Pasta with salami and zucchini

This sounds strange, but it's one of our standard pasta dishes. We found it in the first Frugal Gourmet cookbook, the one before he started traveling the world (if you know what I mean).

As you boil the water for penne (our default pasta), julienne two small zucchini into thin batons about an inch long. Do the same thing with an unsliced slab of Genoa salami until there are about as many salami batons as zucchini batons. Mince a clove or two of garlic, grate some pecorino romano (or similar), and get out the capers and heavy cream. Are you confused yet?

When the pasta is about 5 minutes from done, sauté the zucchini in a little olive oil, adding the garlic when it's a minute along, then the salami a minute after. Let them get comfortable together, then add the heavy cream, boiling to thicken. Sprinkle in a forkful or three of capers and thicken more with the cheese. Drain the pasta and toss it around in the pan with the rest of the stuff. Top with more cheese if you like.

I have no idea what part of Italy this might be from - maybe Brooklyn. The Froog got it from an uncle, I think, who was Italian by way of Armenia.