Linguine con le zucchine – Linguine with courgettes

The children are back to school; or are going back to uni, here is a great way of making the most of the last tomatoes and courgettes of the season on a budget.

Spaghetti will work as well but tagliatelle would be too wide to absorb the sauce

The rule for pasta cooking is 100/10/1 hence 1 litre of boiling water per 100g of pasta with 10g of salt (2 tsp)

Ingredients for 4 servings :

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
1 clove  garlic, finely sliced
4 leaves  sage
1 pinch dried chilli flakes
2 medium zucchini, finely sliced
200 g plum tomatoes, skinned, de-seeded and diced
400 g linguine
150 g buffalo mozzarella, cut into 1cm cubes
40 g parmesan cheese

Method :

1. Heat the olive oil in a sauce-pan

2. Meanwhile, finely slice the onion

3. Sweat the onion in the heated oil over low-medium heat until very soft

4. Meanwhile, peel and slice the garlic, finely shred the sage

5. Wash and finely slice the zucchini

6. Peel, de-seed and chop the tomatoes. (you will need to score the skin of the tomato in a cross pattern at the bottom and plunge them in boiling water for 10-30s before peeling)

7. When the onions are ready, add the garlic, sage and chilli flake. Sweat for about 30 sec

8. Add the zucchini and cook for 2-3 mins

9. Add the tomatoes, raise the heat to very high

10. Cook for a further 5-7 mins or until the tomatoes desintegrate

11. Season to taste

12. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a pan of boiling water until al dente (2 mins less than the packet tells you to)

13. Chop the mozzarella

14. Drain and place the pasta back in the pan over medium heat

15. Add the sauce and the chopped mozzarella, stir to re-heat the whole mix

16. Check the seasoning and serve with a grating of parmesan cheese