Fettuccine with Zucchini, Peas & Mint

A simple creamy, fresh and zesty vegetarian pasta dish with no dairy! This is a recipe I made for some friends one night using leftover ingredients I had in my fridge, so I created this green Zucchini sauce with added mint for freshness and peas for sweetness, and a dash of lemon at the end to make it bright!

Ingredients

  • 3 Zucchini
  • 1 cup of frozen peas
  • 2 cups of vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
  • 1 bunch of fresh mint
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • Half of a lemon
  • 200g of fresh or dried fettucine

Method

  1. Roughly cut the 3 zucchini into chunks.
  2. Heat a pot with some oil, add in the 4 crushed garlic cloves and cook until golden. Then, add in the zucchini chunks and cook on medium for about 5 minutes until the zucchini has softened.
  3. Add 2 cups of stock to the pan and simmer for 10 minutes or until the zucchini is super soft. 
  4. Turn off the stove, and blend the zucchini mixture with an immersion blender (or any blender you have) and start blending into a thick and smooth sauce. 
  5. Add 1 bunch of mint leaves to the sauce and blitz again till smooth.
  6. Cook 200g of fettucine  till at dente. If using fresh pasta cook for 1 minute, if using dry pasta this should take about 10 minutes.
  7. Heat a pan with oil, and once hot, ladle into the pan 2-3 big ladles worth of the sauce. Once your pasta is al dente, throw into the pan with the sauce.
  8. Mix the pasta into the sauce for about 1 minute until fully incorporated. Add your peas and stir through the pasta for another minute, and then add some fresh mind leaves on top.
  9. Plate up your pasta, and serve with a squeeze of some fresh lemon juice.

 

Recipe FAQ's:

Can you blitz the Zucchini while it's still hot, or does it need to cool down first?

You sure can! Once the Zucchinis were soft, I turned down the stove and started using the stick blender. You also want the sauce to still be hot/warm so you can add it to your pasta fresh and hot.

What did you use to season the sauce?

Only what you see in the recipe! I didn't use cheese, salt or pepper for this one because I didn't think it needed it. This is a perfect example of a pasta where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

The Zucchini gives it the creaminess and glossy texture you'd get from cheese, the mint adds aroma and freshness, the vegetable stock will give you enough salt and umami flavour, the pea adds sweetness and contrast in texture to the pasta, and finally the lemon juice lifts the whole dish, enhancing the flavours of everything and makes it bright.

 

 

 

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