Day 14 - 14 January 2012

Hello!

The photo for Day 14 is tonight's dinner.  Spaghetti with Zucchini (Courgette for those of you in the UK). This dish epitomises everything that I like about Italian cooking - using minimal ingredients to create delicious food. I love Italian food. My step-mother and step-sisters are Italian and I have learned so much in their kitchens. My aunty lives in Italy, and I have learned lots from her also.

Here is the photo:

It's a pity you can't smell it through the computer monitor or, even better, taste it! This was one yummy dinner, even my little (pasta-hating) girl ate hers all up. By the way, this is the big serving bowl, there are about six serves in there, it isn't just a single serve, LOL!

Would you like the recipe? Here it is:

Spaghetti con Zucchine
Ingredients:
Spaghetti
Zucchini, finely sliced (I used one, but sometimes I use two)
Olive Oil - use good quality, you can taste it in this dish, it needs to be nice
Ground black pepper

Grated Parmigiana Reggiano (or other parmesan, pecorino, or romano cheese) to serve.

Method:
Cook spaghetti until al dente. I add salt to my cooking water after the water has started boiling, not before.
While cooking spaghetti, cook zucchini in a single layer in pan with olive oil and pepper until both sides are browned. You will need to do a few batches to get through all of your zucchini slices. If you put them in all together, they will steam and collapse into a soggy mess.
When spaghetti is cooked, place it into serving bowl with a little of the cooking water (just a teensy bit). Add all of the zucchini into the bowl and mix well so that the spaghetti is coated and the zucchini mixed through. Grate on parmesan and serve.

I will admit, I added a little garlic to this recipe tonight, because I love garlic. I have made it without before, and it is just as delicious.

I'll definitely have more food photos this year. I love my food.

:-)
Michelle