Dueling Dishes

Lists are my thing, I love them. I usually make a list of the week’s dinners the weekend before. But I never make a list for lunches, I should, but it never works out. So I’m always wondering what to have for lunch. That’s when I start flipping through magazines, cookbooks, printouts that are lying around pretty much everywhere in the kitchen.

Last week I was browsing through my copy of the Fine Cooking Annual and I got inspired. This book is full of tempting recipes and fun to know techniques. And the photography is gorgeous. Which is good, because that’s what inspires me. I saw a photo of a zucchini side dish and I got to thinking this would be perfect over pasta. With a few adjustments of my own, of course! As I was chopping and dicing, I realized this would be the perfect dish to enter in Ginny’s Dollar Dish Duel. Yes, our Ginny of Just Get Floury is hosting her first blogging event and I absolutely wanted to participate. The dish should not cost more than 5$ so I started mentally adding what I was using, approximating most of the prices though as I had everything in the fridge and pantry already, and I got my dueling dish! Yes! It did feed 2 people, as in me, again, on the next day! And it was delicious!

So here are my ingredients and prices:
2 zucchinis: 1.50
Rotini pasta, half of a 375g box: .50 (the whole box was 99 cents on sale)
4 oil-packed sun dried tomatoes: .50
1 red onion: .50
2 cloves garlic: .50
freshly grated parmesan cheese: .50
Salt, pepper and olive oil from the pantry

Again, I approximated the prices so a few of the ingredients could be more or less than 50 cents but not a lot and it was easier to add up this way. I wanted to use pine nuts and I totally forgot but they would have been soooo good with this. Also, if you want to go over 5$ a bit, you could toss in some leftover cooked chicken and it would be delicious. There you go Ginny, I can’t wait to see the round-up!

Zucchini and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
About 190 grams rotini pasta
Olive oil
2 zucchini squashes, quartered lengthwise, seeds removed and sliced on an angle
4 oil-packed sun dried tomatoes, chopped
1 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese for serving
Toasted pine nuts and cooked chicken, optional

Cook and drain the rotini pasta and set aside.

In a large sauté pan heat about a tbsp of olive oil, over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini, sun dried tomatoes and the onion. Sauté until the zucchini is golden and the onion is translucent. Add the garlic. At this point you can also add the chicken, if you wish. Toss together with the pasta, adding a little olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Serve with toasted pine nuts, if desired and some grated parmesan cheese.