Farfalle with Grilled Zucchini and Sausages
The Italians call the use of leftovers in another dish recycling, I love this term, it’s more creative and postive than our negative “leftovers” which makes you think of old and rejected food that no one wanted the night before. As I’ve said in past posts Italians are master recyclers of food. Since food is so sacred to the Italian culture, it is more than a shame to throw food away, it’s sacrilegious. This allows for creative ways to re-use it or recycle it.
We had a few sausages leftover from Memorial day and a number of grilled zucchini slices. I made a pasta with them the next day tossed with cherry tomatoes. The smokey flavors of the zucchini and the sausage were wonderful and the tomato really became the glue in the sauce, mending it all together. I highly recommend grilling too much of what you need to use in dishes the next day, you just can’t reach those flavors in a pan.
Farfalle with Grilled Zucchini and Sausages
- 2 grilled zucchini, chopped
- 2 grilled sausages, crumbled or cut into slices and then quartered
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lb farfalle
Fill a large pot with water for the pasta. Bring to a boil over high heat.
Heat oil in a wide saucepan over medium-high heat and add the whole cloves of garlic. When garlic starts to sizzle add the tomatoes. Simmer for about 5 minutes, letting the tomatoes soften and cook. Add chopped zucchini and sausages and lower the heat. Both the zucchini and the sausages have already been cooked through so they really just need to be reheated.
Once the water starts to boil for the pasta add a small handful of salt to the water and bring to a rolling boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente.
When the pasta is perfectly al dente, add a small cup of the pasta water to the sauce, turn up the heat and drain the pasta. Without shaking all of the water out of the colander pour the pasta into the pan and toss it with the sauce. This allows for the pasta to cook a little longer in the sauce and to absorb the flavor. Serve immediately.
Italicious 