Pesto Zoodles

Have you tried the Spiralizer?  I love my Spiralizer.   If you think your kids won’t eat their vegetables, then try the spiralizer.  They will love the look. They will think it is spaghetti.  And for all practical purposes, it is spaghetti.  Now I have made a number of recipes with zoodles.  This Pesto Zoodles is the freshest recipe yet.  I grabbed basil from my backyard to make my pesto.  

This is such a great dish because it can pulled together so quickly.  Even if you have to stop at the store, this Pesto Zoodles comes together so quickly. Grab a few zucchini squash and Spiralize them.  That takes maybe 3 minutes and 1 of those minutes is going to the pantry to grab the Spiralizer and setting it up.  Once the zoodles are prepared, they get thrown in a pan with whatever sauce you are using.  

I was talking with a friend at work who also has a Spiralizer.  She told me that she throws her zoodles in a pan with some cooking spray and cooks them for a few minutes to cook out the liquid.  I will need to try this concept.  What I actually like most about the idea is pan frying the zoodles will crisp them up giving them even more texture.  The saucier your sauce is that you use, the more important this step will become.

Getting back to how quick this recipe came together.  It probably took me 2 minutes total from the time I went to my garden, to grabbing the food processor, to pulsing the herbs and spices.  The longest step of this whole recipe is cooking the pesto in the pan for a couple of minutes to release all the flavor of the pesto.  Then, drop in zoodles, give it a mix, and serve.  I added some prepared meatballs for a little heartier dinner but it is totally not necessary.

Zucchini squash ingredients and then Spiralizing them. 

Pesto ingredients, then mixed and then sautéed.

 

The final dish with the zucchini squash in the pesto.