This is the perfect summer dinner.....fresh cherry tomatoes, basil, oregano, and garlic made into a mouth-watering sauce served on a big helping of zucchini noodles, or zoodles! I love spiralizing zucchini to make "noodles" that are much healthier than traditional pasta, and they taste great. This sauce is fresh and light, but very hearty and satisfying. You simply saute the garlic, cherry tomatoes, and fresh herbs and puree half of it in the food processor. You then add the pureed sauce into the half that remained to create a hearty, delicious sauce. You finish by adding the shrimp into the sauce to quickly cook. It is then ready to serve! Everyone loved this summertime dinner tonight! It was simple but elegant.
Here's what you need: (4 servings)
1 lb. raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 large, or two small zucchinis
2 T olive oil, divided
4 cloves garlic, minced
About 3 cups cherry tomatoes cut in halves
2 T fresh basil, plus more to garnish
1 T fresh oregano, chopped
1 T Italian seasoning
1/4 cup chicken stock or broth
Salt to taste
Freshly grated parmesan to garnish
Optional; Crushed red pepper flakes to garnish
Spiralize your zucchini first to make noodles and set aside. If you don't have a spiralizer, most grocery stores sell pre-spiralized zucchini noodles in the produce section. However, you can get a spiralizer that isn't expensive at all. I paid $10 for mine at Big Lots and it still works great:)
OK, let's make this beautiful sauce! First, rinse and drain your shrimp well. Let them be draining. In a large saute pan, heat up 1 T of the oil. Add the garlic and saute a minute or two. Add the cherry tomatoes that have been cut in halves. Stir and saute.. Add in the Italian seasoning, basil and oregano. Keep stirring,letting the tomatoes break down some, but not completely. Add the chicken stock. Let this simmer about 5 minutes. Now remove half of the sauce and place in into the food processor. Pulse until it is fairly smooth. Now add the pureed sauce into the pan with the remaining sauce. Mixing the two will create a beautifully balanced sauce with lots of texture. Now adjust the salt to your taste, Lastly, add in the drained shrimp (**Be sure the shrimp is fully drained, because if not, it will make your sauce too thin). Stir the shrimp into the sauce until the shrimp cooks through and is pink. Let your sauce sit on low heat while you prepare your zoodles.
To prepare the zucchini noodles, simply heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in another saute pan. Add the zucchini noodles and saute for a couple of minutes and add a little salt to taste. Now drain them to remove the water that has cooked out of it,
To serve, just place a nice helping of the noodles on the plates and top with the shrimp and sauce. Garnish with freshly grated parmesan and fresh basil sliced. YUM!!