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Spaghetti with Zucchini Flowers, Zucchini and Breadcrumbs

In Fun with Zucchini Flowers, Part 2, our contributor shares another recipe for zucchini flowers that makes for a perfect summer pasta.

9:00 AM EDT on September 11, 2023

Spaghetti with Zucchini Flowers and Breadcrumbs

Spaghetti with Zucchini, Zucchini Flowers and Breadcrumbs

In the first in our series in our using zucchini flowers, I shared the method learned from my grandmother of frying the flowers. But there's so many more uses of this summer staple. Here, I will share a recipe that uses not just the zucchini flowers but also the zucchini itself for a seasonal spaghetti dish enhanced by toasted breadcrumbs and aromatics.

Buon appetito!

NOTE: I am neither a recipe person nor a trained chef. I don't measure precisely; I go by eye. I believe wholeheartedly in spending time in the kitchen with grandmothers, aunts, family cooks, and friends, those who have been cooking for decades, who go by eye, and who just know.

See also: Fun with Zucchini Flowers, Part 1: Fried and Breaded

Spaghetti with Zucchini, Zucchini Flowers and Breadcrumbs

0 from 0 votes
Recipe by Chiara Montalto
Servings

2

servings
Prep time

15

minutes
Cooking time

20

minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 small 2 zucchini, halved and cut into thin rounds

  • 1 large 1 shallot, minced

  • 20 20 zucchini flowers (roughly), stemmed and washed, rough-chopped

  • 1/2 pound 1/2 spaghetti

  • 1/2 cup 1/2 toasted, unseasoned breadcrumbs

  • Pecorino Romano, to taste

  • 1/4 cup 1/4 olive oil for sauté + more for anointing (if desired)

Directions

  • In a cast iron pan, toast breadcrumbs till golden, set aside.
  • In a separate pan, sauté shallots in olive oil.
  • Add to zucchini to the shallots.
  • Season with salt and pepper.
  • Saute until golden.
  • Add a generous pour of white wine and cook down.
  • Add zucchini flowers to zucchini/shallot and cook down.
  • For the pasta
  • Put up water for pasta in a pasta pot.
  • Salt water.
  • When boiling, add pasta and cook according to package directions.
  • Drain pasta when done (saving a ladleful).
  • To finish
  • Add a ladleful of pasta water to sauce.
  • Mix pasta with sauce, add toasted breadcrumbs and a snowfall of pecorino.
  • Anoint with olive oil if desired.

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