Zucchini ribbons with pesto and tomato

Zucchini ribbons with pesto and tomato is an easy, simple, and quick weeknight meal idea, which is not just tasty, is healthy as well. This dish is like an average pesto pasta recipe, but it's much healthier version of it, I used the best gluten-free pasta alternative, zucchini.

This great meal has just a couple of ingredients. You will need some cherry tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, red onion, olive oil, basil, pine nuts and parmesan, and a vegetable peeler or mandolin slicer. Count one zucchini per person, the sautéd zucchini ribbons will shrink. Use a vegetable peeler to make these pretty thin zucchini ribbons or use spiralizer if you want to obtain zucchini noodles.

In this recipe, I used homemade pesto, but feel free to use your favourite pesto recipe or even canned pesto. This recipe easily can be vegan if you replace the parmesan cheese in pesto with nutritional yeast or another cheese-like plant food. But don't worry, this non-vegan recipe is super healthy, gluten-free, dairy-free, low carb, clean and has a lot of vitamins due to the zucchini and tomato.

The zucchini ribbons are sautéd with garlic, but if you like you can eat them raw as well. This zucchini ribbon and pesto dish is ready in 30 minutes, it's easy to make and has a special taste which is worth a try.

Level: easy
Calories: low
Cost: medium
Diet: Vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, clean eating

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 25 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 4 medium zucchini
• 1 large red onion
• 10 cherry tomatoes
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 50 g parmesan
• salt
• pepper
• <strong>for the pesto:</strong>
• 2 cloves of garlic
• fresh basil
• 50 g pine nuts
• 100 g parmesan
• 150 ml olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

1. First let's prepare the pesto. Chop the fresh basil and the garlic, combine them with the pine nuts and olive oil in a food processor, chop them until are smooth and fully incorporated. Season with salt and pepper as taste.
2. Stir the parmesan into the pesto. The remaining pesto can be stored in the fridge for 2 weeks or in the freezer for 3 months.
3. Chop the red onion and simmer it on a little olive oil. When it's almost ready, add one clove of garlic and the cherry tomato (cut in half). Cook the vegetables for 3-4 minutes, then add the pesto. Stir the together and cook for 10 minutes, season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Wash the zucchinis and cut them lengthwise in thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler or if you have spiralizer you can make zucchini noodles.
5. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet, sauté two cloves of crushed garlic in it, then add the zucchini ribbons, stir it carefully, then add 2 tablespoons of water and simmer them 5 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally.
6. Serve the zucchini ribbons with the tomato pesto sauce on top of it and sprinkle with a little parmesan. Decorate the dish with basil or parsley.

Enjoy!