As summer comes to a hot and humid end, this dish is a
light, refreshing and tasty addition to the menu. It features fresh zucchini
and tomatoes from the garden. If you are like many home gardeners, by the end
of the season you are challenged to find interesting new ways to prepare that
relentless harvest of zucchini. Solution: substitute pasta with zucchini for a
new twist on a traditional dish. Use a vegetable peeler to make pasta-like
strips of zucchini.
This intriguing recipe was featured on a cooking show, but my friend and I only caught part of the broadcast. So, we decided to just follow our instincts,
tackle the recipe, and improvise. The result: scrumptious! Best of all you can
experiment with your own variations by adding your favorite seafood, meat, or
other ingredients. We added a pound of fresh grilled shrimp to our dish. The
result: divine!
Zucchini “Pasta” with
Fresh Tomato Sauce
6 large zucchini squash
8
large tomatoes
½ red pepper thinly sliced
½ red onion thinly sliced
1 tsp. sea salt to taste
1 tsp. black pepper to taste
2 small garlic cloves minced
1 tsp. fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp. fresh chopped basil
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
½ cup of fresh grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp. of garlic powder
Optional, Panko bread crumbs
Optional, fresh seafood or meat
for the non-vegetarians
Special equipment: You will need a ricer or food mill and a large
slotted vegetable peeler to start.
Once you have assembled the right equipment and your ingredients preparation
is easy and quick.
Place tomatoes in a large pot of boiling water to blanch (about
10 minutes, don’t overcook). After
blanching, dip tomatoes in a coldwater bath to easily remove the skin. After removing the tomato skins put the
tomatoes through the ricer or food mill collecting the sauce into a bowl below.
Toss the residue left in the ricer or mill.
In a saucepan sauté the minced garlic in olive oil. Add thinly sliced red pepper and sauté
until soft. Add onion and sauté
until transparent. Add tomato
sauce, chopped basil and parsley. Cook together on medium flame for 30 minutes,
reduce flame to low, add salt and pepper to taste and cook gently for another
20 minutes. This makes a light, flavorful sauce.
Wash zucchini, dry and remove the skin using a vegetable
peeler. Once the skin is removed
run the peeler the entire length of the zucchini to create strips and place
strips in a bowl. This becomes
your “pasta.” Continue stripping until you reach the seeds then discard the rest
of the zucchini. Once all of the
zucchini are striped, add olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder, toss to
dress the zucchini “pasta.”
Spray a saucepan with vegetable oil spray or use more olive
oil; add zucchini and sauté until lightly tender. Remove zucchini and place on
platter, pour tomato sauce over zucchini, dust with grated parmesan cheese,
grated black pepper, optional Panko bread crumbs, and serve.
You may want to add shrimp, scallops, or your favorite white
fish, cooked separately. Lighter white meats go well with this recipe. We used
ground turkey in a second version. Experiment with your own ingredients for a
tasty and healthy main dish or side dish. Just don’t use the last of your garden’s
harvest, you will want to make this recipe again!
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