The Pasta with Zucchini, Prawns, and Olives is a fresh and tasty first course. A delicious pasta salad, in this case I chose penne, but you can opt for any shape you prefer. The dressing is simple and light, based on sautéed zucchini, prawn tails, taggiasca olives, and lemon zest.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 2 people
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer
Ingredients
- 2 cups zucchini
- 6 oz smooth penne (or other shape)
- 5 oz prawn tails (fresh, with shell)
- 1 lemon
- to taste taggiasca olives
- to taste chopped parsley
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste fine salt
- to taste black pepper
Tools
- Kitchen scale
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Pot
- Pan
- Wooden spoon
- Colander
Steps
To prepare the pasta with zucchini, prawns, and olives…
First, clean the prawns (I used the tails, already headless). Using your hands, remove the shell, legs, tail, and by making an incision on the back with a knife, also remove the intestine (if you prefer, you can pull it out with a toothpick from the head side). Then rinse them under cold running water.
In a pot, heat the water to cook the pasta. When it boils, throw in the penne or other shape and cook for the minutes indicated on the package.
Now take the zucchini, wash them and cut them into slices with a knife or mandolin. Then place them in a pan with hot oil and cook for about 10 minutes until they are cooked. Remove them from the pan and place them in a salad bowl.
In the same pan where you cooked the zucchini, add more oil and when it’s hot, cook the prawns for a few minutes on high heat. Once cooked, add them to the zucchini.
After the pasta’s cooking time has elapsed, drain it and rinse it under cold water to stop the cooking, draining it again well, and add it to the other ingredients.
Finally, add the taggiasca olives, chopped parsley, grated lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix everything well and serve it cold or at room temperature.
Tips
To speed up the recipe, you can use precooked prawns, already cleaned, following the consumption methods on the package.
For the recipe, I preferred to serve this pasta cold, ideal for summer. Alternatively, you can sauté everything in the pan and serve it hot.
