Fettucini with Zucchini Cream Sauce, Garlic, Pancetta, Basil, and Black Pepper

Last night I was in the mood for something kind of simple. Pasta always comes to mind, and with the chill last night, something creamy sounded even better. This pasta dish has pancetta in it, and I will show you how I made this exactly. But, I don’t think that I would add the pancetta next time. The warm bacon-y flavor cooked out and left me disappointed. What would be even better with this is some sliced chicken. Also, you could throw in some frozen peas for a hint of sweetness, too. Other than that, here’s what you do!

1# fettucini (I only cooked 1/2#)
3-4 sm zucchini or 2 lg, sliced very thin
4 oz pancetta, sliced
4 garlic cloves, sliced thin
1/2 c heavy cream
about 1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
5 basil leaves, chiffonade
a pinch of red pepper flakes
salt, LOT’S OF BLACK PEPPER, and olive oil

First, get your mise en place ready. Mise en place means ‘put in place’. It’s when you do your ‘veg prep’ and any steps that need to be done ahead of time. The first thing you should do is slice your pancetta. I couldn’t find thick cut pancetta, so I had to use these wimpy slices (That is why the flavor cooked out so quickly). If you can find thick cut pancetta, cut them into small chucks. Either cubes or ‘batonnet’ is fine. Heat up some olive oil (about 2T) on medium-low heat. Add the bacon and ‘render’ it slowly. When you render, the fat melt and the bacon slowly crisps up. Yum.

While the bacon is rendering, slice your garlic cloves. Then slice your zucchini. I used a mandolin (I love my mandolin <3), but you can use your knife, too. Just try to get the slices the same thickness, an 1/8th of an inch, no thicker!

When the pancetta is ready, add the garlic and saute for about 2 minutes. Smell that? Ridiculous. Add the zucchini coins with about a teaspoon of salt and LOT’S OF BLACK PEPPER! I can’t stress this enough. The pepper is somewhat a star in this dish. The pepper stands out in the cream, and trust me it’s delicious.

Stir the zucchini occasionally, but let this cook for 30-45 minutes. Honestly, I cooked mine for about 45 minutes. But we have a stove from the 50’s. It has buttons, not knobs that turn. Our options are ‘boil’, ‘simmer’, and ‘barely warm’. It’s hard to control heat, but we have learned how to do it. You want the zucchini to cook completely, and start to break down even. You WANT it to be part of the sauce. Zucchini is nutty and warm…mmm now I’m thinking some toasted pine nuts would have been good with this, too.

Anyways, let the zucchini cook! Let it cook and cook and cook. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Cook pasta to al dente, drain, and reserve. A little drizzle of olive oil will help keep the pasta from getting sticky, just don’t put it back on the heat! Oh! And save about a cup of the cooked pasta water. It will help bring your sauce together at the end.

When it’s ready, add 1/2c of heavy cream and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Turn the heat to medium and let the cream thicken. If there is too much olive oil and the cream looks funky, add a tablespoon of butter. Keep stirring slowly! Then, add about 1/2c of grated parmesan cheese. I didn’t measure at this point. I just added some, stirred, tasted, added some, stirred, tasted until it was to my ~~liking~~ looooving.

Add the pasta to the sauce and toss with tongs to coat. Add some of the pasta water to thin it out and make it more creamy. Taste it again! Think of what it needs…more salt?…probably more pepper…more pasta water…grated parm? Add whatever you think it needs.

And then, eat it the proper way…by devouring.

Rachel