Throughout Italy, various villages and towns hold an annual sagra or festival, very often dedicated to a specific locally grown or produced food, such as frogs, chestnuts or onions, or a local dish such as frico, polenta or risotto. A quick search of the various sagre in Italy will reveal many festivals devoted to pumpkin but not to zucchini. If you think about it, the pumpkin or Zucca is the Zucchino‘s much bigger sister. Orange versus green. Female versus male, fat and rounded versus thin and elongated. Anything you can do with a pumpkin can be adapted to the zucchino; stuff, fry, bake, layer, grate and soup them. Oh and pickle them too.
It’s high time to announce my own Zucchini Sagra. Come along and try my new zucchini recipes this month, or better still, suggest some more unusual ways of using this prolific garden beast.
My first recipe marries some young zucchini with prawns, spaghetti and mint in a rich sauce. The links at the bottom of this post will take you to some of my previous posts on this wonderful annual vegetable.
Spaghetti con Zucchini, Gamberi e Menta Serves four people.
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 small zucchini, halved lengthways then sliced in half moon rounds
- pinch of crumbled dried chilli
- 2 anchovy fillets
- 100 ml dry white wine
- 40 gr butter
- 24 large uncooked green prawns
- 200 gr spaghetti ( see notes below)
- 16 or so mint leaves, torn
- handful of flat parsley finely chopped
- sea salt and black pepper
- Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.
- Meanwhile add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a large non stick pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the zucchini and cook for 2- 3 minutes until coloured. Add the chilli and anchovies, squash them into the oil, then add the wine. Allow the wine to evaporate a little then add the butter. Bring to the boil for a minute or so, then add the prawns, stir about then remove from the heat.
- Cook the spaghetti in the boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, then add to the prawns. Pop the pan over high heat, tossing and stirring to combine all the ingredients. Add the parsley and mint. As soon as the prawns are opaque, remove from the heat.
- Season with salt and pepper and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Serve.
Spaghetti with Zucchini, Prawns and Mint
Notes.
- The amount of spaghetti specified in this recipe would be suitable for an entrée or light luncheon.
- I would suggest adding more pasta to the pot, say, around 80 g per person, for a main meal, with a green salad on the side.
- I also used a large non stick wok, which is a better utensil to hold the volume of ingredients for the final tossing.
- The sauce, made up of oil, garlic, anchovy, wine and butter, is an excellent base for any marinara you might make.
From Cook Like an Italian, Tobie Puttock 2010.
More zucchini recipes on Almost Italian:
Zucchini with calamari and Radicchio
Next Post, The Zucchini Fritter With Masses of Herbs
ALMOST ITALIAN 
A beautiful dish, Francesca. Thank you for these recipes. Being so busy with my book, I haven’t had time to plant anything this year. : (
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not having zucchini in the garden will save a lot of work!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looks delectable
LikeLike
It was tasty Karen.
LikeLike
Looks yummy, just a few minutes ago I ate spaghetti made of zucchini, it was my first intent, no perfect but very enjoyable and easy to cook.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooooh signora happy to be part of a zucchini festival, I love zucchini. I have a few recipes on my blog too such as zucchini parmigiana, zucchini fritelle, and an awesome zucchini and walnut cake.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll be looking those up Signorina. Cominciamo La Sagra di Zucchini!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yum. Zucchini fritters are one of my favorite things.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m bereft if there is no zucchini in the fridge so a zucchini festa sounds like a grand idea. Love the sound of your pasta dish. I’m charring zucchini and eggplant slices on the grill tonight, dressing them with red wine vinegar and serving then with roasted red pepper gratin.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Charred and dressed zucchini with b some friends( the eggplant and pepper) sounds like part of the Zucchini Festival.
LikeLike
Any excuse for a festa and you can never have enough zuc recipes! I love that name, ‘Toby Puttock’, always used to smile when I heard it and he has such a lovely pixie face to match.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Its a great name for a very nice young man. Where is he lately I wonder?
LikeLike
Beautiful. I love shrimp and zucchini! A match made i heaven.
LikeLike
Francesca – this dish of shrimp and zucchini looks beautiful and healthy and easy to make. Perfect. Thanks for sharing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was fast to throw together too- perfect for these very hot nights.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Brava! I have a zucchini waiting for my attention in the fridge at the moment. I remember as a child toward the end of summer (much shorter growing season than we have) the glut of zucchini on the table…casseroles, cakes, fried, you name it. I often use it to bulk out dishes that originally had onion in them, to improve the texture but not alter the flavour much. I look forward to your upcoming recipes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Welcome to the Zucchini festival Ardys. The season is a long one, and so I have a rule not to buy them from June through to November, so that I have time to miss them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love zucchini, that zucchini festival sounds great… and the meal look yum, Francesca!! looking forward to the zucchini fritter post 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderful use of courgettes – oops, zucchini! Can’t wait for the fritter recipe, one of my favourites. I do envy you your crop at this time of year when cabbages, leeks, carrots and other root vegetables are abundant here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Prawns, Zucchini, chilli and anchovies .. its going to be awesome! 😃
LikeLike
the zucchinis are on the march!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha mine aren’t ! Lol
LikeLike
So versatile in the hands of the creative & competent. Like Ardys I looked forward as a child to the end of the summer zucchinis. For many years they were served boiled… and boiled. Then zucchini slice was discovered. So there was that too.
LikeLike
I couldn’t think of anything worse than a boiled zucchini, or a boiled anything for that matter. The crimes done to vegetables in the ‘old’ days are rarely forgotten.
LikeLike
Looks delicious!
LikeLike
Thanks Teti
LikeLike