Not Just Another Zucchini Recipe

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!