Zucchini Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil | Fork Knife Swoon

What I thought would be just a few days away from Swoon has quickly become two weeks. The Honey came home from an extended business trip, and I let myself fall out of the regular routine, blissfully distracted with catching up. We had some local adventures in the Carolinas, then made an (almost) spur of the moment trip back home to California to visit both of our families.

After a week of eating ourselves silly in Santa Barbara, we’re back and detoxing a bit. I’ve been craving fresh, light, veggie-packed dishes; Simple, no-fuss preparations of Summer’s best offerings. Our local farm stand is overflowing with beautiful produce, and I’m having a hard time restraining myself. I’m also avoiding my oven due to the muggy, two-plus-shower-a-day, suffocating Southern Summer heat we came home to. Did I mention the apocalyptic thunder and lighting storms, every single day since we returned?

Which brings me to these lusciously light and bright zucchini noodles. Tossed in a flavorful vinaigrette and topped with fresh cherry tomatoes and basil from our garden, this raw “pasta” dish really does trick the senses and is a fabulous no-cook dish. If you don’t have a vegetable spiraler (or as we’ve taken to calling it around the Swoon Kitchen, a “noodler”), you could use a julienne peeler or even substitute regular cooked angel hair or linguine and just add very, very thin slices of raw zucchini with the tomatoes.

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Zucchini Noodles with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

  • Author: Fork Knife Swoon
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 5 mins
  • Total Time: 15 mins
  • Yield: 2 Servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 medium zucchini
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1/4 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves, chopped

For the vinaigrette

  • juice of one lemon
  • 1 tsp fresh garlic, finely minced
  • 1 shallot, finely minced
  • 2 tbsp white wine or champagne vinegar
  • 3 tbsp tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • a pinch of dried red pepper flakes, to taste
  • kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. Using a vegetable spiraler or julienne peeler, make the zucchini noodles. Wrap the zucchini noodles in paper towel or cheesecloth and gently wring out some of the liquid.
  2. Make the vinaigrette. Combine the lemon juice, garlic, shallot, vinegar and honey in a small mixing bowl and stir to combine. Whisk in the olive oil and add the red pepper flakes and salt and pepper, to taste.
  3. Toss the zucchini noodles, tomatoes and basil with the vinaigrette. Serve chilled.