My dad makes a version of this dish. His is very rich, made with lots of cream and cheese. He also shreds the zucchini so it melts down completely into a creamy sauce – this appeals to my many picky brothers who ordinarily wouldn’t eat zucchini. And it is good, but very heavy. When setting out to recreate this family favorite in my own kitchen, I wanted to make my version a bit lighter. Having no need to camouflage the zucchini, I cut them in rounds and cook them long enough so that they are somewhat soft, but still are texturally distinct from the pasta and sauce. For the sauce, rather than use cream, I mix pasta cooking water and grated parmesan to coat the pasta like when making pasta carbonara or cacio e pepe.

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