Happy July everybody! We are ten days into Summer and we already had days with temperatures reaching 106°F! It looks like we will have another hot Summer. With temperatures like that many people are looking for simple, easy to make meals. For many, eating out or ordering take-out meals is the best way to escape the kitchen.
Those who like cooking choose simple, quick, lighter, and easy to make dishes. Raw food lovers are here on the sunny side, since most raw food dishes fall int this category. Fresh, seasonal ingredients dominate in most recipes. Spiralized vegetable often replace traditional salads since they seem to be a bit more nutritious and filling, and so good, that even those who like traditional, cooked pasta are willing to try them. A good pasta sauce makes the dish so be creative.
Ingredients:
for the "pasta"
for the sauce
for the garnish - per person
Method:
~ Spiralized Zucchini With Raw Puttanesca Sauce ~
Ingredients:
for the "pasta"
- 3 medium large zucchini (should make enough noodles for four people)
- freshly pressed juice of 1/2 lemon
- pinch of Celtic sea salt
for the sauce
- 1 cup ripe cherry tomatoes (or other type ripe tomatoes chopped)
- 1/2 cup marinated sun dried tomatoes
- 1/2 cup marinated mixed olives, black and green, drained and seeded
- 1 Tbsp marinated capers, drained
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 small hot red pepper, seeds removed
- fresh juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2 Tbsp virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup fresh basil (packed)
- 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
for the garnish - per person
- 3-4 halved cherry tomatoes
- a few fresh basil leaves
- a handful of fresh pine nuts
- freshly ground black pepper
Method:
- Wash, peel and spiralize the zucchini. Tenderize the noodles in a large enough bowl by adding lemon juice and salt. Mix gently and let sit in the fridge until the sauce is ready.
- Toss all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse blend until ingredients are well chopped and blended. Do not over process. You want to have a thick, but slightly chunky texture.
- Portion out the pasta. Top it with a generous amount of pasta sauce and garnish with cherry tomatoes, basil and pine nuts. Add fresh pepper to taste. Serve right away and enjoy in good company!
Tip: If you have the right ingredients, this dish takes only a few minutes to make. I took a short cut and used marinated tomatoes, olives and capers. If you are using dehydrated ingredients, you will have to re-hydrate them first and marinate them in virgin olive oil with addition of Mediterranean herbs, garlic, salt, lemon juice, or vinegar. You can add a small hot pepper if you want to. Marinate the olives and tomatoes in separate jars. Plan ahead and prepare these ingredients two to three days ahead.
If you do not have a spiralizer in your kitchen you can use julienne vegetable peeler to make your pasta. It is a bit tedious, but doable. For another, warmed winter version of the Puttanesca sauce please click here.
A few words about Puttanesca sauce. The original recipe was probably created in Naples sometime around the World War II. It contains anchovies and is cooked. The recipe I created comes pretty close to the original taste, but it may outrage a purist. This is a "danger" you have to calculate if you are trying to adapt traditional dishes to a raw food lifestyle.
Wishing everybody a truly spectacular time in July - in radiant health, passionately raw - Dominique
Dominique Allmon©2018