I wish I’d had this recipe when a friend handed me a bag full of zucchini overflow from his garden. It’s outstanding and the tang from the yogurt makes it a bit different. It has the added appeal of being quick and budget-friendly.
This is a dish I will make again and again. I found it in the Food & Wine collections I wrote about earlier and it’s from Al Forno, a Providence, Rhode Island restaurant I always associate with grilled pizza. I don’t know if they invented it, but they’re famous for it.
A few words about the recipe: I halved it and used slightly less butter than specified, which was fine, but the butter really is essential to the recipe as F&W stated. So is the nutmeg. It uses Greek-style yogurt, but I have a tub of the regular on hand, fat-free. I always drain yogurt before using it in a recipe and when trying to approximate the thickness of Greek-style yogurt, I let it drain for several hours. If you put it in a strainer before going to work it’ll be perfect when you get home.
Tip: To drain yogurt, line a sieve or strainer with a paper towel or, even better, a coffee filter and dump in the yogurt. If you leave it for 24 – 48 hours, you’ll have yogurt cheese, which can be used in place of cream cheese.
Farfalle with Zucchini and Yogurt
Adapted from Food & Wine
1 pound farfalle or other shaped pasta
3 – 4 medium zucchini, about 1.5 pounds, coarsely shredded
4 TB unsalted butter
1 cup/8 ounces plain Greek-style yogurt
OR
American-style yogurt, well drained
4 ounces/1 cup fresh-grated Parmesan cheese*
fresh-grated nutmeg, to taste
coarse salt and fresh-ground pepper
*You will have fluffier, faster-melting cheese and will be able to use less if you grate it as I did with a rasp grater such as a Microplane. The original recipe calls for Parmesan-Reggiano, which is at least $18 per pound. I assure you Parmesan works fine.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt generously, and cook the pasta until al dente as specified on the package. [about 6 - 7 minutes for farfalle ~ ella] About a minute before it’s done, add the shredded zucchini. When done, reserve 1/4 cup/2 ounces of the pasta water and drain the pasta and zucchini.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Remove from the heat, add the grated cheese, the yogurt, the nutmeg and salt and pepper and stir well.
Add to the skillet the pasta and zucchini and the reserved pasta water and cook over low heat, tossing, until the pasta is warmed and coated with sauce. [If your skillet's not large enough, combine everything in the pot you cooked the pasta in.]
Serve with extra cheese. Serves 6 – 8.
Ella’s notes: I shredded the zucchini two ways: with a rasp grater, which produced somewhat pulpy zucchini that is ideal for a sauce, and with a mandoline that gave me larger shreds. The matchstick zucchini I used for garnish was achieved with a mandoline. A box grater would also shred it well and you can use the side with the very fine holes to grate the nutmeg. Supposedly, that’s what it’s there for.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow. This looks incredible. And miraculously, I can get all of it in Korea (well, I’m stuck using Parmesan in the green can).
KatM’s last blog post..An Hour
Hi, Kat. I didn’t know you’re in Korea. That green can is everywhere, isn’t it?
You might not need to salt the sauce in that case. This really is good and I hope you like it.
Thanks for stopping by!
Ok, I may have to bookmark this one for this summer…YUM!
bug_girl’s last blog post..New Malaria research: insecticide cross-resistance
Yum it is! Good to see you.
Hm, yogurt instead of cream huh? I guess with the tanginess of yogurt, you wouldn’t need something acidic like lemon juice to cut through.
Nate’s last blog post..Wild Salmon Cakes with Kaffir Lime and Ginger
Hi, Nate. You’re right – and it’s so much better for us than cream. I cook and bake with yogurt a lot, so when I saw this recipe I couldn’t wait to try it.