Cucumbers Make a Delicious Pasta Sauce
I rarely cook with recipes. This is not a lack of desire – it is rather a matter of time and energy. After a long day of cooking, tasting, and thinking about food, I rarely want to clean up my kitchen just to prepare a completely new, correct recipe. (I want to have a snack, which is what I usually do for dinner.)
But recently I decided to try the Smitten Kitchen zucchini spaghetti and butter, not only because The Kitchn essentially hailed them as a “summer dish”, but also because I absolutely trust Deb Perelman and have a steady supply of garden gardens. fresh zucchini.
He ruled. He continues to rule. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I did it. That’s all you want from a weekday dinner: fast, tasty and not fussy at all. Rather than salt and drain the zucchini – which is usually an important part of any green pumpkin recipe – Deb grinds them up, then cooks them until the water evaporates, leaving behind a concentrated, savory zucchini jam. The jam is loosened and emulsified with a little paste water (and sprinkled with cheese) and then tossed with spaghetti and fresh basil, if you have one (I didn’t have one).
This, as I mentioned, is a very good recipe, but the method of preparing a vegetable to an almost pasty state and then mixing it with pasta is not only healthy from zucchini. Andrew Zimmern makes a similar dish with broccoli , and I – last night – make a terrific version with cucumber .
Cucumbers are similar to zucchini in shape and color, but the former are melon and the latter are courgettes. Both are technically fruits, but eaten like vegetables; but boiled courgettes are far more common than boiled cucumbers, at least in the United States. (The fried cucumbers are going hard, though.)
This cucumber butter spread is very similar to Deb’s zucchini butter spaghetti, just a little more fruity and a little sweeter, with a touch of vegetable cucumber peel (sort of like what you get from fancy spa water). It’s savory, slightly sweet, and downright fantastic – a great way to use three medium-sized cucumbers if you’re in that position. You can add parmesa, fresh herbs, paprika flakes, or freshly ground pepper if you like. but none of this is strictly necessary. You can also substitute olive oil for butter if you want to make it vegetarian. To make it you will need:
- 3 medium cucumbers (about 1 1/3 lb)
- 5 cloves of finely chopped garlic
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt (double if using unsalted butter)
- 8 ounces of pasta of your choice
- Optional: freshly ground basil, about a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, fresh peppers, shredded parmesan cheese.
Chop the cucumbers coarsely and set aside, then chop the garlic. Add oil to a large saucepan over medium to low heat and place a saucepan with 6 cups of salted water over high heat. Add garlic to ghee and cook until golden brown and aromatic; add pepper flakes if using, then add cucumber and heat to medium. Add the pasta when the water boils.
Things will get wet for a while, but that’s good. All of this water not only keeps the garlic from burning, but ultimately leaves the pan completely, allowing the cucumbers to form a concentrated mass of flavor.
When the pasta is perfect al dente for about a minute, leave a cup of water for the pasta, then drain the pasta and set it aside. Let the cucumbers cook until they are smooth. You will still see small clumps of green liquid, but this is a fat made from oil and will look very different from liquid, steaming water.
Add about a quarter cup of pasta water to the cucumber and stir with a wooden spoon to scrape off any browned pieces that have stuck to the pan. Add the pasta, then another 1/4 cup of pasta water, stir and cook over medium heat until the pasta is perfectly al dente and the cucumber is evenly distributed. Add a little cheese, if desired, or basil, or pepper, and stir again before serving (possibly with a lot of cheese).