ROD's life: Awesome courgette pasta and a catch up

I should be folding washing. At least doing something to tackle what can only be described as the Everest of clean laundry piles. I genuinely have no idea what any of us are wearing at the moment. However, sharing last night's dinner is way more important.....

My in-laws and sister-in-law are staying so obviously a chance to try something new. As well as eager house guests, September's issue of Good Housekeeping arrived with a delicious looking courgette pasta recipe in it and as if this wasn't all good fortune enough, the garden produced the first of this season's courgettes. So, here is the recipe and some pics of last night's dinner:

Basil and courgette orecchiette

Ingredients:

300g orecchiette pasta (I used penne)
2 medium courgettes (coursely grated)
2tbsp olive oil plus extra to drizzle
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
finely grated zest of 1/2 - 1 lemon (size of lemon dependent)
Large handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped
75g feta (crumbled)
Parmesan shavings to serve

To make:

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions (about 10 mins)

When you have about 5 mins to go on the pasta, heat the olive oil in a large pan and fry the garlic and chilli for a few seconds. As the garlic begins to colour, add the courgette and lemon and stir to ensure everything gets mixed well. Season really well (lots of pepper!) and cook until the pasta is done. Drain the pasta and add to your pan with the courgette. Add most of the feta, all the basil and toss well. Crumble over the rest of the feta, drizzle a smidge of olive oil and serve!

I veered off from the recipe (shock!) and added some parmesan to serve. Without a doubt one of the nicest pasta dishes I have ever had and JO didn't do the recipe........ Also, it took the sum total of about 11 mins to cook.

In other news:

I go back to work next Monday. I am rather looking forward to a change of scenery but have no idea how the washing will get itself done. EEROD has her first week of nursery this week so am child free for a few days.
Due to it being braai season, I haven't done a dinner party in so long that I have no inspiring menus to share
The veg garden is coming along brilliantly. We had our first crop of sugar snaps and runner beans (made a risotto) and the tomatoes are starting to form. Corn looking healthy but no sign of any actual corn and we pulled up our first carrot. Somehow growing carrots has been surprisingly satisfying. I think we will leave them a bit longer though.