a quick midweek supper of spaghetti and grated courgettes in a cheesy white sauce
Have you been over run with courgettes too?
Three or four courgettes have been appearing in our weekly veg box for the last month or so. That’s a whole lot of courgettes to get through, especially as they aren’t something I normally buy. I love my veg box though – it’s forcing me to get creative with seasonal ingredients. We don’t buy any fresh vegetables from the supermarket while our veg box is delivered; the fresh, organic produce we get is enough to feed us all for the entire week. In fact, we’re eating very little meat these days as there are so many lovely fresh vegetables to enjoy.
Recently I discovered the wonderful world of Stumble Upon. When the kids are in bed and I get a few minutes to myself in the evening I scroll through the food section, checking out new blogs I’d never otherwise have discovered. I’m learning loads through this medium, and one of the fab recipes I found was for a basic white sauce for pasta from Moms Who Wear High Heels and Swear (what a fab website name!).
While I was staring at the mountain of courgettes in the vegetable chiller in my refrigerator one afternoon trying to decide what to do with them I remembered I’d added that recipe to my Stumble Upon list. A little rejigging (and UK-ifying) of the recipe and this is what I came up with: courgette spaghetti alfredo or, as my lovely children decided to name it: spaghetti a la yucky stuff.
Personally, I think this is a rather fantastic way to use up courgettes. You don’t even feel like you’re eating a mountain of green veg – grate those babies up and hide them in the sauce! My children, on the other hand, would prefer not to. Meh – their loss; more for me!
Courgette Spaghetti Alfredo
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp plain flour
- 1 vegetable stock cube (I use Knorr)
- 125 ml boiling water
- 250 ml full fat milk
- 40 grams Grana Padano cheese grated
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 courgettes grated
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 300 grams spaghetti
- fresh parsley to garnish
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Instructions
- Heat butter in a small saucepan over a medium high heat until melted and starting to bubble.
- Crumble the stock cube into the butter and stir. Mix in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Remove pan from the heat and whisk in the water and milk. Return pan to the heat and stir until thickened - about two minutes.
- Remove from the heat, stir in the cheese until melted and pop the lid on to keep warm.
- Heat the sunflower oil in a saute pan.
- Gently fry the onion until it softens, about five minutes. Add the garlic and the grated courgette, season well and saute for about ten minutes, until the moisture in the courgette has evaporated and the vegetables have softened.
- Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in boiling, salted water according to the packet instructions - about ten minutes.
- When the spaghetti is cooked, drain and stir the sauce and vegetables through. Serve immediately with parsley to garnish.
Notes
Environmental Information
Linking up with Pasta Please – a monthly pasta challenge from Jacqueline over at Tinned Tomatoes, hosted this month by Shaheen at Allotment 2 Kitchen. This month Shaheen’s Eat Your Greens challenge has been combined with Pasta Please so we’re asked to share our pasta recipes that include one green vegetable. I’m also linking up to Speedy Suppers by Sarah at Maison Cupcake and Katie over at Feeding Boys.
OTHER COURGETTE RECIPES
Courgette Carbonara by The Big Spud
Simple Ratatouille by Fab Food 4 All
Smoked Salmon, Courgette & Dill Pasta by Blue Kitchen Bakes
Sausage Ragu Stuffed Courgettes by Kavey Eats
Pizza Primavera by Franglais Kitchen
Grilled Veggie Lasagne with Wild Garlic Pesto by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
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Adventurer. Expat Canadian. Foodie. Loves bikes. Calls Shetland home.
Kelly Leslie says
This looks like a yummy way to get some courgettes into my little’s!
Corina says
It looks lovely and easy to make. I wish my husband liked courgette but it’s the type of thing i can just do for myself if he’s out.
shaheen says
Spaghetti a la yucky stuff – kids eh 🙂
Thanks for sharing with Eat Your Greens, the round up should be up this evening.
anna @ annamayeveryday says
This looks delicious – I have lots of yellow courgettes in the garden, for some reason the green ones didn’t do well this year so will have to try this recipe.
Laura@howtocookgoodfood says
I agree courgettes are hard to feed to kids but I would eat this in a second. I adore the colours and flavours, so fresh and light, delicious!
Katie Bryson says
My kids despise courgettes, but I’ve grated them into all sorts of things without them noticing… if it shows up then a quick blitz in a blender works a treat too. I love pasta recipes so this is going on my list… it looks so comforting 🙂
kellie@foodtoglow says
My own Stumbling adventures are fairly tentative as I still find it all a bit bewildering, but I am getting there! This sounds like a great find, and a good interpretation of a US recipe. One of my post popular early posts involved loads of julienned courgettes, linguine, lemony creme fraiche and fine beans. I haven’t made it in ages but I love your pasta courgette recipe with its proper sauce. Yum! PS Your kids will come round. 🙂
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
I’m really sad my courgettes are coming to an end. They are so versatile! This pasta looks very tasty…… I could quite happily eat a big bowl!!
Jen @ Blue Kitchen Bakes says
I love courgettes though my OH isn’t keen, he also doesn’t eat cheese so that makes this a dish that I can make for myself and enjoy without hearing him grumbling. I’ve been looking for more ideas for incorporating veg with cheese sauce and pasta so this is perfect!
Karen says
I am not a lover of courgettes and have to “tart” them up, and this is just one way that I would love to tart them up Elizabeth!
Johanna GGG says
great quick supper – I love courgette and I have never faced an oversupply but think it wouldn’t be such a bad thing – esp with this sort of recipe
Paul Wilson says
Thanks. Need courgette recipes at the moment.
Jenny says
I love courgettes, think this would be a great way to get my children to eat them.
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
This looks like such a comforting meal. I am loving courgette in pasta dishes at the moment.
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
This looks just gorgeous, you can’t beat creamy pasta and courgette is always such an easy way to make something taste fresh. Beautiful!
Lynette says
I am not a fan of courgettes to be honest, or spaghetti but I would be happy to try this out – I think the rest of my family would love it. I’ve considered buying a veggie box too but one of the reasons I haven’t is because I worry what I would do with all the veg – I guess it’s about time I ventured outside my comfort zone in the kitchen.
Elizabeth says
I’ve never been the biggest fan of courgettes either. They were never something I’d be like, “ooh I’ve got to get me a courgette!” at the supermarket, but I like that my veg box forces to me to cook with them. I do love this spaghetti recipe and I reckon I’ll be using my courgettes in this (and cake!) for the rest of the season. 🙂
Kavey says
I love the inspiration I find across the web. I’m just starting with stumble upon but for me, pinterest has become a go to source of ideas! This looks delicious!
Elizabeth says
I don’t think I’m using Pinterest to its full potential yet. I really ought to spend more time browsing!
Camilla @FabFood4All says
Fab quick supper dish Elizabeth and one I shall put on my Bookmarked Stumble list to make soon:-)
Elizabeth says
Yay! Let me know what you think of it when you do 🙂