I’m so excited to have our first crops rolling in from the garden. We’ve been enjoying fresh organic bell peppers, lettuces, basil and now zucchini. The wonderful thing about zucchini is it’s so easy to grow and just one zucchini is big enough to create a meal in itself. I find zucchini to be a little on the bland side as a vegetable, but with the right seasonings and in the right dish, deee-lishhh!
This zucchini dish delivers the right amount of veggies, along with a healthy pasta and salad all in one. And I use a very easy-to-make oil sauce that brings the whole recipe together. In fact, this is my go-to pasta sauce if we are super hungry and need to cook up something quick.
If you can, try to make this recipe with the baby heirloom tomatoes. They are just so much better than the regular red baby tomatoes. And when they have been grilled in the pan with the oils and salt and pepper and garlic for a few minutes, they get all sweet and juicy and burst in your mouth when you eat them. Sooooo good!
We use organic brown rice pasta (gluten free) these days, but any spaghetti pasta will do for this recipe. And, you can also just do straight zucchini. I personally love having half pasta, half zucchini in my bowl, but if you need a good pasta replacement, then zucchini it is!
Here’s the recipe:
ZUCCHINI PASTA WITH GRILLED HEIRLOOM TOMATOES RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
1 Zucchini (spiralized, or cut into long skinny strips)
1 Package Brown Rice Spaghetti Pasta (or any Spaghetti you like)
Olive oil
3 Cloves Garlic
Garlic powder
Salt/Pepper to taste
Baby Heirloom Tomatoes (about 5-6 per person)
Basil- one handful
Dried or Fresh Thyme
Dried or Fresh Oregano
Arugula
Parmesan
Balsamic Vinaigrette
DIRECTIONS:
- Spiralizethe zucchini or cut into long strips by removing ends first and then cutting thin strips from top to bottom on the sides. Continue cutting these flat long strips until you reach the seeds, then stop. Discard the center with the seeds (this part of the zucchini doesn’t taste all that good anyway). Cut the flat strips into skinny strings.
- Boil water for the spaghetti pasta (you will cook this separately from the zucchini pasta).
- Chop the baby heirloom tomatoes in half and drizzle with enough olive oil to make a sauce in the pan. Heat on medium heat. Add salt and pepper. Lightly coat with thyme and oregano. Sprinkle with garlic powder. Put heat on low and turn off when the tomatoes soften a bit. Add more olive oil to the pan if needed (this will be the sauce for the pasta). Slice the basil and sprinkle over the top of the tomatoes.
- Place the zucchini strings in a pan and drizzle with olive oil and fill the bottom of the pan with water. Salt and pepper the zucchini. Cover and heat the sliced zucchini until it’s soft.
- Boil the spaghetti pasta while the zucchini cooks. Strain the pasta when cooked.
- Mix the zucchini and pasta together.
- Place arugula leaves in the bottom of bowls. Place the mixed pastas on top of the arugula. Scrape the tomatoes and sauce on top of the pasta. Drizzle with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar over the pasta. Grate Parmesan cheese on top. Garnish with basil. Enjoy!
SWEETIE PIE AND CUPCAKES FAVORITES
Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti Pasta
Organic Brown Rice Spaghetti Pasta