Zucchini "Pasta"

At dinner with my friends Cara and Katri the other night, they both ordered the Zucchini "Tagliatelli," broad thin strips of zucchini made to look like pasta. I tried to recreate it at home and the only problem was that there wasn't enough!

Ingredients:

(to serve 4)

5-6 meduim zucchini

1 T olive oil

1 clove garlic, chopped finely

1 medium tomato, diced

salt

pepper

grated parmesan

1/4 c. chopped fresh basil (optional)

Here's how I did it: I peeled the zucchini first to try to fool Lily into thinking it was real pasta, although I don't think that's necessary. She took one bite and proclaimed, "Squash!" Thankfully that didn't deter her from eating the same 2 bites she normally eats at dinner.

After peeling the zucchini I sliced it on my handy mandoline, which you sort of need for this recipe because it would be really hard to do by hand. But maybe that's just me-- I can't even cut paper in a straight line.

After I had all of the zucchini sliced, I heated up the olive oil in a saute pan and added the zucchini and a clove of garlic. I then chopped up a tomato and added that for the last couple of minutes. I sauteed the zucchini for no more than 5 minutes total, then added salt, pepper and parmesan and served it. So simple! If I would have been thinking I would have added some fresh basil. But I wasn't. But it was yummy anyway-- I will definitely make it again.

Zucchini Three Ways

I think mushy zucchini is nasty, so I never steam it. I grew up eating it only one way, and it's still my favorite: grated, sauteed quickly on high heat in olive oil and sprinkled with a little salt and pepper and a lot of grated parmesan. If I'm feeling crazy I'll add some garlic. That's how my Nanni made it and it's really the only way I make it by itself.

I also love it sliced really thin (like into coins) and sauteed with garlic and tossed with whole wheat pasta. Costco has really good whole wheat pasta that tastes like normal pasta to me, and in our new quest to eat more affordably, we eat it about once a week. 

The only other way I like zucchini is cut into good sized chunks and grilled on kabobs. But it doesn't take long so you have to make sure not to put it on kabobs with longer-cooking veggies, like sweet potatoes. 

How else do you like zucchini?