You are in for a treat, my friend.

You probably know my love for pasta by now. It is just recently that I have learned that all pastas do not need a sauce and that the different constituents of the dish can be brought together simply by adding pasta cooking water and stirring well. If your base is flavorful like it is here, then it is all you need. This dish is so flavorful that JB finished it before I had time to finish taking my pictures.

Use the best sausage you can find: this is the time to go to your favorite butcher and buy fresh sausages. The fennel is important in this dish also, it brings out the flavor of the zucchini. Also, the fried egg on top is not optional, as JB said, it makes the dish.

If you can’t find zucchini flowers, don’t sweat it and simply omit them.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, whole
3 mild italian sausages with fennel, casings removed
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 zucchini, julienned on a mandolin
5 zucchini flowers, cut in strips (optional)
1 fried egg per person
Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
450 g spaghetti
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a skillet, cook the garlic in the olive oil over low heat until it is brown. Remove from the pan and discard.
2. In the same oil, cook the sausage, crumbling it with a wooden spoon. Add a generous amount of freshly cracked black pepper.
3. When the sausage is thoroughly cooked, add the shallot and stir for a minute or two, until the shallot is soft.
4. Add the zucchini and stir for another minute. At this point, turn the heat off and cook your pasta.
5. Cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water for one minute less than indicated on the package, reserve about half a cup of the pasta boiling water and drain.
6. While the pasta is cooking, cook the eggs in a non-stick pan until done, sunny side up, season with salt and pepper, turn the heat off and set aside.
7. Bring the sausage mixture back to temperature over medium heat, add the pasta, the zucchini flowers and a bit of the cooking water and stir constantly for one minute, adding more water if needed to have a moist consistency.
8. Adjust seasonings, add parmesan cheese and serve at once in warm bowls, topped with the fried egg.