Caramelised Zucchini Pasta

Hi guys!


I've been quite busy searching websites and looking up cookbooks every free second last week, because I want my first "real" post to be about a recipe I like a lot for the season and I can share with you. My winner is: Caramelised Zucchini (Courgette) Pasta by Donna Hay. 


I've only recently come to look up her website and I find it really nice. You can find a lot of recipes that are sorted in three general categories, "Recipes", "Menus" and "Kitchen Basics". "Recipes" is further divided in "Mains", "Fast Food" and "One Pot" to name a few. In each category, you are going to find the recipes sorted by ingredients like "meat", "pasta + rice" or "salads". I find this very organized presentation of the recipes extremely helpful as it allows you to look up specific recipes that match your mood fast. 


But let's get to the main part...


This link will lead you to the recipe:
http://www.donnahay.com.au/recipes/mains/pasta-rice/caramelised-zucchini-pasta


And this is how my attempt ended up:

I found the instructions very easy to follow. They are precise and their progression is logical.
It's basically four steps:


1) Start boiling water, add salt when it's boiling and throw in your pasta.
2) Slice the zucchini, chop up your tomatoes and grate the parmesan
3) Heat a little bit of olive oil in a pan, add garlic and zucchini and cook until they're soft. Throw in the tomatoes at the end, so they're getting warmed
4) Combine the pasta with the vegetables, add parmesan and mint leaves. 


I managed to chop the veggies while my pasta was cooking. When you combine the pasta with the vegetables, parmesan and mint leaves at the end, make sure your pasta and your vegetables are warm, but not very hot anymore, otherwise your parmesan will form lumps. You are going to want to avoid that. The recipes says the dish serves 4, but I found the amount sufficient for 5 or even 6 people, depending on how much everyone is eating. Active and total preparation time will be approx. 15 minutes.


My result: I love the way the dish looks like, the green and red of the zucchini and the tomatoes are an instant humor uplift. The mint leaves add a nice freshness as well as a little acidity, so don't omit them. Donna Hay's ready-for-summer-dish is definitely going to be on my menu a lot.


Have fun trying and please let me know about your experiences in the comments!