30-min Caramelized Zucchini and Onion Fusilli
Introducing Weeknight Pasta Cookalongs and pasta making! + Chicago highlights
Ciao friends!
I’m back in Italy, so happy to be home, and so severely jetlagged! The first night back, after we’d done the red-eye from Chicago, a 3 hour layover in Amsterdam, and connecting flight to Milan, I slept 13 hours. That was nice. The next night, I slept a whopping 2 hours. Every night is a little better but every night I am hungry for dinner around 1am Italian time. Not ideal. This morning’s doppio espresso at Luisita (below) helped.
Nevermind! I still have a freakishly delicious, authentic 30-minute weeknight pasta recipe for you, because you know, ti amo! The caramelization of the zucchini and onion makes them succulently sweet, rich, and melty in contrast to the al dente pasta coated in infused savory olive oil. It almost tastes as if you sauteed the veggies in meat fat, but ya didn’t. Boo-yah!
Cookalongs
But first, HAPPY NEWS for an experience I’m excited to share with you! Beginning next Sunday, July 7th, I’ll be hosting my first Weeknight Pasta COOKALONG; we’ll be making the iconic 30-minute sugo al pomodoro together! This simple red sauce is perfect for pasta, pizza sauce, and to freeze (future you will thank you). We’ll have extra time to chat and share with you all my tips and tricks in this 45 minute call while making this simple, delicious sauce the authentic Italian way. The class will be at 18:00 my time in Italy; a sampling of other time zones below to find yours!
20:00-20:45 UTC+4
18:00-18:45 CEST (Italy time)
17:00-17:45 BST
12:00-12:45 EST
9:00-9:45 PST
Don’t worry if the time zone doesn’t match your meal schedule; this sugo keeps in the fridge for about a week and 2-3 months in the freezer, so you can use it when you’re ready.
The monthly Cookalongs are also included in top level Founding Membership with the bonus of a private fresh pasta making Zoom class with me! Making fresh pasta is truly easy as well as incredibly satisfying and fun. I’m so thrilled to launch and share these experiences with you all!
Chicago visit and retirement home pasta class
Our holiday in northwest Indiana was very special with a lot of family and friend time. We are beyond grateful that family and friends made so much effort to spend precious time with us; there was nothing better. During the holiday, we did quite a bit of belated birthday celebrating for my son’s 13th birthday, ate some incredible food, plus led the Weeknight Pasta course for 20 fabulous, savvy elders at my mom’s retirement home. It was a blast, with lots of questions, conversation, and eating! I passed around Pecorino Fiore Sardo from my suitcase stash and our very favorite fruity drizzling olive oil from Sardinia to taste while whipping up Pasta in Bianco and Spaghetti with Pistacchio and Lemon. Both were hits and my mom even stocked up on some parmigiano reggiano to make pasta for herself after we left, so that’s a win!
A few recommendations from our US visit:
Shedd Acquarium Extraordinary Experiences: This Sea Lion Encounter was a memory for a lifetime. Since my son is still under 17 years old, I reaped the benefit of accompanying him behind the scenes, learning from and working with the trainers, and meeting 4 different sea lions! Charger, above, weighed 420lbs. When I close my eyes can still feel his wet muzzle and bristly whiskers pressing against my temple in a ‘kiss’.
Tzuco: The best Mexican food I’ve had outside of Mexico. I was worried the meal might be too upscale for my son, but he devoured everything he could reach: an entire bowl of fresh guacamole, cochinita pibil pork shank, and our hypthetically shared dessert, guanàbana aguacate with citris-infused tapioca and sweet avocado foam, followed by “thank you, mamma, for the incredible meal!”. Also highly recommended: the tlacoyo blue corn masa starter and the show-stopping durazno peach mousse with vanilla and basil dessert pictured above.
Milk Bar Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake: We had a big family birthday celebration for my son with a surprise cake from Milk Bar, as he’s a big Christina Tosi fan from watching her show, Bake Squad. While we both realized we detest buttercream frosting as a result of the show, my son repeatedly asked to try red velvet cake. Who better to make it than Milk Bar? The cake was gangbusters! Sticking to nostalgic tradition but elevated wit combination of special, rich, and perfectly balanced flavors. My mom said it was the first red velvet cake she’d ever had that tasted of chocolate!
The best way to make zucchini
On a summer day not unlike today, in a very small hilltown in northern Italy, I had this incredibly delicious caramelized zucchini and onion pasta at a dear friends house. Dear Friend had a nanny, which was pretty awesome because I was there for lunch with my toddler and the Italian nonna/nanny was making us all pranzo.
A couple things about this pasta that blew my brain cells that day:
the nanny was making pasta with zucchini and onion for the kids
when I asked her for the recipe to this incredibly rich and satisfying pasta, she listed only 4 ingredients: zucchini, onion, extra virgin olive oil, and pasta. If you count salt, it’s 5.
This phenomenon happened repeatedly and frequently when I first moved to Italy:
I would eat something delicious
I would ask for the recipe, expecting some secret ingredient and complicated cooking technique, but it was neither
It was inevitably cooked with only extra virgin olive oil and salt.
How is this possible? Primarily, Italians take for granted that you are starting with quality ingredients. E.g. Italians will not buy or eat tomatoes that don’t taste like tomatoes. So there sort of is an Italian secret: use the best ingredients you can find.
By the way, that day our toddlers loved the zucchini onion pasta and ate it all! Ever since, I make this pasta year round here in Italy as zucchini is one of our few greenhouse veggies, however it’s of course, best in spring and summer when the zucchine are in season, sun-ripened, and most full of flavor.
Some ingredient tips:
Produce: If you can, buy it as fresh as possible. Try from a farmer’s market. Try organic.
Pasta: Look at your pastas in the supermarket before you buy. Choose the brands that are made with 'slow, low heat, ‘bronze-cut’ with pasta color that is not yellow, but off-white.
Extra virgin olive oil: The olive oil essentially is your sauce so its important. If it says ‘extra virgin olive oil’ and ‘cold pressed’ on the glass (not plastic) bottle, that’s a good start! Reference Olive Oil Unfiltered for more tips on selecting an olive oil you like.
pst! Scroll to the very bottom to download recipe pdf!
Fusilli with carmellized zucchini and onions
Fusilli al zucchine e cipolle carmellizate
FOR 2 PEOPLE
The ingredients
180ml / 12 Tbls good quality extra virgin olive oil
480g zucchini (about 5 small)
I used 5 small zucchini about 1 inch diameter, 6 inches long, cut in thin rounds
If using larger zucchini, cut thin rounds in half-moon shapes so they cook more quickly
2 small white or yellow onions, cut onion in half then into thin half moon slices
6 g / 1 tsp salt
360-400 g fusilli (*I used buckwheat fusilli, which has a very light nutty flavor and a bit more al dente bite which beautifully complemented the melty vegetables. See more in notes below.)
The method
1) Add all extra virgin olive oil to a wide saucepan/skillet on med-high heat. Heat for a minute, then add all the zucchini and onion. Stir to coat.
2) Stick around your zucchini and stir every few minutes for the first 10 minutes. The key is to slowly brown, not burn. This magical caramelization process will take the full 30-minutes. Our goal is to slowly dehydrate the vegetables, turning their carbs into sweet, rich sugars.
3) Turn the heat down to medium and continue stirring occasionally. It’s critical to watch and be sure they’re browning, not burning. Turn down the heat a notch if necessary.
4) Fill a big tall pot with water and salt and set on high heat stove burner. Taste the water to make sure it’s salty like the sea (and add more salt if needed).
5) About 20 minutes into the cooking process, when the water boils, add the pasta and cook to the package time (al dente), stirring occasionally. This way the vegetables and pasta finish cooking at the same time. (Assuming the pasta takes approx 8-10 min to cook)
6) Add salt to your vegetables and stir. We waited to add salt so as not to delay initial browning. They should be about half the original size; onions will be translucently brown and floppy, zucchini will have evidence of browning at least on one side.
7) Strain pasta and add to the warm zucchini sauce pan. Stir to combine flavors for a few seconds in the pan.
Spoon or tong your pasta into pasta bowls.
When you finish eating, grab a piece of good bread to soak up the remaining olive oil. This is called doing the scarpetta!
Buon appetito!
Serving tips:
· Serve parmigiano reggiano if you like, but I didn’t think it needed any!
Notes:
Salt: It’s important not to skimp. This salt is flavoring both your pasta and also your sauce in the form of pasta water.
Pasta: you could use almost any pasta including long pasta like spaghetti, but I prefer short pastas that match the size of the vegetables like casarecce or radiatori
*Pasta sleuths: You might notice that the pasta is darker in color than a typical wheat pasta. This is because I used spaghetti di grano saraceno a.k.a. buckwheat! I really try to eat a variety of grains in my diet, not just wheat, and buckwheat pasta is a dream to cook with. It’s light in flavor and very faintly nutty, as well as gluten-free. Have you tried buckwheat pasta? Let me know in the comments!
Pasta water: This is not the time to add pasta water to make it more ‘saucy’; this will dilute the gorgeous caramelized flavors and infused oil.
Buon appetito!
x Lolly
Your recipe sounds and looks delicious! I lived in Florence during college to study art, writing and design. I just subscribed to Weekend Pasta from Italy, and am enjoying why I loved the region- the food is fresh, flavorful, fun and nurturing!
Definitely making this recipe - also…. wonderful writing!