#MadeItMonday: Zucchini Pasta/Courgette Pasta

Welcome to #MadeItMonday, where I post something I’ve made in the previous week, and where you can join in and post something you made too! The rules are easy: post a pic somewhere of something you’ve made in the last week (ish; let’s say in the last month as the hard-and-fast) and tag it. Sit back and enjoy scrolling through all the beautiful things we’ve collectively created, and celebrate the fact that humans can be awesome! πŸ™‚

Today I’m sharing a recipe that was first made by my sister, and then was further developed to increase the degree of laziness required to make the dish. Lazy dishes are a must when you get home from work exhausted and brain-dead, and healthy, filling food is a must when you’re feeding small hungry people (and husbands, ha). This is now a two-pot dish, one for the pasta and one for the sauce, and it takes as long to make as it does to boil a large pot of water and cook the pasta, so not terribly long. As for the brain-dead component, literally all you have to do is a bit of chopping, then dump everything in a pan and let it fry. ‘S my kind of weeknight recipe!!

Pasta dish with delicious chunks of zucchini, baked sweet potato, home-made garlic bread and topped with parmesan cheese in a white bowl with a silver fork

INGREDIENTS
Spaghetti for 4 (or spirals, they work great in this)
2 sml or 1 lrg orange sweet potato (might be a yam where you live)
Olive oil for frying
1/2 t Moroccan seasoning
1/2 t ground sage
1/4 t lemon pepper seasoning (or just pepper, and add a dash of lemon juice)
1/4 t chili flakes
generous shake of garlic salt, to taste (or salt to taste, and add crushed garlic to taste)
1/4 c pine nuts (or crumbled pecans)
90g butter (ish; more or less depending on how much fat the frying needs – about 3 ounces)
1/3 c breadcrumbs (preferably the herbs-included variety; more if you need more crunch towards the end or need to use up the packet)
1/4 c fresh grated parmesan (using fresh grated really does make a difference; more or less to taste)
2 sml zucchini, sliced (might be a courgette where you live)
150g soft (Danish) feta, or other soft, salty cheese (about 5 ounces)

METHOD
1) If you’re organised and have time, peel the sweet potato, chop it into 1-inch-ish sort of shapes, and bake it with olive oil and salt until blackened around the edges. If, like most people, you’re pressed for time, just microwave it until it’s tender (7 mins in my microwave at full power).

2) Put your large pot of water for the pasta on to boil.

3) In a frying pan or saute pan, heat up your oil over a medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add your herbs and spices, the nuts, and the breadcrumbs. Fry ’em up, stirring constantly, for about a minute or two. Don’t let them burn. Crispy is good. Charred is not.

4) Add in your zucchini and parmesan. You don’t have to stir constantly, but do flip the mixture over and around every so often to give new zucchini slices a chance at the heat, and to make sure the crumby-nutty mix doesn’t burn.

5) Around now, you should be right to put your pasta into a boiling pot of water. Cook it until tender according to packet instructions.

6) Sweet potato will now also be ready. Drain it and dump it in the pan with the zucchini mix. As per 4: you want the veggies to have the chance to develop a little bit of a crispy crust if you can, without the crumby mix burning. You’ll probably be right to turn it off before the pasta is cooked, giving you the chance to dig out some bowls.

7) Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and dish it out into bowls. Portion over the veggie mix, and then garnish with the crumbled feta. Alternatively, you could dump the pasta into the veggie pan and mix it all through, because who can be bothered plating up twice? πŸ˜‰

BONUS: The recipe is vegetarian, and if you simply omit the butter (use a little more oil instead if you need it) and the cheeses, it could be vegan!
What have YOU made this week? Don’t forget to tag your contribution, or even better, leave a link in the comments!! I love seeing what inspiring things other people have made πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

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