September 27, 2020

Zucchini Feta Pasta

I had two large garden zucchinis left in my refrigerator even though it is nearing the end of September. Needing to do something with them soon, I thought hard. I didn’t want to make a quick bread or have roasted zucchini one more time. Since it was the first day of autumn, I wanted to move out of summer with a bang. Luckily, I remembered someone had mentioned a zucchini pasta dish that was their favorite. I got some general directions from her and made Zucchini Feta Pasta last night.

I got in touch with the friend and asked for her recipe. She told me to shred zucchini, then to squeeze out some of the water and saute it. Add some chopped fresh basil or other herbs at the end and then some feta when mixing it with the hot pasta. Do I think I made this exactly like it was meant to be done? Er, probably not, but I think I came close to the spirit of the dish. I hope Emily doesn’t mind that I took some liberties with her grandmother Avis’s recipe.

I had my 21 year old daughter that HATES cooking help me make this dish and she thought it was kind of fun and wants to make it again. She also doesn’t really like unmelted cheese so we melted most of the feta into the sauce. I am pretending that I don’t have offspring who doesn’t like raw cheese. She’s not exactly conventional, but I’ll keep her anyway.

We had Roasted Tomatoes with the Zucchini Feta Pasta. Even my meat loving husband was happy and said that because there was enough feta cheese in the pasta, that it felt substantial. I’m excited to make this again! I got two thumbs up from the whole family.

Print Recipe

Zucchini Feta Pasta

A delicious and fresh pasta full of vegetables

Prep Time15

Cook Time12

Course: Main Course

Keyword: Basil, Feta, Pasta, Zucchini

Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 large Zucchini
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Basil slivered
8 oz Feta Cheese crumbled
1 lb Pasta of your choice, penne, linguini, etc.

Instructions

Cook Pasta

Add pasta of your choice to boiling water and cook for recommended time. Drain pasta when cooked. Try to time pasta so that it finishes cooking just after the zucchini mixture is finished.

Make Zucchini Mixture

Grate the two large zucchini. Put the grated zucchini in a large colander and use your hands to squeeze some of the water out. Let sit for a few minutes.
Add pasta of your choice to boiling water and cook for recommended time. Drain pasta when cooked. Try to time pasta so that it finishes cooking just after the zucchini mixture is finished.
In a saute pan, heat ¼ cup olive oil, add zucchini and saute for about 5 minutes. Add crumbled feta cheese and heat for 4-5 more minutes until feta is mostly incorporated. Remove from heat or turn off the burner.
Put drained hot pasta in zucchini mixture and toss with tongs until incorporated.

Modifications

I cut the basil with kitchen shears.

I used the grating blade for my food processor to grate the two large zucchinis. It really saved my hands and a whole lot of energy.

I bought a block of feta so I cut it up with a knife into about half inch pieces. I know they sell feta already crumbled as well.

We cooked the thin linguini in the microwave pasta cooker. My daughter added water halfway through but there was no water left when it finished and the pasta was a block and all stuck together. I probably can’t cook a whole pound at once in it which makes it useless when I am cooking long pasta for 4 people.Although it worked for macaroni, I think I still need to cook long pasta in a pot of water and rely on somebody else to move the pot off the stove and drain it. My daughter helped me poke the “loaf” of pasta apart into the sauce.