Too Much Zucchini: Pasta with Zucchini, Lemon, Pine Nuts and Herbs

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we've got a lot of zucchini.  After the tapas, we still have 3.5 pounds left to consume.  I am not a big fan of zucchini, so this presents a bit of a challenge.

I spent some time digging through cookbooks and searching the web to no avail.  Finally, I decided to search for an ingredient pairing ~ coupling an ingredient I love with one I'm struggling with, in this case, capers and zucchini. 

Turns out the original recipe is from The Greens Cookbook by Debora Madison, which we happen to own.  We adapted this recipe to the ingredients on hand to great results.

Pasta with Zucchini, Lemon, Pine Nuts and Herbs
Serves Two Generously

1/2 package of whole wheat pasta (roughly 4 ounces)
1 medium zucchini, cleaned and sliced into matchsticks
zest of 1/4 lemon, sliced into matchsticks
6 T extra virgin olive oil (worth using a good one for this recipe)
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
5 T pine nuts
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
4 t capers, non-pariel
2 sun-dried tomatoes, reconstituted if necessary, sliced into matchsticks
salt and pepper
Parmesan (optional)

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for pasta and prepare all ingredients as noted above.

Heat 2 T oil in a saute pan; add pine nuts and cook till they begin to color, stirring frequently.  Add garlic, cook till fragrant, and remove from heat and place in a large serving bowl.  Stir in remaining olive oil, lemon zest, parsley, capers and sun-dried tomatoes into the pine nut mixture; set aside.

When the water comes to a boil, add the zucchini and cook for one minute.  Remove from water with a bamboo skimmer (or similar strainer) and add to the pine nut mixture.  Return the water to a boil and cook pasta as instructed and drain; add to the bowl and mix well.

Enjoy!