Zucchini "Pasta"

At dinner with my friends Cara and Katri the other night, they both ordered the Zucchini "Tagliatelli," broad thin strips of zucchini made to look like pasta. I tried to recreate it at home and the only problem was that there wasn't enough!

Ingredients:

(to serve 4)

5-6 meduim zucchini

1 T olive oil

1 clove garlic, chopped finely

1 medium tomato, diced

salt

pepper

grated parmesan

1/4 c. chopped fresh basil (optional)

Here's how I did it: I peeled the zucchini first to try to fool Lily into thinking it was real pasta, although I don't think that's necessary. She took one bite and proclaimed, "Squash!" Thankfully that didn't deter her from eating the same 2 bites she normally eats at dinner.

After peeling the zucchini I sliced it on my handy mandoline, which you sort of need for this recipe because it would be really hard to do by hand. But maybe that's just me-- I can't even cut paper in a straight line.

After I had all of the zucchini sliced, I heated up the olive oil in a saute pan and added the zucchini and a clove of garlic. I then chopped up a tomato and added that for the last couple of minutes. I sauteed the zucchini for no more than 5 minutes total, then added salt, pepper and parmesan and served it. So simple! If I would have been thinking I would have added some fresh basil. But I wasn't. But it was yummy anyway-- I will definitely make it again.