Once again we are blessed/cursed with a glut of courgettes in the garden. I say blessed because I love courgettes. I also say cursed because I can barely keep up with them, and the OH really dislikes them. Sometimes I find one hiding underneath a leaf, and instead of a courgette, I end up with a boulder-like marrow. While courgettes are great to cook with, marrows are watery beasts, which are more like a weapon than a useful ingredient.
Thankfully I managed to pluck a few small tender courgettes for this simple lunch dish. Zoodles or zucchini noodles became trendy in the last year or so. I don’t own a spiralizer, but you can easily make zoodles by using a vegetable peeler to cut thin horizontal strips, and then use a knife to chop them into noodles. No fancy new kitchen gadgets required. This recipe is sort of a mish mash of a Caprese salad and zoodles, with fresh basil, creamy mozzarella and juicy tomatoes dressed in a delicious basil oil. It’s a super quick lunch dish, and is much lighter than a big bowl of pasta. So, if you like me are overrun with courgettes, this is a really tasty way to enjoy your summer harvest.
For more courgette recipes, check out my round up here.
Ingredients
Basil Dressing
- 12g of fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
- 30ml of olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
Zoodles
- 2 medium sized courgettes, tops and tails removed
- 2 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- Salt and pepper
- 15 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 75g of buffalo mozzarella, torn into bite size pieces
- Fresh basil, to garnish
Method:
- To make the dressing, blend the basil, olive oil, and garlic in a food processor.
- Once the mixture is fully blended, taste and season with salt and pepper.
- To make the zoodles, use a vegetable peeler and knife or a spiralizer. Here is a nifty video that shows the vegetable peeler method.
- Once you have made your zoodles, pat them dry with a paper towel to remove any excess moisture.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over a medium heat.
- Add the zoodles and crushed garlic and cook for about 5-8 minutes, until just cooked but still tender.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour the zoodles into a serving dish.
- Dress with the basil dressing, and add the chopped tomatoes, and torn mozzarella.
- Garnish with some basil and serve straight away.
