Baked Rigatoni with Zucchini

Baked Rigatoni with Zucchini is a delightful Italian pasta that is delicious to eat and fun to make too!
If you happen to have lots of zucchini on your hands this summer, invite family and friends over to help you make this recipe and enjoy this fabulous summer pasta made for sharing.

This recipe starts out with a quick saute of onion and then the zucchini, but what makes it fun is the addition of the tomatoes. You'll empty a 28oz can of whole San Marzano tomatoes into a large bowl, then stick your hand in (or invite the kids's to use their hands) and start squishing them! Yes it sounds weird and maybe creepy...but it's really fun! Crush up the whole can of tomatoes with your bare hand. Somehow this makes me feel like a kid again. Playing in the mud and getting messy...with no care in the world...except catching the ice cream truck...oh summertime fun...

You'll need a fair amount of fresh large leaf basil for this recipe, about a cup. If you read my last post you'll know how much I love fresh herbs, and I won't get on my soap box this time. Most grocery stores will carry a carton of fresh basil~ use this if you don't grow your own or have a handy dandy farmers market nearby. Oh how I love fresh basil! I love the way my fingers smell after picking off a few leaves. Mmmmm!

I found the use of Fontina and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses were a nice change from the usual Parmesan or Mozzarella cheese most think of when cooking Italian fare. They can be a bit difficult to find~ check the specialty cheese isle. If you can't find one or the other, substitute another Italian hard cheese. Just make sure you use two different kinds, it really helps to add depth of flavors to this dish.
I hope you enjoy it along with the special people in your life. That's true Italian cooking!

Baked Rigatoni with Zucchini

by The Goldilocks Kitchen

Prep Time: 35 mins

Cook Time: 20

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Ingredients (6 servings)

• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus 2 tablespoons for the pot of water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 lb medium zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 28oz can San Marzano tomatoes crushed by hand
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 lb rigatoni pasta
• 8 oz Fontina cheese, shredded
• 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated

Instructions

1. Set your oven to heat to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to boil, adding the salt. In a 12" inch skillet with deep sides, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, or until softened and just starting to brown. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring frequently, for another 5 minutes or it begins to soften. in the meantime, pour the can of tomatoes into a mixing bowl and crush by hand. Save the can.

2. Add the 1/2 teaspoon of salt, the red pepper flakes to the skillet and stir for about 30 seconds then add the crushed tomatoes to the skillet, filling the empty can with water and pour into the skillet as well. Bring the sauce to boil, and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Don't let the zucchini over cook and fall apart.

3. While the sauce is cooking, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and add to the skillet. The sauce should be about done at this point. It's okay if it needs to cook for one to two minutes more with the pasta in it to thicken. Remove from heat and stir in the basil.

4. Spray a 9 X 13 inch pan with cooking spray. Ladle one half of the contents of the skillet into the pan. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cheeses onto the top. Ladle the second half of the pasta and sauce into the pan and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until brown and bubbly.

5. Serve. Sprinkle individual servings with additional cheese if any is left over.

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Zucchini Fritters

Hey guys! I thought I'd share a couple more zucchini recipes with you in case you've got a few left over from this summer's growing season. There is so much more to Zucchini then just baking bread or even whipping up a batch of Ratatouille. Why not fry up some zucchini fritters? They make a great appetizer for any occasion. Served hot with creamy cool Cucumber Yogurt Sauce they are a unique and delicious way to enjoy zucchini!

For this recipe the zucchini is shredded and moisture removed in order to allow the binder to hold it all together. If there's too much water in the shreds of zucchini they will fall apart in the pan when you fry them up. (Ask me how I know.) So how do you remove the water? Simply dump your shredded zucchini into a thin dish towel, wrap it up and 'wring' it out. It's the same method I use for my Great Zucchini Bread. Wring it tightly and squeeze as much green juice out as you possibly can. (When my husband is around I ask him to do it.) Do not use cheese cloth!!!! Unless you plan on throwing it away after you use it! (Again, ask me how I know.) Zucchini has a ridiculous amount of water, something like 95%! So, here we get rid of the water but leave the flavor :0)

Feta cheese is added to give every bite a bit of tangy creaminess. Dill and fresh ground pepper add some great flavor and give a little kick. I also noticed that there's a 'just right' amount of oil to use when frying your zucchini fritters. Too much was just a waste, and too little will burn your fritters. Make sure you stick to the three tablespoons of oil per batch and wipe out the skillet in between batches so the little burnt bits don't get incorporated into your fritters.

Zucchini Fritters

by The Goldilocks Kitchen

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Keywords: fry appetizer side vegetarian Zucchini summer fall

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Ingredients (Serves 4 to 6)

• 1 pound Zucchini (about 2 medium) trimmed, halved and seeds scooped out
• 8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 2 cups)
• 2 scallions, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh or dried dill
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed (about 1 teaspoon)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons olive oil (not extra-virgin)
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Instructions

Adjust your oven rack to the middle position and set the oven to 200 degrees. Shred the zucchini on a box grater or with a food processor (that has a shredding disk attachment). Dump it out onto a dish towel, wrap it up and wring out the juice as tightly as you can.

Combine the dried zucchini, feta, scallions, dill, eggs, garlic, and pepper into a bowl. Then sprinkle the flour over it and stir it in.

In a 12-inch NONSTICK skillet heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Using a spoon or cookie scoop, drop 2 tablespoon sized portions into the oil, flattening out the mound with the back of your spoon or scoop. Your fritters should be approx 2 to 3 inches wide. You should be able to fit 6 fritters in your pan all at the same time. Fry until golden brown on both sides, about 2 or 3 minutes per side.

Remove the fritters carefully with a spatula and place them on a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Put the baking sheet in the pre-heated oven to keep the fritters warm while you cook the second batch. Wipe out the skillet with a large wad of paper towels. Re-heat 3 more tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and fry the second batch of zucchini fritters. Serve warm with optional lemon wedges.

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Great Zucchini Bread

This is my go to recipe for Zucchini Bread. The great thing about it - there are a few tricks to intensifying the flavor, making this recipe unique and extra delicious.

If you haven't done it before, growing a Zucchini plant in your yard is quite easy!(If you happen to have a yard. Right now I don't.) One plant will give you all the zucchini you could ever want all summer long. The 'fruit' can grow up to 3 feet long, but I don't recommend letting them stay on the plant that long, the fruit will turn fibrous and have less flavor if it gets too big. Zucchini is usually harvested when 8 to 12 inches long, as the seeds are still immature and soft. When preparing the zucchini for this recipe, the skins need to be washed and the seeds scooped out like this:

I use a food processor with the shredding blade to shred the zucchini.
If you don't have a food processor, you can simply use a box grater or cheese grater to shred the zucchini. In this recipe, you will wring out some of the water held in the zucchini, which is over 90% water! This helps to prevent soggy bread. (Which happens often in zucchini bread.) The moisture is replaced with ingredients that have flavor, making this recipe unique.

Did you know that Zucchini flowers can also be eaten? They are often stuffed, deep fried or even cooked into quesadillas! Zucchini is low in calories and a good source of folate, potassium, and vitamin A.

Great Zucchini Bread

by The Goldilocks Kitchen

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

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Ingredients (1 loaf)

• A 1 pound zucchini, or two smaller zucchini equaling about a pound, seeds removed and shredded
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup of plain yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Instructions

Adjust the oven rack to middle position and heat to 375 degrees. Generously coat a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Wrap up the shredded zucchini in a thin kitchen towel and squeeze or 'wring' the juice out of the zucchini.You'll need some 'elbow grease' for this :0) Use a towel that you don't mind getting stained. This removes the excess water and concentrates the flavor.

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice and salt in a medium bowl.

Whisk sugar, yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, and butter in a bowl until combined. The yogurt replaces the water lost from the zucchini and adds flavor to the batter.

Gently fold the yogurt mixture and zucchini into the flour mixture until no flour streaks remain. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan and bake until golden brown and knife or skewer inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool for about an hour.

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