On a recent trip to the market, some of summer's best and freshest local produce was showing up. There were bushels of beautiful kale, baskets of early Red Haven Peaches and, of course, tons of zucchini and tomatoes.
While perusing all this bounty, my thoughts turned to cooking. The vibrant color of greens, the floral smell and fuzzy texture of the peaches and the smooth skin of the zucchini made me giddy.
The tomatoes and peaches are just starting to come in at the market, but the zucchini supply was abundant.
When I spotted all that zucchini at the market, it made me think of today's recipe for zucchini pesto with pasta.
Zucchini pesto? You bet. It's one of my favorites for using up an abundance of zucchini.
Zucchini pesto is a bit looser than traditional pesto because of zucchini's high water content, but some of the water will evaporate when you cook it. You can usually use any kind of nuts with a pesto, but creamy almonds work best with zucchini pesto. The almonds have a milder flavor than, say, walnuts, and also help with the zucchini texture.
All the flavors in today's recipe taste bright and fresh. A generous pinch of crushed red pepper flakes adds heat, but you can omit them if you like.
You also can use any long or short pasta with the recipe. Thick spaghetti works well, but you can also try a short pasta like gemelli or cavatappi. The dish can be served hot or cold as a main dish or a side. Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for a few days.
