Zuchetti alla Puttanesca

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If you’re ever craving pasta, but trying to watch your waistline, I have the recipe for you!

This Zucchetti alla Puttanesca recipe, a.k.a. Puttanesca with Zucchini Noodles is a low-calorie pasta option! 20 oz of zucchini noodles will only set you back 30 nutritious calories per serving versus 400 calories in 1 lb of spaghetti. 

Are you still following?! That is an insane calorie difference.

Luckily, this spicy puttanesca sauce pairs extremely well with the zoodles. Adding some oil, olives, anchovies, and parmesan cheese bumps up the calories to 400 per serving, which is perfect amount for many of us to stay satisfied!

What’s even more exciting is that I produced my first cooking video! Check out the step-by-step process for Zuchetti alla Puttanesca at my new IGTV channel! Note: the video is best watched on a mobile device!

Zucchetti alla Puttanesca

Inspired by Epicurious
 
Time: 30 Minutes
Serves 4
 
Ingredients
1 ¼ lb zucchini (about 5 medium) or ¼ lb store-bought zucchini noodles
5 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 tbsp garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp dried oregano
1 28-ounce can peeled tomatoes in puree with basil
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, halved, pitted
2 tbsp anchovy fillets in oil, drained and chopped
2 tablespoons capers, drained
¼ cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped, divided
1.25 cups parmesan cheese, grated, divided
 
Directions
Using a spiralizer, cut Zucchini into thick spiral noodles.
 
Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano, and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes, olives, anchovies, and capers. Break up tomatoes up with a spoon and simmer for 15 minutes, until thickened.
 
Meanwhile, in a separate large skillet, add 1 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add zucchini and cook until Zucchini is soft, but still al dente, about 2-3 minutes. Drain excess water.
 
Transfer Zucchini to the puttanesca sauce and simmer until combined, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in 2 tbsp parsley and 1 cup parmesan and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve on plates and garnish with additional parmesan cheese and parsley.

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Anne Assassi


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Surf & Turf Spaghetti (Spaghetti alla Mare e Terra)

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How do you make your favorite pancetta or bacon pasta healthier? By adding seafood and plenty of vegetables to it, of course! 

For flavor (and to hit the spot!), this Surf and Turf Spaghetti has just a touch of pancetta, but delivers a nutritional punch with an amazing amount of garlic, plenty of fennel and cherry tomatoes, and for an omega-3 boost, shrimp and octopus. Just check out my nutritional analysis below the recipe. 

Each serving comes with a reasonable 550 calories and almost half of your vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron. Not bad, right? Pasta doesn’t have to be a guilty pleasure after all! 

Adrian decided that we’d call this one Spaghetti alla Mare e Terra because he’s cute like that. Somehow he still remembers Italian from studying abroad in Florence over a decade ago. I wish I had that memory, but at least I can rely on his when we're overseas!

Surf & Turf Spaghetti (Spaghetti alla Mare e Terra)

Time: 40 Minutes
Serves 6

Ingredients
¾ lb spaghetti
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
4 oz pancetta, diced
8 garlic cloves, minced
10-12 dried birdseye chili peppers, briefly toasted, roughly chopped
2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
3 medium fennel bulbs, cored, cut into thin wedges
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cups (16 oz) chicken broth
1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 tbsp parsley, finely chopped, divided
Juice and zest of 2 lemons
2 (4 oz) cans octopus in olive oil
1 ¼ cups Parmesan Reggiano, divided
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Garlic-infused olive oil, to finish (optional)

Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and return to pot. 

In a large skillet or Dutch oven, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add pancetta and cook until lightly browned. Transfer pancetta to paper towels and set aside. 

To the same skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, chilies, and fennel seeds, scraping up any browned pancetta bits, and stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add fennel wedges and sauté until soft, 6 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes, and cook gently for 4 more minutes. Then stir in broth, shrimp, 2 tbsp parsley, and juice of 1 lemon, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Uncover the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until liquid has reduced by half. 

Add reserved spaghetti to the fennel mixture and stir in octopus and its oil, cooking until the liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Gently stir in the pancetta, half the parmesan, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve on plates or in shallow bowls garnished with remaining parsley, parmesan, lemon zest, and drizzled lemon juice and garlic-infused olive oil. 

Nutrition Analysis Per Serving: 550 Calories, 17g fat (5g saturated), 60g carbs, 7g fiber, 55g protein, 45% vitamin A, 50% vitamin C, 40% calcium, 40% iron

A Pasta Recipe for Slow-Pokes Like Me: Spaghetti with Sautéed Sweet Potatoes and Ricotta

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Lately I’ve been cooking a lot of quick meals, even though that’s not necessarily my style. Many of my friends know me as the home chef who essentially slaves in the kitchen for hours on end, and it’s not because I make over-complicated food. I’m just pretty laid back and bring a super relaxed attitude with me wherever I go, which works great for those braises that take a few hours in the dutch oven anyway.

But a slow-cooking home chef has to get food done quickly sometimes, right? Otherwise how would I ever have time for clients and work, let alone the gym, or runs on along the beach? So below, I present you with a quick and delicious pasta on this night that I’m going to the gym. Faster home chefs could probably piece this one together in 20 minutes, but I over-estimated the time to 30-minutes for slow-pokes like me!

I think it’s important for people to know that healthy food is an achievable feat even for the busiest of us. This meal could probably be in your belly faster than running out last-minute to pick up fast food for your family. What was the clean up like? For those of you with a fast food addiction, don’t let these two pans overwhelm you. My clean up was was finished in less than 10 minutes. Dinner  + clean up in 40 minutes is proof that we can simplify and “healthify” our lives at the same time. Sometimes it just takes a little meal planning and thinking ahead to do so.

 

Spaghetti with Sautéed Sweet Potatoes and Ricotta

Serves 4-6
Time 30 min

Ingredients
1 lb spaghetti
3 tbsp olive oil
1.5 lb sweet potatoes (2 medium), cubed into 1/2-inch pieces
3 shallots, sliced
1.5 tbsp, fresh rosemary, chopped
1/3 cup parmesan, grated
1/2 cup ricotta
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Directions
Cook the pasta per package directions. Reserve 2/3 cup cooking water, drain pasta, and set aside.

In a large pan, or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add sweet potatoes, season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover, and cook stirring every 1-2 minutes to avoid scorching the sweet potatoes, about 8-10 minutes. Add rosemary and shallots and cook until potatoes are tender, 3-5 minutes longer.

Add cooked pasta and reserved water to sweet potatoes. Stir in grated parmesan. Serve pasta with a few dollops of ricotta, and season with salt and pepper to taste.