- Prep Time: 30m
- Cook Time: 20m
- Total Time: 50m
- Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 340 grams gemelli (12 oz.)
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 250 grams zucchini - sliced into small rounds (8 oz.)
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 grams dried chili flakes (1/2 tbsp.)
- 50 grams pinenuts (4 tbsp.)
- 180 grams ricotta
- 1/2 cup parmesan, grated with a little more for styling on top
- 1/2 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped
- lemon zest from medium sized lemon
- juice of half of the same lemon
Instructions
- Preheat stovetop grill on medium heat.
- In a 3 quart saucepan, bring seasoned water to a boil for the pasta. While the water is heating, start preparing all of the herbs and zucchini. Finely chop mint and parsley, bunching the herbs between your fingers as you slice, being careful not to bruise the herbs, causing them to loose flavor. Mince garlic, zest lemon and grate parmesan, then slice zucchini into small rounds placing it in a small bowl and mixing with a light coating of olive oil, salt, and freshly cracked pepper.
- Once water is boiling and the stovetop grill has started to smoke, pour gemelli into the water then start to grill the zucchini rounds. Evenly distribute the zucchini rounds over the grill giving enough space between each round to easily flip. Try not to disturb the zucchini as it is grilling so they maintain those beautiful grill marks. Use one of the rounds as a tester for the rest. Once the tester is ready, carefully flip the other rounds.
- You will want to stop the gemelli when it has reached al dente, but while the gemelli and zucchini are cooking, bust out a new frying pan that is large enough to hold the pasta. Place on medium heat with an ample amount of olive oil around 2-3 tablespoons. In this pan, brown the garlic and pine nuts with the chili flakes allowing the chili to become fragrant. This will really turn up the spice and flavor on those chili flakes, making a spicy oil that will coat the pasta later on.
- Turn off grill and place the zucchini to the side. Once the gemelli has reached al dente, place in a strainer and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Return to saucepan and mix gemelli with ricotta, mint, parsley, lemon juice, lemon zest and most of the parmesan. Stir the crap out of it then pour this heavenly pot of cheesy, lemon and mint pasta into the fry pan, mixing it on medium heat with the garlic, pine nuts, chili flakes and olive oil. Stir for 5 minutes until everything is evenly incorporated.
- Portion gemelli onto 4 plates and arrange the grilled zucchini, sprinkling each portion with the remaining parmesan.