| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 40 min |
| Active: | 35 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for the pasta water
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced and seeds removed
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 shallots, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
- 1/4 cup capers, drained
- 1 teaspoon anchovy paste
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 4 small zucchini (about 2 pounds total), halved and sliced 1/3-inch thick
- 1/2 pound spaghetti
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 1/2 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped or torn
- 1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
- 1 cup crumbled feta or goat cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Season it generously with salt. Add the sliced lemons and blanch for 30 seconds. Using tongs, remove the lemons to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Dry well.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and heat another 30 seconds. Add the shallots and garlic to the skillet and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often with a wooden spoon, until fragrant and beginning to brown slightly, about 2 minutes. Add the capers, anchovy paste, red pepper flakes and the blanched lemon slices and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon to dissolve the anchovy paste and brown the lemons, for another 2 minutes. Add the zucchini and remaining teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until parts of the zucchini turn deep brown while some parts remain al dente, about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes less than package directions, about 8 minutes. Add 1/3 cup pasta water to the skillet with the zucchini and stir to deglaze. Use a pair of tongs to remove the pasta directly to the skillet. Sprinkle the bare pasta with the Parmesan and toss well to coat the pasta with the zucchini sauce. (Some of the zucchini should have gotten rather soft, which helps to create a silky sauce.) Add another 1/2 cup pasta water if needed to maintain the sauce. Top the pasta with the herbs and feta and serve.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 545 |
| Total Fat | 26 g |
| Saturated Fat | 11 g |
| Carbohydrates | 54 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 7 g |
| Protein | 25 g |
| Cholesterol | 34 mg |
| Sodium | 719 mg |
Reviews
When you have abundant of zucchini during summer months this is great to make. It seemed like there were more zucchini than pasta in the dish, which I loved. I guess chunky zucchini is the sauce to the pasta.
This is amazing! All the different flavors make a party in your mouth! My husband and I both loved it. My basil is growing crazy so I served this with a caprese salad and herbed butter with bread sticks. Perfect for the hot summer days in Phoenix. As my hubby says “it’s a keeper baby!” With the price of groceries and meat going up we now do a vegetarian dish every other day. I love Giada’s recipes.
Perfect, I didn’t add goat cheese just to reduce the saturated fat, still magnificent!
I made this recipe exactly as it was written. I used Goat cheese since that’s what I had on hand. It was so good and definitely will be making it again. The only thing that I would experiment with is the blanching of the lemon. I did it for 30 seconds but might try another 20 or 30 seconds since I still tasted some bitterness. Other than that, my son and I both rated this 5 out of 5.
This was flat out incredible. We did not have fresh dill, so we added additional fresh basil (not sure if we would have liked the dill competing with the basil anyway). Also used Barilla gluten free spaghetti (only problem with the gf spaghetti is it tends to break easily). This is definitely A KEEPER!!!
Simply delicious! At first I thought hmm feta and Parmesan and basil and dill? All went together with delicious harmony! The only thing I added was some grape tomatoes right before the zucchini. Served it with some grilled chicken. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Made the day after seeing Giada make this, served with grilled steak- so good!! We didn’t have any fresh dill so that was omitted but made the rest to her recipe. My husband and I absolutely loved it!
Fantastic. I did tweak it because I felt that there were a lot of strong flavors that might end up just competing with each other. So no anchovy paste, red pepper flakes, shallots, basil or dill. And I only used one type of cheese. Zucchini is great cooked this way and would be tasty as a side dish to an entree. Delish!
Made this as soon as I saw Giada make it because I had everything I needed. It is absolutely delicious. The lemons add a unique and bright flavor.
My husband and I watched Giada today, and we said we had to try this recipe. Omg….it was delicious! I grew zucchini in my garden, and fresh basil. I didn’t have shallots so I substituted diced red onions. I also didn’t have anchovy paste, so I used 1 Tblspoon Patis. I also used Romano parmigiana cheese as well. Next time I’ll make sure we use the anchovy paste and feta or goat cheese. Giada your recipes never fail. Best ever!