Kindly submitted by Johanna Harrison, this is a simple, courgette pasta with mascarpone, parmesan and lemon.
Serves 2
Pasta 200g
Garlic 4 large cloves
Butter or olive oil
Saffron (if you have it)
Courgettes 2 (the fresher the better as old courgettes tend to overpower the flavours)
Mascarpone (similar recipes use creme fraiche but I think it’s too watery)
Lemon 1/2
Parmesan
Salt & pepper
Walnuts (optional)
Dill (optional)
Roughly chop the garlic and the finely chop the spring onion. Sweat over a low heat with a generous amount of butter. Add in about six strands of crushed saffron and a little bit of salt.
Use a julienne peeler to cut your courgettes into strips. If you don’t have one, grating is fine. Add these into the pan and add some more butter or oil if required.
As this cooks,, cook your pasta in well-salted water and drain. It doesn’t matter if it’s done a little bit earlier than the courgette as it’ll heat back up when you add it to the pan.
When the courgette has sweated down (a lot of water will come out so the overall volume in the pan will reduce) add the zest and juice of half the lemon. Do this now as otherwise the lemon juice curdles the dairy if you do it as the last step.
Add the pasta and then a generous amount of grated parmesan. Let the parmesan melt into the pasta and stir thoroughly.
Add the mascarpone as the last step, stirring thoroughly as you go and adding until it’s the right level of creamy for you. Add salt and pepper to taste.
You can garnish with herbs and nuts if you wish – we use walnuts and dill. drizzle some olive oil over it to serve.
If you want a bulkier meal, you can serve with grilled salmon on top.
Thanks, Johanna.