Courgette pasta

It’s my mum’s birthday today, so this is a birthday post of sorts. Not entirely for Mum, though: more for Dad. Imagine this: Mum saw my courgette pasta and asked Dad to make it for her today. Seriously, such a simple dish, today, for her birthday. I don’t think that means she underestimates Dad’s cooking skills, because you know he knows his way around the kitchen too. Mostly traditional, but always delicious (Dad’s pâté is a classic on this blog, after all).

That’s Mum for you, modest Mum. She’s always been too modest. That’s why I’m so… never mind 😉

Back to the point. As you can see, this is really a post for Dad, so he doesn’t mess it up. He’s probably never made courgette pasta like this before 🙂 Things like this usually get made at their place when I’m there. So, although it’s simple, follow the recipe. What’s interesting about this pasta is that, despite being quick to make, it has a fairly sophisticated flavour. I don’t think you’d be embarrassed to serve it at any party, however grand. One thing matters, though: you can’t leave out the chilli. If you don’t like it, sorry, I’m not going to say, “Leave out the chilli and it’ll be fine.” It won’t be fine. It’ll be wrong. The chilli gives the dish character, and you mustn’t forget it.

Before the recipe, though, firstly: Mum, happy birthday, we love you very much. Flora even tried to sing “Sto lat”, the Polish birthday song, but lost interest. You know, she hasn’t even had her first birthday yet, so we have to forgive her 😉

Secondly, Dad: to make this dish really good, just put that great big heart of yours into it, and serve a good white wine. But remember what you always forget: white wine needs to be lightly chilled. Don’t forget at Christmas either, because I’ll be coming over 😉

And to absolutely everyone, I warmly recommend this delicious dish, ready in literally 18 minutes.

At a glance:

Preparation time: 18 minutes

Serves: 2 portions here

Calories: we don’t count calories on Mum’s birthday

Ingredients for slightly spicy Italian courgette pasta:

• 1 medium or large courgette
• 1 fresh chilli
• 1 large clove of garlic
• 1 small red pepper
• Parmesan shavings (I happened to have Gran Biraghi shavings, which I highly recommend as a mild substitute for Parmesan 🙂
• olive oil
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• pasta (I chose excellent Italian fusilli lunghi; it’s my favourite pasta shape lately, playful and eaten almost like spaghetti, but of course you can choose your favourite)

Vegetarian fusilli with courgette and chilli:

This is the sort of dish that’s quick and wonderfully easy to make. All you need is a saucepan of water for the pasta and a frying pan — I used a wok — for the courgette. The recipe is simple; it’ll be finished before you realise it 🙂 Let’s begin.

I put some water on for the pasta, lightly salted, of course. In the wok, or frying pan if you prefer, I heated a little olive oil and added finely chopped onion and courgette cut into 2×2 cm cubes. I fried them briefly, then added the chilli cut into rings, including the seeds; remove the seeds if you don’t like it too hot. In went the crushed, chopped garlic clove too. I added a little salt and freshly ground black pepper, then stir-fried everything for about 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, once the water boiled, I added and cooked the pasta. For my fusilli, al dente takes 9 minutes. I drained the pasta well, tipped it into the pan and mixed it with the courgette and the other ingredients. And that’s… almost it. At this point, you need to put a little heart into it — preferably stirring with heart — to make sure it really is Italian cooking 🙂

I served the pasta on a plate topped with Gran Biraghi shavings, as in the photograph, although I often simply use Parmesan. That’s all, so enjoy!