Recipe: Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Zucchini and Pistachios

    • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 garlic cloves
    • 2 1/4 cups thinly sliced zucchini
    • 2 1/3 cups split cherry tomatoes
    • sea salt
    • 14 ounces short pasta (Marilena uses schiaffoni, stubby wide tubes)
    • 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
    • 1/3 cup chopped Bronte pistachio nuts**
    • 2 Tablespoons chopped basil
    • freshly ground black pepper Put 2 tablespoons extra virgin in a skillet and sauté the garlic. When it barely begins to sizzle, add the zucchini. Cook over medium high heat for 5 minutes, stirring, until the zucchini become somewhat transparent. Add the cherry tomato halves, lightly salt and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.

Cook pasta in 5-6 quarts (5-6 liters) of salted boiling water until al dente, drain and add to the sauce in the skillet. Heat pasta and sauce together, and then add around 1/2 a cup pasta cooking water, half the parmigiano, pistachio nuts, black pepper, and basil. Mix well. Remove from heat, dress with 2 tablespoons extra virgin, and serve, sprinkling portions with remaining parmigiano.

**Pistachio nuts from the village of Bronte, on the slopes of Mt. Etna, are known to be Italy's finest. Get the best pistachio nuts you can.