Zucchini-Tomato sauce on a bed of Basil-Zucchini Spaghetti

My partner is a huge meat-eater and when I serve a meal without meat, he is hardly ever satisfied; as if I have only served him the first course of something special to follow, which he never gets. Well anyway, after a regular check-up at the doctors sometime ago, he was told that, although he had an almost perfect clean bill of health-the doctor suggested that he take it easy on the wine, meat, and egg intake. Hmmmm….I have been saying this all along! Never mind-so, somewhat provokingly, I told him that I could not imagine him staying off of his wine, meat, eggs or wheat (I just threw that one in there) for any extended period of time.

…and with that statement…..he took the challenge!!!

It has been 2 weeks now, and I am really impressed at the dedication. I have heard no complaints, and even grand compliments. He has actually stopped eating his own self-made morning-creation-of fried eggs with parmesan cheese, Parma ham, bread with lots of butter and coffee! I never thought it was possible that he could do without this.

So, on the first day of the challenge, when I told him that we would be having a meatless zucchini spaghetti dish, he naturally assumed that we would have some sort of a zucchini sauce served upon a bed of egg noodles as we very often have them. He was actually fine with this and shook his head in agreement. Then I more explicitly told him that we would be actually having a tomato-based sauce and served upon a bed of raw zucchini. He shook his head in agreement once again, but this time, with much less certainty.

Zucchini-Tomato sauce on a bed of Basil-Zucchini Spaghetti

1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1 zucchini chopped into tiny squares
½ teaspoon of dried basil
½ teaspoon of dried oregano
1 medium onion-chopped
2 tsp. of freshly chopped garlic
2 tablespoons of finely chopped or sun dried tomatoes (put in a food processor to blend)
2 cups of finely chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoon of finely chopped or pureed black olives
1 tsp. of balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
½ a cup of fresh ricotta cheese (divided into 2)
A handful of fresh basil leaves
Place the olive oil in a saucepan and swirl to cover the pan.

Turn on heat to medium and add the zucchini squares. Cook the zucchini for about 2 minutes until they are just soft. Then add the oregano and basil and stir for 1 minute.

Then take them out of the pan and place into a bowl and set aside.

Place the onions into the same pan. Sauté the onions on medium heat until translucent and soft.

Add the garlic and the sun-dried tomatoes and cook for a further minute.

Pour in the chopped tomatoes and cook until for about 10 minutes.

Add the black olives, the balsamic vinegar and cook for a further 5 minutes until the sauce has reached the intensity and consistency you desire. Shortly before serving, stir in the zucchini squares, ¼ cup of the ricotta and salt and pepper to taste. To serve, crumble a bit of the remaining ricotta on top of the sauce and tear up some fresh basil leaves.

For the Basil-Zucchini-Spaghetti

2 zucchinis
1 tsp. of olive oil
2 tablespoons of fresh pesto

Use a spiral-slicer or a saladacco to make the zucchini noodles out of both zucchinis. Place the oil in a pan and place on medium heat. Add the zucchini noodles and cook for just about a minute-just until they become warm. Stir in the pesto, toss to spread and there you have it!. They actually can be eaten as is, which I did when I finished the tomato sauce.

When you are ready to serve, pour some of the zucchini-tomato sauce onto the bed of noodles and crumble a bit of the ricotta cheese on top and tear some of the fresh basil to complete!

It is wonderfully rich in flavour, light and yet “fillingly” satisfying.