Its a bit late for a green meal, St. Patrick's Day was Monday, but this is still a fun and green! Being gluten free isnt easy. I used to be a bread and pasta eating machine! Being paleo(ish) is even harder, no grains and no beans too, so no fake pasta... This recipe makes life easier and feel a little bit more normal and it s delicious! When I first went paleo I ate it all the time. You need a few tools, a vegetable peeler or a spiralizer. If you plan on making "zucchetti" often I would recommend investing in a spiralizer. You can take out tons of zucchini in a blink of an eye!
When I could eat cheese I loved pesto. This is an Almost Pesto because it doesnt have nuts or any cheese or nutritional yeast. I think the basil is enough!
Ingredients:
For zucchini pasta
- zucchini, these were tiny and I could eat two or three on my own.
For almost pesto
- 1/2 cup basil, loosely packed
- 1 clove of garlic
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Here are some examples of what you will get using different tools. The vegetable peeler pasta is a bit more like wide linguine and the spiralizer is more like spaghetti and angel hair.
Zucchini Pasta
- Spiralize or peel all zucchini. If using peeler turn the zucchini after each peeling and stop when you get to the seeds. You can still eat the center, but it is hard to peel as pasta.
- Heat zucchini in a oil free pan over medium heat. Do not add water or cover. Keep a close eye on it and turn it often. I just like mine heated with a little bite. If you cook it too long it will start to get watery. Still yummy but for this recipe it is better just wilting it. (If you were making a marinara sauce on the stove already throw in the zucchini for a few minutes and let it heat up.)
Almost Pesto
- Put basil, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper in a blender or food processor.
- Blend. Easy!
I dont like to heat my almost pesto too much. I will just toss it in a big bowl with my zucchini pasta and done. Tip: If you peel the zucchini of all the green and just use the white part as pasta it will look less like a plate of vegetables, but I like the green.
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