On The Menu: Zucchini "Spaghetti" and Marinara

That Zucchini up there was probably close to 18 inches long!

My brother and sister have a garden this year

(actually ALL my brothers and sisters have gardens this year... and I do not!)

and grew this gigantic one along with a few others.

So, several family members received some Summer goodness,

and they still had plenty for themselves.

This little guy hung out in the produce basket in our kitchen for a week or so,

because I wanted him to serve a great purpose and be used for deliciousness.

Then one evening,

we had different scraps of this and that but nothing to really be used together for a complete meal...

and then I looked over and saw him.

And we both knew the time had come.

I had just stopped by a local farmer's market for some tomatoes

so the creative juices,

as well as the tomato's,

began flowing.

Marinara:

Chop the tomatoes into small chunks and place into a quart pot. Add a couple minced cloves of garlic, basil, and salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a boil. After boiling for several minutes, bring to a simmer and let simmer until sauce thickens. This could take anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour depending on how saucy you are. Check and stir every so often until it is at the desired consistency.

Zucchini "Spaghetti":

Turn oven on to 350 degrees.

Use a cheese grater and begin grating the Zucchini*. Once grated, place in a bowl and add a little bit of olive oil, enough to cover the top or so, add some minced garlic, basil, salt and pepper to taste, and then mix together covering all the strands of Zucchini. Place in a roasting pan, and roast for 20-30 minutes, stirring once or twice in between. The strands will soften and the mixture will shrink considerably, and it will be perfect and taste wonderful. Once the strands are softened, remove from the oven and serve with the Marinara and Parmesan.

One of my other sisters recently made a meal similar to this (when my eyes looked over at that Zucchini, and my mind remembered how delicious her meal was, I immediately had to have it, so I used what was on hand to best re-create it!), however she just used sliced Zucchini. I chose to shred this to make my children (and my husband) think of it more like Spaghetti. It didn't work. I very much enjoyed it, though. It was a very light, fresh, Summery meal.

*TIP: When I do this again, I will peel most of the outer skin from the Zucchini. The pieces that were mostly the skin, became a bit too brittle and crunchy in the roasting process.

What are your favorite ways to use a giant Zucchini?