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Zucchini Noodles with Asparagus and Mint Pesto

I keep a small container herb garden on my back deck, just outside my kitchen door.  Not that it’s the north 40, but my ‘real’ garden is a bit of a farther hike, so it’s nice to have the herbs I use frequently in easy reach.  During the fall and winter months, when the tender herbs like basil succumb to the weather, I plant lettuce and kale in some of the pots.

I swear, the mint plant in my ‘herb garden’ went from winter hibernation to full-on crazy steroid-like production in the matter of a few days.  No doubt it was celebrating the end of ‘the.longest.winter.ever’ like the rest of us.   It was out of the need to ‘tame the mint’ that this recipe was born.  

The recipe further developed when my daughter, who runs some grocery shopping errands for me, came home with some great looking zucchini from Trader Joe’s.  She loves zucchini, especially when we ‘spiralize‘ them with our handy Spiralizer into zucchini noodles.  It was a recipe kismet.

The addition of asparagus and pea shoots to our zucchini noodles further helped this meal earn the title of ‘A huge plate of Spring’.

mint plant

Zucchini Noodles with Asparagus and Mint Pesto

Nourish and Nestle
Spiralized zucchini noodles tossed with asparagus and mint pesto
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 3 large zucchini
  • 12 asparagus stems cut in half
  • Handful of pea shoots or bean sprouts
  • 1-2 TB olive oil
  • Shaved Parmesan cheese optional

For the Mint Pesto

  • 1 1/2 cup mint
  • 1/2 cup parsley
  • 1/2 cup slivered almonds chopped walnuts or pine nuts
  • 1 TB lemon juice
  • 1 tsp lemon peel
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup oil

Instructions
 

  • Normally, I toss my spiralized zucchini noodles with a little salt in a colander and let them drain for about 1/2 hour to help them release some of their water. In this recipe, I think the fluid from the zucchini noodles actually helps the pesto blend better with the noodles. Your choice.
  • Heat oil in a 12-14 inch pan and add zucchini.
  • Saute until cooked, but not mushy.
  • While zucchini is cooking, steam asparagus until just tender
  • Mix pesto in with zucchini noodles
  • Once mixed, add asparagus.
  • Serve with pea shoots or bean sprouts and optional Parmesan cheese on top.

For the Pesto

  • Put all ingredients through the salt in the bowl of a food processor and blend until finely chopped. With processor going, add oil in a fine stream until well blended, but with some flecks of mint and parsley still showing.
Well, what did you think?Please rate this recipe here! It helps other readers and also helps to support our site.

I hope you enjoy this ‘spring-y’ dish! If you liked this dish and are looking for another dish with vegetable noodles, check out my Mad Sweet Potato Pasta, which features sweet potato noodles.

Also, Right now, subscribers to Nourish and Nestle will receive a free, downloadable Measuring Equivalents Chart overlaid on a watercolor lemon.  You can see it here.  Sign up to our email list (on my right sidebar) and we’ll send it to your inbox within 24 hours! Hurry!  If you are already a subscriber and would like a lemon chart, send us an email with ‘lemon chart’ in the subject line and we’ll send you one too!

Please come visit again. The easiest and most convenient way is to sign up on our email list and whenever there is anything new, we’ll send Nourish and Nestle updates directly to your inbox.

Until next time,

lynn

Thanks for making my day by SHARING!!

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3 Comments

    1. Meghan, I hope you enjoy them. Always looking for good ways to jazz up zucchini noodles and would love to hear some of your favs.

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