blast from the past-a

recipe, reflection, repeat, al dente

I once took home a gigantic zucchini from a free pile in Portland.

(And grabbed a second for a friend).

The memory remains fuzzy as to whether I was strolling or biking. I can tell you it was in SE, closer to Hawthorne than Belmont. I was likely coming from the library, pannier or totes surely overflowing with books.

I was no stranger to perusing corner free piles. Just ask my plates.

This was, however, my first table of courgettes.

Vegetables for the taking, or rather, on a table with a “free” sign outside an old house, sharing the garden’s abundance with the neighborhood.

A summer or two later, I was able to repeat the sentiment. A canvas bag of yellow crookneck squash, courtesy of our own community garden plot, brought with to a neighborhood pub to pass on to friends & bar staff alike.

In an alternate reality, it could have - totally would have - lapsed into the habitual. A bike basket of that summer’s squash or just as lovely greens, making its way up SE Clinton (although, oooofff, give me a moment to compose myself after imagining what my old neighborhood’s rent would be up to by now).

from our portland garden, circa august 2017

In these recent Alaska years, zucchini remains, but in a new lens that comes with the distance. And life.

It’s no longer the abundant sunny weather throw-away to shred & bake endlessly, or throw into stir-fry after stir-fry, stuffed, or into chili. It’s far more precious…as is so much up here.

This now-past, yet brief & beautiful summer, I found myself drifting away from no-longer-requisite tomatoes and towards another color for pasta nights: verdant greens. I’m talking about wilted kale, chard, spinach, and radish tops, plethoras of fresh herbs, or perhaps, pesto or pistou, often zucchini, and mhmm, even more lush green(s).

So, what better time for a flashback, to ponder the produce that is now behind me, than the first (noticeably late) week of snow?

Why, it’s only more relevant when you throw in a ker-plunk (albeit “long-lived”) smartphone, indecision, and the wait for a new one when one clearly resides rather remotely.

Anywhoo, back to kitchen life, I assure y’all, we’ve been eating all things cauliflower, carrots and cabbage (& parsnips & potatoes), GALORE, and there’s plenty of time to showcase those in the dark months ahead. And hey, if you’re somewhere where local vegetables are very much still a thing, please visit an actual farmers market for me. ❤ Is your garden still going strong? Go lay down in it. Gently, of course.

summer squash + zucchini from the final farmers market

If you looked close enough at the photos in my last missive, you just may have spied a bag of darling little, late (late late!) season summer squash & zucchini in the produce haul. Whether you noticed them or not, we certainly did at the last farmers market of the season, and were delighted to get our hands on these babies. Er, squash. Squash-lings?

Timely dinner, or rather, five weeks ago it was… (notes follow)

a late “summer” pasta affair

But first, let me intro…

I may not be tuned in to many trends these days, but one did catch my eye in mid-summer: pasta with “melted” zucchini. First, Hetty McKinnon grabbed my attention with this swoon-y recipe for Melted Zucchini Pasta with Lemon and Ricotta in her July newsletter.  Then, I noticed it over on The Kitchn, which was followed by a ”zucchini time” feature in The New York Times Cooking section, which unsurprisingly, if you’ve spent time on the better parts of the food internet in the past decade plus – all led me back to Smitten Kitchen’s take on “zucchini butter spaghetti” from the summer before, which really goes back to Food52, which really, really goes back to Julia Child, which actually goes back to…the garden….and before that, the fields.

Amidst all this zucchini + pasta + world wide web perusin’,  I recall being on the (then functional) phone with my sister in Brooklyn as she was cooking - you guessed it - melted zucchini and pasta! We compared notes on the “traditional” herbs to use when cooking the two, when it comes to various Mediterranean cuisines, and when & if & why & where to use them minced or torn, sautéed or warmed, as garnish and/or pounded or pulsed into pesto. She chatted about southern Italian salmoriglio (which is not exactly a chimichurri, but also not without its similarities), the slow-motion January 6th hearings, our little brother, the weather, pasta, and zucchini. Typical stuff.

Thus began my summer of tender zucchini & summer squash - pan-seared or roasted - and folded into al dente pasta along with olive oil, sautéed garlic, and herbs. As for that last one, I remain entranced by the Grecian trifecta of freshly minced parsley, mint and oregano, as inspired by Oretta Zanini De Vita’s Sauces & Shapes for indeed, another rendition of “melty” zucchini + pasta in Sugo con le Zucchine.

And ever-more-precious in my subarctic life, when I get my hands on locally grown, honest-to-goodness vine ripened tomatoes, well, they’re going on pasta, all juicy & marinated with sharp garlic & just a bit more herbs to give a colorful contrast + flavorful complement to the pasta base.  

Without further adieu, notes are below.

recipe card / scone archives

pretend I drew a circle around the squash on the top right : )

circa Portland Farmers Market, summer 2019

another “summer pasta,” adapted from Keepers by Kathy Brennan and Caroline Campion

Granted, I’m play-acting summer here, but I did have pretty good farmers market roma tomatoes that I wanted to shine in the above dinner. Heck, I wanted to glorify them. I wanted a spotlight. One more for the road, and all that jazz.

Basically, this is a dish where you marinate a bunch of certifiably delicious, seasonal stuff together and then toss it with warm, al dente spaghetti: chopped ripe tomatoes (skin & juices & all), minced garlic, sliced basil, kalamata olives - although I had lovely green ones and they really worked, and fresh mozzerella, which obvs, I swapped for little cubes of Violife’s almost briney coconut-oil-crafted “just like feta.” Recommended, easy-peasy, super flavorful dish, all around. I made it twice!

dive right in / or toss wth pasta

The flashbacks continue…

1) homemade fettucine w/ pesto + broccolini 2) pesto penne 3) penne pomodoro 4) bucatini w/ wild fiddlehead ferns 5) and more pesto pasta 6) spaghetti w/ marinara, greens + floured & fried eggplant 7) cavatappi w/ pesto + fresh tomatoes 8) ditalini ceci e scarola 9) penne w/ greens + seared foraged ramaria (coral) mushrooms (I lived!! as did my gut!!) [clockwise from top L to middle]

1) pad kee mao 2) penne w/ roasted zucchini & herbs 3) pad see ew w/ purple sugar snap peas 4) orecchiette al cavolfiore 5) penne w/ beet greens 6) calabrian-style spaghetti w/ cherry tomatoes, chiles + herbs [clockwise from top L]

migration of wild swans over denali national park / october 5, 2022

What seasonal produce do you miss like crazy when it’s gone?

References + Relevant Links:

• Keepers: Two Home Cooks Share Their Tried-and-True Weeknight Recipes and the Secrets to Happiness in the Kitchen by Kathy Brennan and Caroline Campion

• Hetty McKinnon’s To Vegetables with Love on Substack

• National Farmers Market Directory, USDA

• Sauces & Shapes: Pasta the Italian Way by Oretta Zanini de Vita and Maureen B. Fant (gush)

• Six sought-after recipes from the first season of 'Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy', CNN Travel May 1, 2022 ~ includes “Spaghetti Alle Zucchine (Spaghetti With Zucchini and Basil)”