Have you ever had those times when you’re wondering what to make the family for dinner and tell yourself that you want something “heavy but light” or “not really heavy but not really light”?  This usually happens when we’re also thinking pasta for dinner.

At times like these, just run zucchini through a tabletop kitchen tool and turn it into long strings of “pasta”, or zucchini noodles, a.k.a. “Zoodles”!  There are several inexpensive tools available that do the trick. Make pasta sauce using our canned pureed Roma tomatoes, a few diced sweet peppers, onions, fennel seed, and a cup of red wine.

Preparation Time:  30 minutes

Cooking Time:  15 minutes

Serves:  2 (as an entrée) or 4 (as a side)

Ingredients:

• 1 large, or several small, zucchini squash, made into noodles (or yellow squash)
• 1/2 cup sweet peppers diced (about 6)
• 1/2 cup red onion diced
• 2 cups canned tomato puree
• 1 cup medium to full-bodied red wine
• 1 tsp fennel seed toasted
• 1 tbsp garlic minced
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste

Preparation:

• Wash the zucchini, process through kitchen tool to turn them into long noodles; set aside.
• Wash and dice sweet peppers; set aside.
• Peel and dice red onion; set aside.
• Peel and mince garlic; set aside.
• Toast fennel seeds; set aside.

Cooking:

• Place a large, straight-sided frying or sauce pan on a burner at medium-high, wait a minute or two for it to warm up, add the olive oil, wait another minute, add the onions, stir and cook for 1-2 minutes, add the garlic and fennel seed, cook for another minute.
• Add the peppers, stir and cook for 2 minutes.
• Add the tomato sauce, stir frequently, cook until the mixture thickens and the tomato begins to caramelize (about 7 minutes). (see photo above)
• Deglaze with the red wine, cook for 2 minutes.
  • Use a wooden spoon to scrape up any of the “fond” on the bottom of the pan.  These are caramelized bits of the ingredients in the pan.  Remember “Fond = Flavor!”
• Add the zucchini noodles, mix gently until all the zucchini is coated in the sauce, cook for 5 minutes.
• Your zoodles in red (wine and tomato) sauce with sweet red peppers is done!
  • Your eye thinks heavy but your stomach feels light!

Enjoy!