Stamattina

And again, to comment on love affairs, but of the food kind again: zuchinni. Still cant get enough. Which is lucky, because my garden cant seem to give me enough. Serves me right for planting three varieties I suppose...
So far there are no cliched zuchinni-the-size-of-my-thigh stories, and i have not had to resort to anonymous doorstop dropping of squash, but I definately understand the word bounty. But like I said, I love the stuff, and have many lovely ways to deal with it, for those of you who love it too, or also painstakingly (mistakinglyÉ) planted more than one seed this summer


--thinly sliced on pizza with canned artichokes and fresh basil, fontina and fresh mozzarella cheese. No tomato sauce, just a good drizzle of olive oil.

--shredded in an omelette with soft goats cheese and thyme; or take the same three ingredients, add some cream, toss with pasta and you have an incredible veggie carbonara

--as a sidedish tossed with melted anchovies and mint

--shaved squash and its blossoms tossed with lemon juice and olive oil with ricotta salata makes a crisp and fresh salad



The last idea came from David Tanisè A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes. In the summer section of this book, Tanis talks about zuchinni and his ways of dealing with it. It is almost poetic the way he confesses the joy of simplicity that comes from cooking down cubes of zuchinni and the basis it becomes for so many delicious meals. Which brings me to tonights pasta, wonderfully sweet and flavourful, my new favorite way to deal with the veg that keeps giving.

Inspired by Tanisè description, I slowly softened a thick slice of onion, diced small, and a smashed clove of garlic in a pan of olive oil. After a couple of minutes I added in a glut of chopped zuchinni, seasoned with salt and pepper, splashed in a bit of white wine and covered, letting it cook down to a thin, almost saucelike consistency. In the last couple of boiling minutes for my linguini, i tossed in the pile of fresh herbs I had chopped up: summer savory, oregano, thyme, and purple basil. Tossed with pasta and topped with parm, this meal sang. No need to give away my zuchinni, Id rather share it in this form.