Zucchini Spaghetti with Pesto Sauce

If it looks like spaghetti but it is not, it’s zucchini. Don’t tell your guests — surprise them. They will also be happy, and you will be too, to learn that instead of 450 calories found in a pasta dish, this salad has a calorie count of about 45.

(Want to make it vegan? Replace the Parmesan with nutritional yeast.)

Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
– 4 zucchinis
– 8 cherry tomatoes
– 1 fresh basil bouquet
– 1/2 avocado
– 1 teaspoon of Parmesan
– 1 tablespoon of pine nuts
– 2 tablespoons of olive oil
– 1/2 lemon
– salt and pepper

RECIPE:
. In a dry pan, grill the pine nuts on low heat for a few minutes. Put them aside.
. Wash the zucchinis. Cut them in spaghetti shape, keeping the skin.
. Put the zucchinis in a large salad bowl. Add the cherry tomatoes cut in half, as well as a handful of basil leaves torn by hand.
. Take your herb mixer. Fill it with 2 handfuls of basil, Parmesan, the grilled pine nuts, avocado, lemon juice, olive oil and pepper. Mix very well.
. Add the paste to the zucchinis and mix together.
. Before serving, pour a drizzle of olive oil and lemon and sprinkle with basil leaves and a pinch of flax and sunflower seeds.

Excerpt from “Méthode Booster” by Michèle la Porta, recipe translated by Mélissa Papel.