You will fall in love with these zucchini noodles! I love pasta, but these zucchini noodles are so much better. Let me tell you why: these noodles are crunchy (al dente), super light, and super easy to prepare. I combined yellow and green zucchinis and loved the spiral colour.
I am also excited because I got to break out two kitchen tools that I had been dying to use. The first one was a vegetable spiral slicer, which is a fantastic tool. The spiral slicer has interchangeable blades to create three different vegetable textures: ribbons, thick spirals, and thin spirals. For these noodles, I chose a thin spiral because I wanted it to look like spaghetti.
The second kitchen tool was a food mill, which I used to make the tomato sauce. I roasted tomatoes and pureed them through the mill, separating the seeds and skin, leaving a smooth and silky sauce.
This is a delicious recipe for a hot summer day because it is light.
Hearty Zucchini Noodles With Ground Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 medium zucchinis - 2 yellow and 1 green
- 8 medium tomatoes
- 1½ pounds ground chicken (minced chicken)
- 2 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 leaves Italian herbs (oregano, rosemary, thyme, and sometimes basil and parsley) - minced
- 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese - grated
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
Instructions
- Wash and cut ends of the zucchinis. Using a vegetable slicer, slice the zucchini using the thin setting. Place in a bowl and set aside.
- Heat broiler to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Using a large baking sheet with a raised 1-inch lip, arrange the tomatoes and broil for about 3 minutes, turning once the skin is charred. Remove from oven.
- Place tomatoes in a food mill with a bowl beneath it and turn several times until all of the tomatoes are pureed. If you don’t own a food mill, you can puree the tomatoes in a blender. Set bowl aside.
- In a sauté pan, heat oil over medium-high heat; add ground chicken and a 3-finger pinch of salt and pepper, then cook until the chicken is slightly brown, breaking the meat with a stiff spatula as it cooks.
- Add chopped shallot and minced garlic, then continue to cook approximately 2 minutes before adding tomato sauce and tomato paste. Reduce heat to a simmer for 10 minutes until tomato sauce thickens a little. Taste with a small spoon and add more salt if needed. Add minced basil and turn off the heat.
- In a separate sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and toss zucchini noodles for 2 minutes. Place noodles on a pasta plate, add ground chicken and top with grated Parmesan cheese.