Penne con gamberi e zucchine
Shrimps and zucchini penne

Ingredients for 3 hungry people  

• 350g penne
• 200g raw shrimps
• 200g zucchini
• 10g pine nuts
• 7g + 7g extra virgin olive oil
• 5g chili flakes
• 3g pepper
• 4g kosher salt

Procedure

1. Put on the stove 3L of water;
2. Blend the pine nuts, add the zucchini and blend again, to create a mousse;
3. Add pepper and half of the oil to the mousse;
4. Once boiling salt the water and throw the pasta in;
5. Heat up the rest of the oil, add chili flakes and brown the shrimps;
6. Remove the shrimps from the pan;
7. Stir the pasta and around 13 of the cooking time, as soon as it becomes a little soft, put a dipper of cooking water into the empty pan, then move the pasta to the pan, leaving the boiling water on the stove;
8. Add another 2 dippers of cooking water to the pasta in the pan, if it gets too dry just add some more;
9. Let it cook for the rest of the time in a similar way to risotto (see );
10. When it's almost done add the mousse and the shrimps;
11. After a minute take the pasta off the stove, serve warm.

Be careful: don't add too much water to the pasta while cooking in the pan, you will need to overcook the pasta! You can always add some, but before adding the mousse it should be creamy.

Be careful: the shrimps can be frozen, but should not be pre-cooked.

Tip: other spices can be added as well to the shrimps, like Sichuan pepper, chili oil, or paprika.