Zucchini Pasta

I am generally not a fan of foods pretending to be other foods for health or shock value. In general if you want to eat pasta….......then eat pasta; but this is kind of an exception to my rule. This way of preparing zucchini is called pasta because it looks like pasta and the texture can really fool anyone! It goes really good with pretty much any kind of pasta sauce but I have found out that it tastes better with a simple butter-cheese or tomato sauce, something that is not to heavy or chunky...... but my son loves it with a good old bolognese sauce too!! You could also use it as pasta replacement in a salad pasta for a summer BBQ, the texture and mild taste really works with anything! I didn't add any sauce recipe because I believe that if you are trying this for the first time it is best to make a sauce that you are used to, this way you'll get used to the idea of eating "fake" pasta easier!

I usually use one zucchini per person but you can use more or less depending on what you are making. Some people don't even bother boiling the "noodles", this tastes good too (it is a bit more crunchy and with a stronger taste), if you want to give it a try all you have to do is slice the zucchini, salt them for 20 minutes and rinse to soften them. 

Ingredients:

• Fresh Zucchinis 
• Water to boil
• Salt to taste
• Any pasta sauce you like

Directions:

1. Use one medium large zucchini per person. Wash it thoroughly and pat dry.
2. If you have a mandolin this will be perfect for the job, but if you're like most people, you probably don’t have a mandolin, so you can either use a vegetable peeler or a knife. The peeler method will give you long flat noodles, and with the knife you'll have to work a bit more: just cut the zucchini into thin slices, stack up, and cut again lengthwise into thin strips.
3. Boil some salted water, and add the zucchini noodles to the water to cook for about 1-2 minute. I have found that cooking them a bit longer works great for kids but for adults 1-2 minutes is more than ok.
4. Take out and immediately and blanch in cold water to prevent over cooking (The hot sauce will heat up the noodles sufficiently)
5. That's it, serve with your favorite pasta sauce and enjoy!