Sometimes in the summer there is nothing better than a light lunch of sauceless pasta with summer vegetables. We made a very easy creation of spaghettini, julienned ribbons of both summer squash and zucchini, as well as some prosciutto, fresh basil and parmesan. There is nothing spectacular or difficult about this dish- it was just really, really good and perfect for a hot day. We had hoped to make it with Alto Adige speck, a smoked and cured ham from the northern-most provence of Italy, but even after a trip to our local “Italian” market we came home empty handed and were forced to go with prosciutto instead. One of the little frustrations of living in the middle of a somewhat cultureless society rather than an actual city… we did however ask the person at the deli to cut our prosciutto quite thick so it was a little meatier, but in retrospect it would have been just as good with really thin ribbons of prosciutto. We did not “cook” the summer squash or zucchini, but rather placed it in the bottom of the colander so that when we drained the pasta we slightly cooked the vegetables. The final dish was garnished with basil leaves and drizzled with olive oil before serving. What we ended up with was a really good, light lunch that even the kiddos loved (after ten minutes of assuring us they did not like zucchini only to end up eating it all up).
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