Carrot and Zucchini Ribbon Pasta

I love easy recipes.  I love unique recipes that think outside of the box.  I love recipes that look complicated and fancy but in reality aren't.  My sweet mother gave me a cookbook called The Forest Feast for my birthday.  The book's author, Erin Gleeson, has created a vegetarian cookbook that focuses on simple, flavorful, and seasonal foods. The recipes are unique and thoughtful.  Erin takes recipes people might be familiar with and amps up the creativity level.  For example, she has a recipe for a Ceasar salad.  Yeah, we all know what a Ceasar salad is.  In her Ceasar salad, she adds pine nuts and polenta croutons.  What wonderful, tasty additions! I am speaking from experience when writing this because I already made her Ceasar salad recipe and loved it. Also, as an added bonus, the pictures and watercolor paintings throughout the book are breathtaking.  This book is the epitome of easy, unique recipes with gorgeous pictures/paintings.  This cookbook is right up my alley.  (Thanks, Mom!)

The recipe below is a perfect example of how the author takes familiar foods and then spins a recipe to add a new perspective.  Who hasn't eaten pasta with vegetables?  Probably most people have at some point in their life.  However, this book suggests ribboning the carrots and zucchini, sauteing them with some garlic, and then adding the sauteed veggies to fettuccine with a little butter and thyme.  Heck yes!  What a delicious way to feature lots of vegetables in pasta dish!  And as a bonus, it looks spectacular when being served.   

I just used my peeler to create the carrot and zucchini ribbons.  It was so easy and took less than five minutes.  Erin's recipe below calls for two zucchini and two carrots.  I ribboned three zucchini and three carrots because I really like my veggies.

I did not have fresh thyme when cooking this so I just used a teaspoon of dried ground thyme instead.

Look how pretty this dish turned out! I just want to point out I have owned this cookbook for less than two weeks and have already made this recipe twice.  It's literally that good.  I crave it.  It is now on a rotation at our house.  One other thing I want to note about this recipe is it is really good the next day.  Because I work on the weekends, I normally make our weekend meals on Friday.  I made this dish on Friday and we ate it on a Sunday.  The garlic and thyme really melded together with the couple extra days waiting to be consumed.  I love dishes like that.  This dish is easy, quick, delicious, and really pretty.  Who doesn't love a recipe like that?  I hope you enjoy!   

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Carrot and Zucchini Ribbon Pasta

-taken from The Forest Feast by Erin Gleeson

Saute in a big skillet (medium heat, 5 minutes):

-5 garlic cloves, minced

-ribbons from 2 carrots

-ribbons from 2 zucchini

-1 tablespoon olive oil

-salt and pepper

Then add: 

-8oz dry fettuccine, cooked

-1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves (I used 1 teaspoon of ground thyme since I didn't have fresh)

-1 tablespoon butter (allow to melt)

Mix well and serve hot.

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