Fun Food Friday - Creamy Zucchini Fettucine

Creamy Zucchini Fettuccine . . . it's fun just to say, right? When I thought about creating a dish with zucchini noodles, I started with the name and made up a dish around it. Fun, right?

At first I'd planned to just use a vegetable peeler to make the "noodles", but I ended up ordering an inexpensive spiral slicer instead - and I'm so glad I did. It was incredible easy to make the noodles, and the kids loved it. I also used it to make some fancy carrots for that night's salad, and I could really see myself whipping up noodles for a quick weekday lunch since it was so quick.

For the cream sauce, I just started with cashews and improvised from there. I don't usually improvise much in the kitchen, so I was pretty thrilled with how it turned out. I'm calling it The Best Cashew Cream Sauce Ever though I've never made one before. Even if I had, I'm still sure this one would be the best!

Creamy Zucchini Fettuccine

Ingredients:
4-5 large zucchini (you can substitute regular pasta if you prefer)
1 cup cashews
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder or cornstarch

Preparation:

1. Soak cashews overnight, or let them sit in warm water while you make the zucchini noodles.

2. Peel the zucchini, then using a spiral slicer or vegetable peeler, slice it into long ribbons. Blanch in boiling water for 1-2 minutes until they are just beginning to soften (you can also use them raw if you prefer). Drain in a colander, then transfer to a towel and press out any extra water.

3. Drain the cashews, and place in a blender or food processor with the vegetable broth, almond milk, nutritional yeast and salt. Process until very smooth.

4. Transfer the cream sauce into a small pan, whisk in the arrowroot or cornstarch, and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes (stirring often) or until the sauce begins to thicken.

5. Serve the sauce on top of the noodles.

This recipe made plenty of leftover sauce, so you could probably half the recipe - or better yet, make it all and enjoy the leftovers on veggies all week like we have. If you're blanching the zucchini noodles, they really cook down more than I expected them to so I ended up with just enough for the four of us (meaning - no leftovers). Add a few extra zucchini (or leave them raw) if you want more than that.

This dish was definitely a hit all around - except for with Little Sprout, who doesn't care for zucchini. She said it would be a 5 with regular noodles.

Sprout Ratings:
Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 3.5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 5 sprouts