Zucchini Spaghetti With Marinara Sauce & Sausage

Zucchini Spaghetti is a nice substitute sometimes. Mikie isn't really a big fan of macaroni in general and usually will opt for a rice dish over pasta any day of the week. Zucchini however offers a fun healthy alternative, since it happens to be one of those vegetables that inherits the flavors of whatever it's cooked with.



The kids also got a kick out of it since it's always fun to eat food that's the wrong color. It also helps that they have no clue that they're actually eating something that's good for them. It's a nice change of pace. It's a little crunchier than eating spaghetti and very tasty.




Now the sausage and tomato sauce is entirely up to you. We had some left over tomato sauce so we opted to use that. Normally you'll eat zucchini spaghetti with butter sauce, pesto or alfredo. Sausage is also a little rustic for this dish. A nice piece of fish could help make this a lighter meal.





INGREDIENTS

• 3 Large Zucchinis
• 1 Large Can of Pureed Tomato
• 1 Can of Tomato Paste
• 1/4 to 1/2 Cup of Red Wine
• 1/4 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 Cloves of Chopped Garlic
• 2 Chopped Shallots
• Italian Seasonings (Oregano, Basil, Parsley), Salt & Pepper
  
• 1 Package of Sweet Italian Sausage
  

COOKING DIRECTIONS

• Begin by heating some olive oil in a medium sized sauce pan on medium heat.
• Add in chopped shallots and garlic and heat until golden brown.
• Add in can of pureed tomato and paste and mix.
• Add in red wine and seasonings and then reduce heat to low and let simmer.
• Heat the sausage in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil until brown. You can either add these to the sauce or not when finished. Joe likes this, Mikie doesn't.
• Peel ribbons of zucchini either with a mandolin or a vegetable peeler. Since we don't own a mandolin we used a vegetable peeler to cut wide ribbons of zucchini.
• Cut ribbons into spaghetti width size strands or as close as you can get.
• Blanch the zucchini in boiling water for 1 minute (no more, no less-- otherwise the zucchini will become baby food) and then drain it and shock it in cold water to stop the cooking process. We ran cold water in the colander for about a minute.
• Serve with tomato sauce, sausage and a little grated parmesan cheese.