Hi everyone!
I’m happy to start this blog with a simple dish, which can be done with almost no effort in less than 30 minutes. I used a specific type of pasta, which comes from the North of Italy, but you can substitute it with spaghetti or tagliatelle, which are usually easier to find in supermarkets.
For the sauce, I used two fresh zucchini, which were about 15 cm long (a little longer than my phone). I have the opportunity of getting my vegetables from a farm in the nearby, so they had a very nice and fresh flavour that mixed well with the meat. If you don’t find speck at the supermarket, you can substitute it with bacon or something similar.
I obtained a pretty balanced combination of fresh and smoked, which was great for a quick lunch in a busy day.
If you like Italian food, you’re definitely going to enjoy this simple recipe.
Good to know:
· Cooking pasta is easy. The only trick is to consider cooking times, which should end about the same time. Start with the water, which needs time to reach the boiling point, and add the pasta only when you know that you’re almost done with the sauce.
· Usually, a portion of pasta varies between 50 and 90 grams for each person.
Buon appetito! Enjoy!
Ingredients
- Pasta – between 100 and 200 g
- Zucchini - 2
- Speck (or bacon) - 60 g
- Olive oil - 1 tsp
- Salt
- Pepper
Directions
- 1You start by preparing the water for pasta. For 100 - 200 grams, you need to boil about 1.5 litres of water, in which you add ½ tbsp. of salt.
- 2It’s time to slice the zucchini. I prefer thin slices, maybe even less than half a centimetre, but it’s all a matter of taste, so feel free to cut the zucchini as thick as you like.
- 3In a medium large saucepan, put the olive oil and the sliced zucchini and start cooking them on gentle fire. Move the zucchini from time to time, to make sure they cook on both parts.
- 4Going back to the pot, when the water is boiling, add the pasta, which must be cooked using the indications on the package. If you’re using homemade pasta, it needs about 4 minutes to cook only.
- 5A few minutes before the pasta is done, slice the speck and add it on top of the zucchini, which should be almost cooked by now, if you kept a low fire. Keep in mind that the speck should stay for 3-5 minutes in the pan, to avoid overcooking.
- 6One minute after you’ve put in the speck, you should add a few spoons of boiling water from the pot; otherwise, the sauce will be too dry. I added about 4 spoons for mine.
- 7Add some pepper and maybe salt. My sauce, for example, needed pepper only, because the speck is salty, but this depends on your personal taste. If you use bacon, you should add a little salt.
- 8When the cooking time is finished, drain the pasta and add it in the saucepan, to help the flavours mix. After about a minute, remove carefully from the pan.
