Zucchini "pasta"

I am generally not a fan of foods pretending to be other foods for health or shock value. In general if you want to eat pasta…eat pasta; but this is kind of an exception to my rule.

Firstly, it's called pasta because that's what it looks like, and even how the texture is…but it's not pasta, and it should be appreciated for its own merits.

This is perfect for that month when zucchini from the garden threatens to take over the house, and the family just can't stomach another stuffed zucchini, grilled zucchini, or even craftily hidden zucchini in bread or muffin dough. This is something entirely different, and is very tasty and a lot of fun. It's also very healthy, and is perfect for a hot summer evening, when you might oddly feel like some pasta, but KNOW it's just too darn hot for a heavy meal!!!

These zucchini noodles can be tossed with any of your favorite sauces, but tend to work better with a simple, and non chunky style sauce.

Zucchini pasta

Figure on one medium large zucchini per person. If you have a mandolin this will be perfect for the job, and you can hook up the julienne attachment for perfectly formed noodles. If you're like most people, you probably don’t have a mandolin, and you can either use a vegetable peeler or a knife. The peeler method will give you long flat noodles, and if using a knife, just cut the zucchini into thin slices, stack up, and cut again lengthwise into thin strips.

Boil some salted water, and add the noodles to the water to cook for about 1 minute.

Tale out and immediately blanch in cold water, or cold running water, to prevent over cooking (The hot sauce will heat up the noodles sufficiently)

That's it!

Toss with your favorite tomato sauce, with a garden basil pesto, with a creamy alfredo sauce, whatever you wish. The noodles are very low calorie, and can be very refreshing on a sultry summer evening.

You could alternatively serve these as a side dish, boiled as above, and then briefly sautéed with melted butter and parmesan or other hard Italian cheese (freshly grated!!!) and salt to taste. Or try these noodles for a variation on your favorite pasta salad…perfect for a BBQ. Or you could even join the latest food craze and serve these without first boiling them and join the raw food movement (salt the noodles for about 20 minutes, and rinse too soften them).

Perfect for diets, perfect for gluten intolerant people, perfect for low carbers…and perfect for anyone who just has too much zucchini!