Summer Chicken & Zucchini Pasta

Last summer, I had so much squash and zucchini that I had to look up recipes on new ways to eat it. We love zucchini tots, zucchini bread, and zucchini boats, and we love adding zucchini to my taco meat, minestrone, and this quinoa taco bake. This pasta was a new recipe last summer that we all loved; it is adapted from halfbakedharvest.com! It is light and refreshing and the zucchini doesn’t overwhelm your taste buds. I wanted to share the recipe this summer because I am still using up my frozen squash, zucchini and dehydrated basil from last summer and the pasta still tasted great. So, if your garden is like mine was last year, you can shred or chop and then freeze your squash and zucchini and dehydrate your basil and you will have summer pasta long into the winter! Or, you can use it fresh in this recipe and it will taste even better. Enjoy!

Summer Chicken & Zucchini Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 pound pasta, any shape or kind will work, but preferably a whole wheat sourdough pasta, like Bionaturae from Jovial Foods. I order this in bulk. It saves so much time in the kitchen and tastes really close to store bought pasta or make your own sourdough pasta.
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 zucchini and/or squash, shredded or chopped
• 3 cloves garlic or 1 1/2 heaping teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon course Celtic sea salt (add to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper (add to taste)
• 2 tablespoons salted butter
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan or Manchego
• 1 cup fresh basil or about 1-2 tablespoons dried basil, to taste
• 1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded, or 1 pound ground sausage works really well too

Directions

Cook chicken until done in a skillet, in the oven at 425 degrees for 25-45 minutes, or in a crock pot on low for 4 hours or until it shreds with a fork. Shred or chop and set aside. Or, brown sausage in a large skillet and then set aside.

Boil pasta in salted water. Reserve 2 cups of pasta water and then drain pasta. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat.

Add zucchini, squash, garlic, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Cook until zucchini and squash are golden and cooked. Using a wooden spoon or a potato masher, mash the zucchini. If it’s tough to mash it, cut or chop the zucchini pieces so it forms a chunky sauce.

Add the reserved 1 1/2 cup of pasta water and the butter, bring to a small simmer, mix well and turn into a thin sauce.

Add the parmesan and chicken or sausage and mix well. Add more pasta water if needed to cover the pasta.

Add basil to taste. Top with parmesan if desired.

Serve and enjoy!