meatless monday: zucchini lime pasta

Meatless mondays just seem easier as the weather warms up.  Looking at food magazines, recipes like this jump off the page.  It doesn’t hurt that this recipe is incredibly easy to make, and zucchini and green beans tend to be staples in our fridge.

For some reason, I didn’t have lemons lying around, which is weird because I almost always have lemons and rarely have limes (unless we’re planning a couple of raspberry lime rickies on the patio).  In a to-may-to/to-mah-to moment, I decided to just sub in lime for lemon and I was delighted with the results.  If lemon is more your thing, then use the original Bon Apetit recipe.  Otherwise, consider this your lazy-day meatless monday recipe.  Easy, tasty and really versatile–feel free to make it your own!

zucchini lime pasta
adapted from bon apetit

ingredients

• 8.8-oz/250 g fettuccine or tagliatelle pasta
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 medium white onion, halved, thinly sliced
• 4 oz zucchini, quartered and then cut into thin ribbons
• 4 oz fresh (or frozen) green beans or haricot verts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
• 1/2 cups finely grated parmigiano plus more for garnishing
• 1/4 cup cream
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)

directions

1. Prepare your vegetables.  Finely slice the zucchini to create ribbons.  KC note: while using a potato peeled would be easier, I found the zucchini ribbons it produced were too fine.  Better to use your knife skills.
2. Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender–I cooked it about 1 minute short of its recommended cooking time.
3. Drain, reserving 2 cups cooking liquid. You will need this to thin the sauce.
4. Return pasta to pot.
5. Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium heat.
6. Add onion and zucchini; season with salt and pepper.
7. Sauté until both are almost tender, about 6-8 minutes (depending on the thickness of your zucchini slices).
8. In a small sauce pan, blanche green beans in boiling, salted water for 3 minutes.  Drain. (If you are using frozen, you can skip this step.)
9. Add green beans and lemon zest to the pan. Toss over heat for 1 minute.
10. Scrape contents of skillet over pasta in pot.
11. Add cream, lemon juice, and 1 cup reserved cooking liquid. Place over medium-high heat and toss until heated throughly and sauce coats pasta.
12. Now slowly add parmigiano, stirring constantly to avoid clumping.
13. Add more reserved pasta liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to moisten as needed.
14. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
15. Serve immediately with freshly ground pepper and more parmigiano.