• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
My Therapist Cooks
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Easy Springy Recipes
  • Recipe Index
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Easy Springy Recipes
  • Recipe Index
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
×
Home » Dinner

Pasta with Zucchini and Tomato Cream Sauce

Published: Feb 18, 2013 Last Updated: Feb 2013 by Lindsay This post may contain affiliate links to products I use and enjoy. 5 Comments

Serve pasta with wineIt's a pasta for your Monday!

And my Monday, really.

I hope you had a great weekend.  I didn't sleep nearly enough, but I saw lots of people that I love so it was kind of worth it.  I saw my uncles and grandfather, too, and that was super fun.

What'd you do?

This pasta, guys.  I can't even tell you.  It takes 20 minutes to make, is great with ANY veggies, and has this FLAVOR that you just won't believe.

Trust me.  Try it.

Here's what you need, for 4 - 6 servings.  My pictures reflect half of that amount.

  • 1 pound short cut pasta, such as penne or orecchiette
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • salt, to taste
  • 2 - 3 medium zucchini
  • 1 fresh red chili pepper or crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 large can whole tomatoes, lightly drained
  • ½ cup heavy cream

Optional toppings:

  • ½ cup toasted pine nuts
  • parmesan cheese
  • sherry vinegar (don't ask, it's amazing)
  • coarse salt
  • fruity olive oil
  • crushed red pepper flake

Ingredients

Seriously simple!  First, bring a pot of water to a boil for the pasta.  When the water boils, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the pasta.  Cook the pasta according to package directions while you make the sauce.  Meanwhile, heat a large pan to medium-high heat with the olive oil.  Cut the zucchini into chunks.  I do this by cutting the zucchini in half, then the halves in half, then cutting the strips into ½ inch or so chunks.

Chop zucchini

Then, add the zucchini to the pan heated with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt.  Stir the zucchini.  If the pan sizzles very loudly, turn the heat down to medium.

Start zucchini with salt

While the zucchini starts to cook, thinly slice the chili pepper, if using.  Remove the seeds if you don't like things too spicy!  Then, use the side of your knife to crush the garlic and remove the skins.

Crush and peel garlic

Roughly chop the garlic - the large pieces are great in this!

Roughly chop garlic

When the zucchini has just slightly softened, add the garlic and chili pepper.  Stir for 2 minutes.

Add garlic and chili to cooked zucchin

Then, squirt in the tomato paste.

Squirt in tomato paste

Stir the tomato paste to coat the veggies.

Stir tomato paste to coat veggies

While the tomato paste is cooking, gently crush the canned tomatoes with your hands into the zucchini mixture.  I like large pieces of tomatoes, but you can make them as small as you like!

Add crushed tomatoes to mixture

Now, we make the sauce using pasta water.  So, we want the pasta to be halfway cooked or further when we are at this point in making the sauce.  Use a large spoon or ladle to add ½ to 1 cup of the pasta cooking water to the zucchini mixture.  Yum!  Stir it together to incorporate with the tomato paste and veggies.  The sauce should bubble at this point - turn the heat up if you need to!

Ladle pasta water into tomato mixture

Now, drain the pasta once it's cooked.  Add the cream to the sauce and stir together. Taste, and add more salt if you'd like.

Add cream to sauce last

Let the sauce bubble and thicken for 2 or 3 minutes, until it's reduced by about half.

Let sauce bubble and reduce after water is added

Then, add the pasta!

Add pasta to sauce last

Stir the pasta into the sauce, and let everything cook together for another minute or two.  This will allow the sauce to stick to the pasta.  Taste it again, too, just to be sure it has enough salt.

Stir pasta into sauce to coat

While the pasta and sauce are getting cozy, gather up any ingredients you want to use as toppings!  The sherry vinegar is a really fun addition to the creamy sauce.

Toppings if desired

Now, we're ready to serve!  Ladle the pasta into shallow bowls and add any toppings you like.

Add any toppings to pasta

I'd recommend white wine with this, but that's just me.  Boxed is preferable.

Serve pasta with wine

Enjoy this!  It's really delicious and a great vegetarian weeknight dish.  You'll love it!

pasta with toppings

 

 

This is so perfect that I included it in this week’s Weekend Potluck.  It’s this cute thing where blogs from EVERYWHERE can submit recipes to share with others – it’s so fun to check out new things!

It’s run by:

  • Meet Penny ~ Tabitha
  • The Better Baker ~ Marsha
  • Sunflower Supper Club ~ Kim & Julie
  • Life As a Lofthouse ~ Holly
  • 4 Little Fergusons~ Tonya
  • The Country Cook~ Brandie

More Weeknight Dinner Recipes

  • Skillet with spring veggie risotto surrounded by floral napkin and purple flowers.
    Spring Vegetable Risotto with Leeks
  • White ceramic skillet with lemon garlic butter pasta topped with fresh parsley.
    Lemon Garlic Butter Pasta
  • Blue and white skillet of tortellini alfredo with a wooden spoon.
    5-Ingredient Tortellini Alfredo
  • Large blue skillet of caprese pasta topped with burrata and fresh basil.
    Pasta with Tomatoes and Mozzarella (Caprese Pasta)

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kim

    March 01, 2013 at 5:31 pm

    Hello! Just wanted to stop by and let you know that I chose this as my personal favorite from last week's Weekend Potluck. I have shared it on my page and on facebook as well. Thanks also for listing all of us hostesses, very sweet of you! Hope you have a great weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing what you've brought this time!
    ~Kim
    http://sunflowersupperclub.blogspot.com/2013/02/weekend-potluck-56.html

    Reply
    • funnyloveblog

      March 02, 2013 at 11:37 am

      Wow, thanks! I'm so flattered.

      Reply
  2. lawstudentcook

    February 23, 2013 at 1:56 am

    This looks so yummy. I'd like to invite you to participate in my blog's round up called Pantry Party! This month's theme is pasta and this dish would suit it perfectly! Enter this dish or another, we'd love to have you!

    http://lawstudentscookbook.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/pantry-party-february-2013-announcement/

    Reply
    • funnyloveblog

      February 23, 2013 at 8:51 am

      Cool! Sounds very fun. Thanks for the note!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Image of Lindsay Howerton-Hastings smiling sitting on dark gray couch wearing chambray blue shirt.

Hi! I'm Lindsay. I'm a maternal mental health therapist, a recipe developer, food writer, and taker of all kinds of pictures. Thank you so much for being here! This blog is about how to take care of yourself and your people without taking anything too seriously.

More about me →

Easy Weeknight Dinners

  • Weeknight Korean Chicken Rice Bowls

  • White ceramic skillet with lemon garlic butter pasta topped with fresh parsley.
    Lemon Garlic Butter Pasta

  • tofu rice bowls
    Pan Fried Tofu with Thai Peanut Sauce

  • Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

Most Popular Recipes

  • Black skillet with sliced steak and shallot sauce.
    Cast Iron New York Strip

  • indian butter chicken served with rice in a white bowl.
    Easy Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

  • homemade hibachi shrimp bowl in white serving bowl with asparagus and white rice.
    3-ingredient Hibachi Shrimp

  • white plate of asparagus casserole with a silver fork.
    BEST Easy Asparagus Casserole

  • Braised Chicken Thighs with Leeks and Lemon
    One-Skillet Chicken and Leeks

  • Brown Butter Blondies

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • About
  • Privacy Policy

Emails

  • Sign Up! to get new recipes in your inbox

Contact

  • Contact

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Loading Comments...