The season is spoiling me — an excess of local riches simply left at my doorstep. A neighbor brought us a bag of zucchini which will be wonderful combined with cherry tomatoes, and inspires tonight's dinnerFeed, a appropriate "farewell to August" dinner. My favorite meals are often the easiest to prepare; a quick sauté of seasonal vegetables tossed with pasta and grated cheese never fails to please.

Cutting zucchini into julienne strips for this recipe is quite simple. Simply cut the zucchini at a slight angle into 1/4-inch slices. Sandwich a couple of slices together and cut into thin strips.

This is a lazy girl's recipe — I used the pasta water to blanch the zucchini as there was no room in the pan for a quick sauté. I ran the risk of overcooking the pasta or undercooking the zucchini, but I got it right by plunging the zucchini into the water just a minute before the pasta was cooked to al dente perfection.

This is great recipe for using summer's excess of zucchini and tomatoes. If possible, select the smaller zucchinis, the larger ones - filled with water - have less flavor and a spongier texture, to my palate. Use any good grating cheese you have that needs to be used up. I got a good deal Friday on a 4-year aged Gouda, which was divine in this dish.

More cheese, please.

Yield: 3-4 servings
Time: 25 minutes
Cost: apx. $9.50

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 cups cherry tomatoes, stem ends trimmed and halved
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
8-10 ounces dry linguini
5-6 medium-sized zucchini, stem ends trimmed and julienned (6-8 cups)
Aged Gouda or Parmigianno Reggiano (or other good grating cheese you need to use)

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
2. In a large sauté pan, heat oil over medium low heat. Add garlic, tomatoes, rosemary and a pinch of kosher salt to pan. Cook until tomatoes are just beginning to collapse, about 5 minutes.
3. When water comes to a boil, cook pasta according to package instructions. In the last minute or two of cooking time, add zucchini to pot. When water returns to a boil, about 1-2 minutes, the zucchini should be tender. Drain pasta and zucchini then place in sauté pan, if space allows, tossing with rosemary oil and tomatoes to combine the flavors.
4. Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve with grated cheese.