This week’s recipe is the final meal I made in Rome earlier than we left for 3 weeks in Sicily. Within the days earlier than that, we’d been “consuming down”. I’m undecided the place I picked up this expression, the longer model of which is “consuming down the fridge” – that’s, consuming something that may go off earlier than a vacation. However choose it up I did, and now it pops up like a chilly sore each time I have a look at the fridge as a vacation approaches. Anyway, issues had been going effectively: there was simply milk, cherry yoghurt, parmesan that was already fairly exhausting, lettuce for the good friend coming to feed the tortoise, and a big courgette left.
Whereas a well-stocked fridge is filled with potentialities, it additionally presents you with selections and choices. A near-empty one, then again, takes accountability and tells you what to do. Fry the courgette, the fridge stated. How? The reply to that is in my nonetheless unpublished pamphlet, Tips on how to Flip any Vegetable right into a Pasta Sauce, a piece of six sections: boiling (which is often adopted by dragging), roasting, pounding, dicing, frying and the steamy braise. Steamy braise is the very best part, as a result of it’s a nice strategy: fry the vegetable first in oil (to not brown it, however to seal the floor), then add simply sufficient water and salt that the vegetable bubbles and steams away in its personal juices. The liquid reduces whereas the courgette softens and collapses sufficient to develop into a sauce.
A steamy braise works for many greens, and notably for artichokes, peas (frozen or recent), pumpkin and courgettes. Some say broccoli, too, however I feel that’s finest cooked in line with part one – that’s, boiled and dragged, or strascinati, a really Roman manner, which I’ve written about beforehand. Permitting courgettes to prepare dinner slowly, first by frying, then by simmering them in their very own juices, brings out their sweetness, which you’ll want to season effectively with salt and grated cheese. Their texture is mushy, so in case you are not a fan of that, flip to part 5: frying.
Each time I make pasta with courgettes now, I’m reminded of an essay in Rebecca Might Johnson’s fantastic new guide, Small Fires: An Epic within the Kitchen, about making one thing a thousand occasions, and the way repetition turns recipes into conversations we now have with ourselves, shaping each us and the recipe. Repetition teaches, perhaps reassures, presumably bores – and is not any assure in opposition to the sudden. Which is hardly shocking, given all of the knives, hearth and appetites. I like to recommend the guide for its insightful, radical, stunning essays – and for all of the kitchen dancing.
mezze maniche, casarecce
Serve this pasta with loads of grated parmesan or pecorino. Alternatively, and for added texture, recent white breadcrumbs tossed with olive oil and salt, then toasted in a pan till golden and crisp. And, for pudding, that lingering cherry yoghurt we have to eat down.
Pasta with courgettes
Prep 15 min
Cook dinner 20 min
Serves 4
3 medium courgettes
2 garlic cloves
6 tbsp olive oil
Salt
1 handful basil leaves
400-500g pasta – fusilli, spaghetti, mezze maniche or casarecce
Grated parmesan or pecorino, to serve (or a handful of breadcrumbs, tossed with olive oil and salt, and toasted in a pan till golden)
High and tail the courgettes, then lower into 1cm-thick cash. Crush the garlic cloves with the aspect of the knife, so that they cut up, however stay intact, and the skins come away.
Put the oil, garlic, courgettes and a pinch of salt in a frying pan set over a low-medium warmth and fry the courgettes gently, turning them after a couple of minutes. Gently fry on the opposite aspect for a couple of minutes, then add a number of tablespoons of heat water to the pan, and go away to bubble away. Add extra water, and repeat till the courgettes are very tender and collapsing with just a bit liquid left within the pan – this can take about 20 minutes. Whereas the courgettes are cooking, boil the pasta in line with the packet directions, till al dente, then drain.
Take away and discard the garlic, rip within the basil leaves and some chilli flakes, if you want, then add the drained pasta to the pan and blend (or combine the courgettes with the pasta in a big bowl). Serve, passing spherical parmesan, pecorino or toasted breadcrumbs.
