Penne with zucchini and baby corn in pesto sauce

[skylee]

I sent the following to my friends today.

 

(Note - 翠玉瓜 = Zucchini, 珍珠筍 = baby corn, 長通粉 = penne, 青醬 = pesto sauce)
 

第一次煮翠玉瓜。超市到期貨色，2文2條，洗乾淨。

 

切開一條，量太多，另一條下次食。藍色生果刀係一位舊下屬以前送畀我嘅。

 

用水煮3分鐘。生食無乜味。熟食都係無乜味。

 

用同一煲水加鹽煮半杯長通粉。最後幾分鐘加幾條珍珠筍。

 

加超市買嘅青醬同好多鮮磨黑胡椒。老實講翠玉瓜無乜味唔係幾好食。珍珠筍比較好味。應該唔會再買翠玉瓜。

[abcdefg]

Looks very tasty. Thanks for posting. I miss being able to buy fresh basil here to make pesto sauce. Wish it were popular in Mainland China. But I suppose it's too Mediterranean.

 

Your squash looks like what we call 小瓜 here in Yunnan. It's a versatile ingredient. Not sure I've run into baby corn in the market here; would probably need to buy it in cans in the supermarket.

[Alex_Hart]

Thanks for the recipe, skylee! I'm a huge fan of pesto on anything. I tried my hand at gardening last summer and ended up with buckets of fresh basil and loads of cherry tomatoes and zucchini. I often made a similar recipe with the addition of oven baked tomatoes - nothing quite evokes the flavors of summer like zucchini, basil and tomatoes. My favorite is to add small balls of mozzarella marinated in garlic (boconccini) from a nearby Italian deli - I throw them in the pot with the zucchini and they get slightly melty, then I stir in the pesto. I couldn't imagine going an entire summer without fresh pesto, so I had to buy some basil seeds to grow here in China. 

 

9 hours ago, abcdefg said:

Looks very tasty. Thanks for posting. I miss being able to buy fresh basil here to make pesto sauce. Wish it were popular in Mainland China. But I suppose it's too Mediterranean.

 

Grow it! I have two large pots growing in my windowsill. Also, Metro (a German supermarket chain across China) stocks fresh basil - the label says it is grown in Kunming. They also sell other herbs (dill, thyme, mint) from the same farm in Kunming. Perhaps you could track it down? 

 

I have an indoor and an outdoor plant - the area on the outdoor ledge is rather tiny and I also have mint, oregano, thyme and parsley growing. The indoor plant was recently planted with transplants, and now sits next to my tea area - pot costs around 4 kuai and I got a large amount of dirt for 14 kuai.

[abcdefg]

That looks like a perfect windowsill set-up, @Alex_Hart, maybe I can give something similar a try.

[skylee]

The doctor says my cholesterol is too high, and the nutritionist adds that my blood sugar is no good either. So I am almost a vegetarian now. 

 

I used to cook baby carrots with penne. But the nutritionist said it was no good to blood sugar level, so I now use baby corn instead. Friend says pesto sause is no good and I should drop it.

 

I find changing my eating habits (for health reasons) increasingly depressing. First no alcohol. Then no fat no meat. Then low sugar low carb. It is not living . It is pre-death.

[889]

“医生的话不能听，最多只能听一半。“

[Alex_Hart]

@skylee Your friend is likely referring to the pestos filled with a ton of olive oil and Parmesan, or worse the store bought ones with added sugar. You can twerk this by making it at home - use high quality olive oils and be more judicious with your cheese use. Homemade pesto is a great way to eat healthy, and you can get away from the classic basil/EVOO/pine nut/Parmesan mix and try it out with a variety of herbs and nuts - I've used walnuts rather than pine nuts (cheaper) and gotten rave reviews, and you can move into more uncharted territory and go for more of a chimichurri sauce (parsley, garlic, oregano and vinegar) or try cilantro pestos (cilantro rather than basil, nut [pepitas are popular], garlic. Cheese optional, though it does make it taste better). 

 

I'm a vegetarian, though for ethical reasons rather than health reasons. I eat fish occasionally since moving to China, mostly when out for dinner with others. Having spoken to numerous people who tried to make the switch to vegetarianism and failed for lack of flavor, I think the key is to diversify your flavors. Meat acts like a crutch: put anything in some fat and it will trick your brain into thinking it tastes good, even if it isn't anything special other than having that fatty component. Moving to China has further caused me to largely give up my previously large dairy consumption (grew up less than an hour from the French border with a cheese loving mother), so even the delicious flavor of butter fried veggies has been taken from me, and cheese has become rare in my diet. Still, I don't see any reason why a healthy diet would have to be tasteless! 

The Chinese diet, for one, tends to be relatively low in those high fat goodies we like back home as long as you make it at home or find a restaurant more reasonable in its use of oil. Zhejiangers make use of a lot of dried stuff, 比如梅干菜和冬瓜干, which add flavor and complexity to dishes. Sichuanese pickles also do this - easily made at home. Pick up some Korean gochugang and mix it with some olive oil to make a killer stir fry (or try it on baked vegetables for an even healthier option). Grab two or three misos (red and white) and simmer your vegetables in a quick dashi broth before adding the miso. Add these choices to "healthy" variations on western dishes (e.g. less cheesy pesto) and you've already got a lot of "non-spice" alternatives, and you really haven't even touched the surface of what each cuisine has to offer in terms of those healthier options. If you like spice, try going down the rabbit hole of Indian/Thai cuisine and get ready for more flavors than you thought possible - your spice cabinet will grow quickly, and your available flavors alongside it (plus, many spices are thought to have health benefits). 

 

And, of course, @889 might also be touching on something very true. The art of healthy eating isn't to be a saint - reward yourself sometimes.

[skylee]

Truth be told, I reward myself often. Haha.

 

I don't mind not eating meat, as I don't really enjoy preparing/cooking it. I do like sweet and starchy food, though.

 

At home, I need food that can be bought 1-2 weeks in advance and requires very little preparation. So penne+veggies is typical for dinner. Home made pesto sauce is not going to happen. And there will not be a spice cabinet.  But I can do without a sauce. A lot of black pepper on penne is also OK for me. Anyway it is too hot to cook now, so dinner is usually cereal and fruits.

[Alex_Hart]

Why do you need to buy your food so far in advance? Still, you can explore the world of canned and preserved foods. I don't mean like the "canned hamburger meat" chock full of preservatives and junk, but things like canned tomatoes and olives.

 

 Why not make your own sauce? It's easy! If not pesto, you could make something along the lines of pasta alla puttanesca. I often make it on those "I cannot deal with cooking" nights. The sauce comes together in the time the pasta boils - so around 10 minutes. Most of the ingredients can be kept in your cabinet for ages (olives, capers, anchovies) and you can utilize fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes. Shakshuka is an Israeli dish that also can mostly be made from non perishable goods.

 

Would note making pesto is quite easy, and it stores extremely well. Put it in a jar for fridge use and freeze the rest. My mom sent me away to college with a gallon of it every semester.

[skylee]

“Why do you need to buy your food so far in advance?”

 

Long working hours, laziness, and a home not in a very convenient place.

 

Thanks for the suggestions.