Weekend Cooking: The Kitchen Journal 5

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As I've written here before, I don't plan out my meals for the week, and this is especially true in the summer. Opening my weekly CSA box is a little bit like Christmas: I can't wait to see what goodies "my" farm produced!

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for something creative to do with some small summer squash and a nice bunch of arugula. I looked through a few cookbooks and scoped out the Internet, but nothing was calling to me.

So I took an idea from there and another from here and put them all together for a really delicious pasta dish. We ate this warm for dinner and then cold the next day for our lunches. The photos show my pickled garlic scapes, but I used fresh scapes in the recipe.

Note that the following measurements are approximate -- I didn't really measure. Because garlic scapes are done for the season, I'd substitute one or two cloves of garlic instead. Note that arugula is also called rocket or roquette.

Lemon Zucchini with Arugula
created by Beth Fish Reads

• 1 pound dried pasta, any shape (I used penne)
• 1 dried hot pepper
• 4 small summer squash or zucchini
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (or as needed)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic scapes, chopped
  
• zest of one lemon
• juice of one lemon
• 1 bunch arugula, washed and torn
• black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 5 basil leaves rolled up tight and sliced thin

In a large pot, start heating the water for cooking the pasta. Place the dried pepper in some chicken broth or water to soak.

Meanwhile, grate the squash on a medium grater (I used my food processor). Place the squash in a tea towel or paper towels and squeeze out as much liquid as you can.

Put the pasta in the water to cook. Remove the hot pepper from the liquid and chop, set aside.

Heat the oil in large skillet over medium-high heat and add the hot pepper and onion and saute until soft. Add the garlic scapes and the squash and saute until tender. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, arugula, and black pepper. Add a couple of ladles of pasta cooking water to the pan and let simmer until the pasta is cooked. Drain the pasta (but don't rinse it) and add it to the skillet. Stir in the cheese and the basil and mix until well combined.

Serve with crusty bread and wine and enjoy!