Zucchini “Pasta” with Heirloom Tomato and Lemon-Basil Sauce

By jmartin

or the “pasta” in this dish, you can use yellow squash instead of zucchini, or a combination of both. It’s nice to leave the peel on for extra vitamins and color. A spiral slicer makes lovely noodles in just minutes, but you can always cut them by hand with a vegetable peeler, by just peeling the squash or zucchini lengthwise into long strips. Of course, shredded with a mandoline would be just fine, too, but I like the wide, flat noodles with this sauce.
As the name suggests, lemon basil is a variety of basil with a lemon-citrus flavor and aroma. You can find it at farmers markets during the summer, but regular basil is a fine substitute. Yellow heirloom tomatoes make a nice, light-colored sauce, but if they’re unavailable, you can usually find yellow cherry tomatoes, which are sweeter. Regular tomatoes will also do fine.

Ingredients

• 4 cups chopped yellow heirloom tomatoes
• 1 cup chopped celery (about 1 stalk)
• 1 small shallot, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 clove garlic
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup coarsely chopped lemon basil
• Add the tomatoes, celery, shallot, garlic, lemon juice, and salt to a blender, and blend until completely smooth. With the blender running, slowly pour in the olive oil and continue blending until fully emulsified.
• Transfer to a bowl and stir in the chopped basil.
• To Finish
• 5 to 6 medium zucchini
• 1 red bell pepper, julienned
• 1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Sea salt
• Trim the ends of the zucchini. Using a spiral slicer or hand vegetable peeler, slice the zucchini into ribbon noodles and transfer to a large bowl.
• Add the red and yellow peppers and enough of the tomato basil sauce to generously coat the vegetables. Season to taste with pepper and additional salt, as desired.

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from oneluckyduck.com

Preparation

Step 1

Add the tomatoes, celery, shallot, garlic, lemon juice, and salt to a blender, and blend until completely smooth. With the blender running, slowly pour in the olive oil and continue blending until fully emulsified.
Transfer to a bowl and stir in the chopped basil.

Trim the ends of the zucchini. Using a spiral slicer or hand vegetable peeler, slice the zucchini into ribbon noodles and transfer to a large bowl.
Add the red and yellow peppers and enough of the tomato basil sauce to generously coat the vegetables. Season to taste with pepper and additional salt, as desired.