 |
| Zucchini Pasta |
Pasta is such a comforting family food. This recipe is full of flavour - a beautiful garlicky pest° combined with a preserved lemon dressing makes a very satisfying, fresh-flavoured dish. There are a few components to this recipe, but don't be put off as they are all simple to put together
Serves 4
Zucchini Pasta ingredients: Pasta: 4-5 small to medium zucchini, ends trimmed. Tomato Broth - optional: 2 large ripe tomatoes. pinch salt. Vegetables: 1 and 1/4 cups of broccolini florets, broken up into small pieces. 3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved handful of fresh basil, torn handful of fresh parsley, torn handful of fresh rocket or baby spinach. Basil and Rocket Pesto: 1 clove of garlic, chopped sea salt. 3 good handfuls of fresh rocket and basil, leaves picked and chopped (or use parsley instead). 1/2 cup of pine nuts. lemon juice. extra virgin olive oil. nutritional yeast or Parmesan, optional. Dressing: 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, very finely chopped. 1/4 cup olive oil. 5 tablespoons lemon juice. 1/2 clove garlic, crushed and finely chopped 34 preserved lemon, crushed and finely chopped. If you don't have preserved lemon, use lemon zest and a few pinches of salt
Zucchini Pasta recipe: Pasta: Start by spiralising the zucchini to make zucchini noodles. To do this, you will need a vegetable slicer that can cut food into spirals. (We use the Japanese benriner horizontal slicer.) If you don't have a vegetable spiraliser, use a peeler to cut the courgette into wide strips then julienne with a knife. Set aside. Tomato broth: Roughly chop the tomatoes and place in a blender with salt until pureed. Strain through a sieve with the back of a spoon. Vegetables: Lightly season the broccolini with salt, pepper and olive oil and dehydrate at 460C for 3-4 hours. If you don't have a dehydrator, very lightly blanch the broccolini in boiling water. Set aside. Pesto: Pound the garlic with a little pinch of salt and the rocket and parsley leaves in a pestle and mortar, or pulse in a food processor. Add the pine nuts to the mixture and pound or pulse again. Turn out into a bowl and slowly add olive oil - you need just enough to bind the sauce and to reach an oozy consistency. Season to taste, pour in some more oil if needed and add a bit of nutritional yeast or Parmesan if desired. You can also add a squeeze of lemon juice for a little zing if desired. Dressing: Place all of the ingredients in a jar and shake until well combined. Or blend in a high-speed blender until well combined. To assemble: Mix 1/2 cup of pesto with the dressing, adding a few tablespoons of the tomato broth to make it more fluid. If you haven't made the tomato broth just add a little water. In a bowl, coat the zucchini pasta with the dressing and pesto mix. It should be reasonably easy to coat and not form clumps but if it does, add a little more tomato broth or water to get things moving. Gently fold through the herbs and vegetables. Divide the pasta between 4 plates and top each with 2 tablespoons of tomato broth, pine nuts, pepper, and micro greens, and a drizzle of olive or basil oil if you have it. By then, the Zucchini Pasta is ready
