Raw zucchini pasta with raw marinara sauce
This weekend my family and I went to our first slow food potluck. If you are unfamiliar with the phrase slow food, it’s “an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. It is a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.” The goal of our slow food potluck, organized by my friend Melissa and hosted by my friend Alison, was to use as many local ingredients as possible. In addition to local foods, we also had local drinks including wine, beer, mead, cider and a few flavors of homemade kombucha. I will write more about the potluck and delicious foods everyone brought later.
After reading about and seeing a picture of a Meatless Monday meal – zucchini pasta and marinara Leslie at Recycle Your Day made recently, I knew that was the dish I wanted to make for the potluck. She sent me the link to the YouTube video (produced by Larry Cook at The Beginner’s Guide to Natural Living) where she got the idea. It’s a very simple meal to make – using zucchini, tomatoes, red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper, as well as a vegetable peeler and a food processor – and it tastes delicious.
Because my garden isn’t producing much more than strawberries, cucumbers, and a few tomatoes at present, I went to the farmers’ market to get the bulk of my ingredients. I got the zucchini, tomatoes, and garlic there, had the spices at home, and got the peppers and sun-dried tomatoes at Vitamin Cottage.
I was happy to hear that everyone liked it, even those who were skeptical at first. Even my husband who’s not a big zucchini or tomato fan thought it was really good. (I’m holding him to that and planning on making it again!) :) What I found really interesting is that the pasta, which is just thinly sliced zucchini (I used my vegetable peeler to make ribbons), tastes so much like “real” pasta when you have a flavorful marinara all over it.
More on the rest of the slow foods potluck, including pics of all of the tasty dishes, later.
Related posts:
- Alison wrote her own post about our slow food potluck
- Abbie from Farmer’s Daughter is taking the Connecticut Grown Challenge to eat locally for a week. She has several helpful resources listed.
- Nature Deva wrote “what to do with all of your zucchini” – make raw zucchini hummus
- Tiffany at Nature Moms Blog wrote 24 reasons to gather at the dinner table again
- From Nature’s Harmony Farm blog comes Slow Food, Pro Food, Mo Food
- From the EcoScene blog, How to cook with seasonal, regional vegetables
- Chive Talkin’ is a flexitarian foodie with a raw twist who is always looking for flexitarian, vegetarian, raw, whole foods, seasonal, local, gluten free menu planners to join her Menu Plan Blog Roll.
- Over at Doodlebug’s Planet is a great post: Why Eat Local Foods
Have you written about eating local, slow foods or have a raw recipe to share? Include your link in the comments and I’ll link to you. :)
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Abbie says:
That looks yummy! My first experience with raw food was chocolate fudge… mmmmmm :)
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:28 am
musings of a housewife says:
This looks fantastic. I’m on the hunt for yummy meatless dishes, and using local fresh ingredients is a must. I can’t wait to try this.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:54 am
Summer says:
Mmmm, we’re having vegan stuffed peppers for dinner tonight but I’m saving this to have in a couple days. Yum!
August 3rd, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Meatless Monday: Raw Recipes | Recycle Your Day says:
[...] the raw pasta with marinara sauce dish, I tweeted about it’s goodness on twitter… Amy at Crunchy Domestic Goddess saw the twitpic of our raw pasta dish and wanted the recipe. She mentioned she was going to a local [...]
August 3rd, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Hannah says:
Yum! I love raw zucchini pasta- I make it almost weekly! Last week I made it with homemade pesto and it was so good!
I have a spiralizer specifically for making raw pastas and it is such a great tool to have! And I am sure, once I get get tired of the raw pasta, that I will find plenty of other uses for it.
Another raw pasta I made was sweet potato- my little girl ate most of it (not bad for a 2 year old). But overall, the zucchini pasta is my favorite. And I think the red pepper in the marinara sauce really makes it great- otherwise it is definitely lacking something.
How often are you guys having your potlucks? It’s a great idea!
August 3rd, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Niecey says:
Awesome! My garden is producing way more zucchini than the neighbors and I care to consume. I’ve done zucchini bread, zucchini frittata, zucchini curry, stew, spaghetti and lasagne. I was running out of ideas. This sounds fantastic. I will have to give it a try.
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Nathalie Lussier says:
When I first saw the photo I was taken aback – that can’t be a raw recipe. ;)
I love the idea of MeatlessMondays! Way to go sharing your progress with raw foods and going meatless.
Zucchinis are so flexible, it’s really a wonder we don’t eat more of them. :)
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Michelle @ Find Your Balance says:
Raw recipes are great for the summer. Forget the stove! http://www.findyourbalancehealth.com/2009/06/now-what-to-do-with-those-sprouts
August 3rd, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Jenna @ blog.chivetalkin.com says:
Hey! I LOVE the idea of a slow or no cook potluck. Great post and thanks so much for joining in the blog roll at chivetalkin.com My desire is to have a blog roll of flexitarian, vegetarian, raw, local, seasonal menu plans. Would love to have you join in on a regular basis. Thanks again and Cheers! :-D
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Barbara says:
So glad you went to vitamin cottage for the peppers and sun dried tomatoes. I love vitamin cottage. I go there every day and spend so much money. But I just love it. Your blog has inspired me to make some organic foods and for that I thank you. I hope I can find one of these slow cook potlucks in my community. I would go in a heartbeat. I would like to see featured more posts on slow cook. Does Vitamin cottage have slow cook ideas? Maybe I’ll ask them when I head down there today. Have a great day and thanks again for the inspiration!
August 4th, 2009 at 8:53 am
» Our Slow Food Dinner: good, clean and family food! Green Me: Healthy and Green by the Day says:
[...] Crunchy Domestic Goddess [...]
August 4th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Kasey@All Things Mamma says:
That looks delicious! I am def going to have to try it! I haven’t done much slow food but I’m looking forward to trying more!
August 4th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Doodlebug's Mommy says:
I wrote about why you should eat local foods at: http://doodlebugsplanet.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-eat-local-foods.html
Would you mind linking to me? Thanks so much! I love the blog, by the way!
August 4th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
A Mama's Blog says:
This looks really good. I wish I could have made the dinner, but I’ll make the next one. Glad you all had fun, and had such yummy food. :-)
August 4th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Angela says:
Hi,
I just linked to your site, here http://thesuburbanjungle.blogspot.com/2009/08/too-much-zucchini-blasphemy.html
Hope that’s okay. If not let me know. I just reread your post and finally realized why my sauce wasn’t as red as yours. Red peppers! Arrgghh! Love the site by the way. :)
August 14th, 2009 at 8:36 pm