Zucchini and chicken in a creamy lemon-garlic cheese sauce

Zucchini again? Naturellement. C'est la saison. What made this pasta, chicken, and zucchini dish so delicious was the garlic, lemon, and grated parmesan cheese that flavored the creamy sauce.

Pasta and chicken with zucchini

in a garlicky lemon-parmesan cream sauce

1 lb. fusilli, penne, or macaroni pasta, cooked

1 lb. zucchini cut into 1" pieces

2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

1 Tbsp. butter + 1 Tbsp. olive oil

3 or 4 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed

200 ml heavy cream

1 cup grated parmesan (or other) cheese

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

the finely grated zest of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

Cook the pasta following package instructions. Reserve about 2 cups of the pasta water. Set aside.

In a large pan, heat the butter and oil over medium high heat. Add the zucchini and saute until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Take the zucchini out of the pan and put it into a serving dish. Saute the chicken in the same pan until done and lightly browned. Take the chicken out of the pan and add it to the zucchini in the serving dish.

Reduce the heat, add the cream to the cooking juices in the pan, and cook it until the cream is simmering. Add the garlic and let it cook for a minute.

Put the chicken, zucchini, and pasta into the pan and toss everything in the in cream. Add some pasta water to make just enough cream sauce to coat all the ingredients.

Add the parmesan and mix to combine. You might want to add some more of the reserved pasta water to melt the cheese and thin the sauce. Finally, add the lemon zest and lemon juice and toss again. Cook for a minute or two to let all the flavors combine and heat everything through. Serve immediately. Don't spare the black pepper.

Here are the ingredients after they were cooked and just before I stirred everything together into the cream sauce.

We still have a dozen fairly large zucchinis sitting in a basket in the kitchen, plus three big English cucumbers. And now the green beans have started producing. So today we'll eat green beans with pork chops, and probably a cucumber salad. Tomorrow, it'll be back to the zucchini diet.