Linguine and Zucchini

I love leftovers. But even better than plain old leftovers is being able to use leftovers to come up with a completely new creation.

Over the past week, I had been craving pasta, which is basically a staple of my diet. The craving was not helped by going out for Italian food on Wednesday night, and only eating a salad and some risotto. As delicious they were, I left wishing that I had ordered something else.

Luckily, pasta is something incredibly easy to make at home and I was able to finally satisfy the craving this evening. Conveniently, I had some leftovers laying around that I was able to use to create a fabulous pasta dinner.

The Leftovers
*Zucchini is something I did not truly enjoy on or with pasta until the summer of 2005. I spent that summer living in Verona and was exposed to many new tastes that have stuck with me long since leaving. I had some zucchini leftover from Tuesday's dinner that did not look very exciting sitting in the fridge in a container and alone. Luckily for the zucchini and for me, I remembered that it would be a great addition to the night's pasta creation. I chopped it into more convenient bite-sized pieces, and it was ready to go!
*A few days ago, J had opened up a jar of marinara sauce that needed to be finished. I hear that pasta sauce actually shouldn't be kept very long once it's opened, so I was eager to use it up. The only addition made to this sauce was some garlic powder for extra kick.
*We also had some stravecchio cheese left from the Macaroni and Cheese we made on New Year's Eve. This is one of my new favorite cheese. It is hard, pungent, and versatile. I think it is a great cheese for snacking alongside sweet fruit, using in savory dishes, or simply for nibbling alone. J and I were both surprised that the stravecchio had lasted this long (both in terms of us not eating it and in terms of it not being taken over by mold growth) and decided it needed to be consumed without further delay.

The Dish
Whole wheat linguine, with zucchini, a basic tomato sauce, and sprinkled with grated stravecchio cheese. Simple, easy to make, and absolutely satisfying! This is how I like to eat.