Tagliatelle with Zucchini Flowers

One of the joys of a home garden is being able to walk outdoors on a summer morning and find these beautiful, huge yellow blossoms opening up to the sun. They’re highly perishable but if you don’t pluck them today, new ones appear the next day to bid you welcome. My favorite way to enjoy them is stuffed and deep-fried as in this recipe I posted last year, but there are only so many times one can eat fried foods without guilt pangs. This recipe for tagliatelle is also delicious and uses the zucchini as well as the flowers. You could skip the zucchini and make it with only the flowers if you want a really delicate flavor. Or make it with only the zucchini if you don’t have a vegetable garden or access to a great farmer’s market.

Here is the cast of characters for a meal for two:

Plus about 8 oz. of fresh tagliatelle (I used the Rana brand available at Shoprite – it’s the next best thing to homemade) – or dried pasta.

I used garlic scapes since I still had some left over from a couple of weeks ago, but you could substitute garlic cloves.

Ingredients:

2 small zucchini, or about 1 cup sliced small zucchini

2 garlic scapes or garlic cloves

2 T. diced red or yellow onion

2 T. olive oil

salt

generous grinding of black pepper

fresh herbs (I used some basil, parsley and thyme, but you could just as well use all parsley or all basil – whatever your preference)

parmesan cheese

6 zucchini blossoms

8 oz. fresh or dried pasta

Start the water boiling for the pasta and add some salt.

Saute the onion, garlic and zucchini slices in the olive oil until the zucchini is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. While the zucchini is nearly cooked, add the pasta to the pot of water. After it’s cooked (al dente), drain the pasta, reserving about 1/4 cup of the water. Add the pasta to the pot with the zucchini, adding a little bit of the pasta water as well. Stir in the zucchini blossoms, the herbs and more freshly ground black pepper. Remove from heat and douse with another tablespoon of olive oil and parmesan cheese. Buon appetito.

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