Pasta with zucchini flowers - pasta ai fiori di zucchini
Pasta with zucchini flowers and baby zucchini is definitely a colorful and tasty late spring-summer dish. It only takes few minutes to prepare and it’s ready to be savored. I use baby zucchini because they have a sweeter and more delicate taste and zucchini flowers for complementing the flavor and to give more consistency to the dish.
Zucchini is considered a vegetable and mainly used in delectable dishes, but in reality it’s the immature fruit of the female zucchini flower. The female flower is a golden blossom on the end of each zucchini while the male flower grows directly on the stem of the zucchini plant on a long stalk. Both flowers are edible and can be eaten fried, stuffed and baked or in risotto. They are an irreplaceable part of the cuisine in my home as I cook with them as long as I can get good fresh flowers.
Ingredients:
1 lb. cavatappi or other short pasta
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 scallions thinly sliced, light green part too or white onion, about 1/4 cup
4 baby zucchini, thinly sliced 1/2 heaping cup
14 zucchini flowers
sea salt to taste
freshly grounded black pepper (optional)
Yields: 4 to 6 servings
Instructions:
1. Warm up the oil in a skillet then add the scallions and saute them for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. If they get too dry add few spoons of water.
2. Add the zucchini and cook for 2 more minutes, mixing often with a wooden spoon.
3. In the meantime remove the pistils from the zucchini flowers, slice the flowers coarsely and add them to the zucchini. Cook for 3 more minutes and salt to taste.
4. Cook the pasta as directed and when ready drain it setting aside a few spoons of the water.
5. Heat up the skillet with the vegetables and pour the pasta in. Quickly combine it and if it’s too dry add few spoons of the reserved pasta water.
6. Scoop the pasta on the plates, drizzle with olive oil and a dust of black pepper (optional). Garnish your pasta with the softer green part of the scallions chopped and serve.
Where can I purchase zucchini flowers?
@meryl you can purchase them at a Farmers’ market. If you’re in the States here’s a website that lists farmers’ markets, farms etc. http://www.localharvest.org/