warm smashed tomatoes with zucchini noodles, olive oil and parmesan

We are harvesting the rest of our summer vegetable garden this weekend and are already looking forward to the fall garden when the cooler weather will grace us with chards, lettuces, broccoli, Brussels and winter squash.

The seed magazines are piled high on my desk, with page corners turned down and red circles highlighting all the vegetables we want to try out this winter.  We have mapped out the beds, written the to-do list of supplies needed and started yet another conversation about setting up our own compost station instead of relying on the local nursery to supply us with fertilizer.

But thanks to a heat wave these last couple of weeks we are currently up to our eyeballs with an overabundance of summer produce.

We have canned, frozen, and eaten as many tomatoes as two adults possibly can but with no help from the little man so far.  He will look me square in the eye and say “I no like tray-may-tors” as he puts one in his mouth to see if yes, maybe today is the day he changes his little mind.

And even though he doesn’t care for the traymaytors just yet, he does eat his weight in the zucchini and squash that comes from our garden.  His favorite meal this summer has been “noo-dee” which is just zucchini and squash that are turned into noodles by shredding the vegetables on our mandolin.  They take a swim in a warm butter/water bath and then get tossed with his favorite “shake-shake” which is his word for a Japanese seaweed and dried vegetable mixture that he can’t seem to live without these days.

The adults in our house eat these “noodles” too – slurping the warm veggie noodles with our forks all while trying to be careful not to let any butter drip on our clothes.  Our adult version is simply topped with smashed cherry tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and freshly shaved parmesan cheese but just plain with butter and salt seems to be extraordinary too.

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

XO,

Jenn

warm smashed tomatoes with zucchini noodles, olive oil and parmesan

makes two bowlfuls

1 pint cherry tomatoes

extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

salt

black pepper

1 medium yellow squash, washed and trimmed

1 medium green zucchini, washed and trimmed

block of parmesan cheese

basil leaves

Using a mandolin (I’ve had this mandolin longer than my husband 🙂 and it’s awesome!!) fitted with the julienne blade, carefully run the squash lengthwise over the blade.  Continue to slice until you hit the seeds, then turn the squash 1/4 of the way over and slice again until you hit the seeds.  Repeat this pattern, turning the squash and shaving, until you have shaved both the squash and the zucchini completely.  Discard the middle/seed part or save it for another use.

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, add a good glug of extra virgin olive oil.  Once the oil is hot, add all of the tomatoes at one time.  Let the tomatoes cook for a full three minutes before stirring them – you want the skins of the tomatoes to blister and pop on each side.  Continue to cook the tomatoes until the skins have popped and then add the garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Turn the heat off and set the pan and tomatoes aside.

Fill a medium sized pot full of water, add a pinch of salt and heat the water on high heat.  Once the water comes to a boil, drop the zucchini and squash noodles into the water and stir quickly.  Cook the noodles for about three minutes, then drain and add the noodles to the smashed tomato pan.  Turn the heat up to high and toss everything together.  Drizzle with a bit more olive oil, add some salt and pepper, stir and divide among the bowls.  Using a vegetable peeler, shave the parmesan over the top, sprinkle witth basil leaves and enjoy!