juice, grated cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.
6. Once the pasta is cooked, drain (reserving a ladleful of starchy water), and add to the courgettes, with a bit of the past water to loosen and mix with ease.
7. Plate up and serve with some extra cheese grated on top.