This is a proper summer recipe. It's simple and super tasty and you can enjoy hot or cold (and even lukewarm to tell the truth). This recipe was my mum's favorite and my brother and I often argued over who should have the last portion as it was very yummy. After many years, it still in my memory, and I decided to make this recipe for my wife and my daughter as both they are not sandwich lovers and we had a picnic with some friends in Edinburgh and I thought that this might be a perfect recipe for this occasion. Result? They all asked me the recipe and my daughter loved it.
Do you want to try this recipe with me? Let's see it together, it's very easy!
Ingredients
- 340g linguine
- 300g courgette
- 200g datterino tomatoes
- 150g mozzarella
- 100ml extra virgin olive oil
- 40g parmigiano Reggiano PDO
- 40g pecorino Romano POD
- 30g pinenut
- Half a garlic clove
- 10 basil leaves
- salt
Preparation
To start with, we are going to prepare a zucchini pesto.
Wash and dry the courgettes, remove the ends, and cut them into pieces.
Put all the chopped zucchini in the blender and add the pecorino, parmesan, the garlic cut in half, the washed basil and pine nuts, a pinch of coarse salt, and half a dose of extra virgin olive oil.
Start blending and then after a few minutes, continuing to blend, add the remaining extra virgin olive oil slowly.
When you have blended all the ingredients and you have obtained a homogeneous cream you will have the zucchini pesto ready with which to season the pasta.
Boil a pot of lightly salted water and, when it boils, put the pasta to cook.
Drain the pasta and put it in a bowl together with the zucchini pesto you have prepared.
Mix and season the pasta well. Add the datterino tomatoes cut in half and the mozzarella cubes.
Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and serve with a few basil leaves.
Serve it hot or cold and...
Buon Appetito!
VARIANTS AND ADVICE
You can use raw courgettes or let them blanch for a few minutes.
You can replace the pine nuts with almonds.
If you don't like it, avoid adding the garlic.
You can use all Parmesan or all Pecorino.
Drain the vegetation water from the cherry tomatoes once you have cut them.
Dry the mozzarella well before cutting it.
You can replace mozzarella with Greek feta.