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.

Table of Contents

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

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 mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Cuisine American

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 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.

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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.

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