* As always, you can DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE for the most succinct version of the instructions.
We’ve almost made it through the worst of winter! The days are longer, and when rain showers aren’t eating up whole weeks, it’s finally feeling a little warmer.. Spring is nearly here! And if you’re like us, that means you’re starting to crave all your favorite spring and summer foods.
We’ve been impatiently waiting for summer produce to come back in season. As soon as the zucchini starts to look a bit fuller, and less wrinkly, in the grocery store, we stock up and make this delicious, and super easy, pasta dish. All you need to do is saute some zucchini until it’s broken down into a sauce. To that, you add your favorite protein, the juice and zest of a lemon (or two, if you like), and some butter and to finish things off. Add in your pasta and a cup or so of the leftover pasta water, turn off the heat, then stir in a healthy (or unhealthy) shake of parmesan. Toss everything together until your pasta is nicely coated with sauce.
That’s it. That’s literally all you need to do to make this dish. It’s super simple, and making sure you cut your zucchini as thin as you can helps reduce that cooking time even more — and helps it turn into that “sauce” that sticks to your pasta.
We’ve already made this dish twice since the start of spring. It’s so quick to put together, you’ll still have plenty of time to dress your dog in his favorite new sweater and enjoy a walk in that sweet, sweet post-dinner sun.
Note about the title: A fun fact about the wrestler, Razor Ramon, who inspired this month’s recipe title. He was portrayed by Scott Hall — who was not hispanic — who pitched the character to WWE executives by quoting lines from the movie Scarface. The WWE executives, who had never seen the movie before, thought that Hall was a genius, and the rest is history.
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Razor Limón Pasta (with Zucchini!)
Ingredients —
1 lb zucchini, sliced into ⅛-¼ inch half moons
1 lemon, juiced and zested
3 cloves of garlic
½ lb dry pasta, cooked with a cup of water reserved
1 Tablespoon butter
¼ cup of parmesan, fresh or from the shaker
1 lb chicken or seafood*
Salt and pepper to taste
*Amy and I splurged and bought some frozen langoustine from CostCo last month which pairs delightfully with the lemon zucchini sauce.
Instructions —
Slice your zucchini as thinly as possible, no more than an ⅛ of an inch. Peel and dice the garlic. Zest and juice the lemon. Set prepped ingredients aside.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the zucchini, plus salt and pepper to taste, cooking until the flesh of the zucchini becomes translucent.
While the zucchini is cooking, cook your pasta according to the instructions on the package. Cook for nearly the full length of time given on the instructions, pulling with one to two minutes left — the pasta will finish cooking in the sauce. Drain your pasta, but be sure to reserve at least one cup of pasta water.
Add garlic to the zucchini and cook until fragrant and softened, about 30 to 90 seconds, then add the lemon zest and lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed.
Add your protein to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes. (If you are using something like chicken, make sure that it is cooked thoroughly before adding it to the sauce. If you are using seafood, you can add it frozen into the sauce. If you're starting with raw seafood, follow your usual cooking times to make sure it is cooked through.)
Once your protein is cooked and/or warmed up, add butter to the pan. Once the butter is incorporated, add your drained pasta, along with half of the reserved pasta water. Cook for another 3 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and is coating the pasta. If the sauce feels too thick, add more pasta water.
Turn off the heat, then add parmesan cheese and stir to combine.
