Dan Almquist shared with me one of his go-to recipes for a rich, decadent and shockingly fast pasta recipe. I’m always skeptical when a chef tells me how easy something will be but I am also finding that they generally don’t lie. I didn’t time this one but if you have time to boil pasta, then you have time for this recipe.

This is a three to four ingredient recipe. Dan told me to use cream cheese, zucchini and pasta. I added an onion because to me a zucchini without onion is like jelly without peanut butter.

Creamy Zucchini Pasta

1 zucchini

1 onion (optional)

1 oz (reduced fat) cream cheese

1 serving of pasta

  1. Start boiling a pot of water for your pasta.
  2. While the water is heating up, slice up your zucchini and onion.
  3. Now that the water is boiling, add your pasta.
  4. Spray a frying pan with olive oil or cooking spray of your choice. Add zucchini and onion.
  5. When the pasta is done, drain but make sure to leave about a 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water.
  6. Add cream cheese to pasta and pasta water. Stir to coat.
  7. Add zucchini and onion. Serve in a bowl or plate. Top with ground black pepper.

 

Recipe Review: This was like a mix of mac & cheese and Alfredo sauce. I think I used too much pasta water which made the sauce a little runny (I used closer to 1/2 cup). I think it would also be good if you added mushrooms. Even with my runny sauce and lack of mushrooms, this was exceptional. I had never thought of using cream cheese before with pasta and now it will be my go-to white sauce. It’s creamy, it’s rich and it pairs really well with the sweet zucchini. I would even go as far to say that it is guest-worthy and beyond that, it’s Mom-worthy. My mom can’t eat tomato sauce with her pasta and I know she would love this. Thanks Dan!



Pasta With Zucchini