Zucchini Ribbons 2 Ways

The trick to making perfect Zucchini Pasta? Don’t cook it!

I made this pasta last weekend and it was absolutely fail proof. I didn’t have a veggie spiralizer so I decided to give it a go the old fashioned way – by using a vegetable peeler and creating long ribbons rather than thin spaghetti. I have made two dishes this way. The first way, I made the zucchini ribbons was by tossing them in a light marinara sauce with sliced mushrooms. As I said, the trick to al dente noodles is not cooking them for a prolonged period of time.

First Dish: Zucchini Pasta
Heat your marinara sauce. Toss in the sliced porcini mushrooms and saute with garlic and onion until they are slightly firm, cooked for no longer than 10 minutes in the sauce. When the sauce was nice and hot, I threw in the zucchini noodles and only kept them in the pan long enough for them to lose their chill and take on the temperature of the sauce. That my friends was a delicious, carb-free dinner!

Zucchini Salad
The second time, I made them I wanted to create more of a lunch time salad with them rather than an evening meal. Peel the “noodles,” let them sit with fresh basil and parsley, then added diced cherry tomatoes and a corn and black olive salsa. The noodles marinated in the citrus of the tomatoes and when topped with EVOO and salt and pepper –wooweee what a yummy, healthy lunch!