Fettuccine with basil pesto and baby zucchini comes together quickly when pesto is made ahead

Posted on Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 8:36 a.m.

Fettuccine with basil pesto and baby zucchini comes together quickly when pesto is made ahead

By Peggy Lampman

Fettuccine with Baby Zucchini and Pesto

Peggy Lampman | Contributor

Peggy Lampman's Tuesday dinnerFeed

I made pesto on Friday and plenty remains to make an easy supper this evening. When there's a batch of homemade pesto in my fridge, I could easily eat well — using pesto as a key ingredient — for almost a week. I never tire of homemade pesto, especially when it's made from backyard or Farmer's Market basil.

Yesterday I made a gooey and delicious fresh mozzarella, tomato and pesto sandwich. Who knows what tomorrow may bring. Honestly, I can't imagine summer without a sweet sprig of basil for inspiration.

Yield: 2 servings
Time: 25 minutes (most of which is spent bringing water to a boil and cooking pasta. Pesto used was prepared on Friday.)

Ingredients

8-10 ounces fettucine (I used De Cecco brand)
1 pint baby zucchinni (purchased from Ann Arbor Farmers Market)
1/4-1/2 cup prepared pesto

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook fettucine according to package instructions. In the last 1-3 minutes of cooking time (depending on thickness of baby zucchini), add whole zucchini to boiling water.
2. Toss cooked pasta and zucchini with 1/4 cup of pesto, adding more to taste. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

Looking for a specific recipe? Click here for dinnerFeed's recipe search engine; type the recipe or ingredient into the search box. I am a real-time food writer and photographer posting daily feeds on my website and in the Food & Drink section of Annarbor.com. You may also e-mail me at peggy@dinnerfeed.com.

Comments

Peggy Lampman

Thu, Jun 30, 2011 : 1:15 a.m.

Adam: I wish I could say I had a magic cure but I don't. It does turn a khaki, turnip green shade after a few hours and I wouldn't want to use acidity to preserve the color. I have found it does not affect the flavor, whatsoever. If it bothers you, you could freeze it (without parmesan but with everything else) in ice cube trays and pop a cube, thaw and add parmesan to taste. This would keep the color vibrant when ready to use. (the cubes thaw quickly.) Hope this helps! Peggy

Adam Jaskiewicz

Wed, Jun 29, 2011 : 1:58 a.m.

Whenever I make pesto it seems to turn an unappealing olive drab color within a few hours of making it. Any hints on preventing that?

Jack Gladney

Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 7:05 p.m.

And the award for the headline that states the obvious.... O.M.G.... "Fettuccine with basil pesto and baby zucchini comes together quickly when pesto is made ahead!!!" Apologies to "Making marinara sauce the night before can save you time in a crunch"