Fettuccine with Burrata & Zucchini Pesto
Fellow cheese queens, this one’s for you. I celebrated my 26th birthday this week and instead of going out, I decided to cook. Shocking, I know. While one might think I’d crave something other than Italian food, I just wanted a good bowl of pasta. After a long commute, doesn’t everyone want comfort food?
At about 8:30 pm, I began making a fresh batch of pasta and a new sauce, featuring our latest farmer’s market grab - zucchini, one of my favorite veggies. Matt picked up some burrata and pine nuts, and the following creation was born. If you love burrata and herby pesto, you’ll adore this recipe! I sure did. Happy birthday to me.
Fettuccine with Burrata & Zucchini Pesto
Ingredients:
1.5 lb fettuccine (preferably homemade)
2 zucchinis, diced
1/2 sweet onion, diced
6 oz drained burrata*
1.75 oz pine nuts
4 oz prosciutto, ripped or sliced**
1 bunch basil leaves
Extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 tbsp grated pecorino
Kosher salt & pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes (optional)
Directions:
Place a pot of salted water over high heat, cover, and bring to boil.
While water begins to simmer, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté onion, zucchini, a few pinches of salt, cracked pepper, and red pepper flakes with lid on for about 10 minutes. Once soft and translucent, remove lid and cook for a few more minutes until liquid evaporates. Set aside.
In the meantime, lightly toast the pine nuts in a small skillet or toaster oven.
Once cooled, place cooked onion and zucchini in a large food processor or blender. Blend until smooth. Add both cheeses, peeled garlic, basil, and toasted pine nuts. Puree until smooth.
Heat a small skillet and add prosciutto strips. Cook on medium-high until crispy.
Add pasta to boiling water (if using homemade, the noodles will cook in about 2 minutes). When pasta is nearly done, return the sauce to the large skillet and heat on low. Using a pasta fork, remove noodles from pot and place them in the pesto, stirring until well incorporated. Add a small ladle of pasta water to the pesto and stir until well-incorporated. Add salt and red pepper flakes if desired.
Serve immediately, garnishing with crispy prosciutto.
Serves 4.
Notes:
*I have since made this recipe with ricotta cheese instead of burrata, and it was delicious. Burrata is a cow’s milk cheese and ricotta a sheep’s milk cheese. I recommend trying it both ways and seeing which you prefer!
**Similarly, I recently used guanciale instead of prosciutto. If you can find good quality guanciale, the chunkier nature of the meet lends itself well to this dish.
To make vegetarian, top with basil leaves or toasted pine nuts instead of prosciutto.