Cooking with Chef Mike: Shaved Summer Squash Linguine

Cooking with Opinel Culinary Ambassador, Chef Mike Kubiesa

As an avid gardener, I love growing summer squashes and zucchini and cooking with fresh ingredients. The T-Duo Peeler was the perfect tool for this recipe and produced perfectly thin and long strips of zucchini on the julienne side. I also was able to zest lemon and shave hard cheese – it’s a versatile tool with many use cases! This dish is perfect for a quick week night meal that’s still full of flavor and texture. I’m looking forward to using my peeler on even more vegetables from the garden – perfect for carrots, root vegetables, and potatoes – just to name a few! 

Shaved Summer Squash Linguine with Lemon, Basil and Toasted Almonds

Ingredients:

• 2 medium yellow summer squash, julienned
• 2 medium zucchini squash, julienned 
• ½ package or ½ lb. dry linguine 
• 1 large shallot, minced  
• 1-2 Calabrian chilis, minced (or 1/8 tsp chili flakes) 
• 2-4 garlic cloves, sliced  
• 2 serrano chilis, sliced (optional if you like heat) 
• 1 bunch of basil, chiffonade  
• 2 cups baby arugula
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced 
• ½ cup dry white wine 
• Splash of pasta water 
• 1/4 cup olive oil (more if needed)
• 1 cup grated parmesan, divided
• 1/3 cup almonds, slivered 
• 2 Tbsp butter (for almond topping)
• ½ cup bread crumbs
• 3 Tbsp parsley, chopped and divided 
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method: 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In the meantime, use the Opinel TDuo Peeler to julienne the yellow squash and zucchini. Set aside in a bowl and prep the rest of your ingredients. Once your salted water is brought to a boil, cook your linguine to al dente (about 10-12 minutes.) Remove and save some pasta water on the side. 

Bring a large sauté pan to medium heat and add olive oil and sauté together the shallots, garlic and Calabrian chilis until aromatic (about 10 minutes.) Raise the heat to high and deglaze with white wine. Simmer for 5 minutes or until reduced by half, lower heat to medium low. 

Add al dente pasta to sauté pan and mix with white wine mixture, basil and arugula. Add the juice of one lemon and half of the grated parmesan. Mix together until arugula is wilted. 

Next, add the julienned summer squash and zucchini combined with a ladle of pasta water and extra virgin olive oil. Toss together until fully combined and squash is wilted down and incorporated with linguine. Bring pasta together on low heat about for 5 minutes until fully combined. Add more cheese, pasta water or olive oil at this time if needed. 

For the toasted almond topping, combine slivered almonds, butter, lemon zest and half of the chopped parsley to a medium sauté pan. Toast over medium high heat until browned and crunchy. Constantly move the pan around so the almonds don’t burn (about 3-5 minutes.) 

Plate each serving of linguine and add almond topping, shaved parmesan, chopped parsley and extra virgin olive oil. Garnish with sliced lemon and remaining parsley. Enjoy!