New Feature: Menu Item Monday

I told you I would be back with a surprise. One of the things I'm thinking of doing with the blog is adding M-F weekly features. Hence, Menu Item Monday. To be quite honest, I'm not the cook I once was. Not that I've lost my enjoyment for cooking, but frankly, living in NYC, there's not much need for me to be as creative with food as I once was. I've got every kind of cuisine available for delivery at the tips of my fingers. In fact, I can even order online with a credit card through Seamless! That being said though, sometimes a girl still needs to get in her kitchen. So I'm going to try and focus on just one menu item a week. It might be a main dish, an appetizer, a vegetable, or if I'm feeling really lazy, maybe even some doctored up take-out. I can't guarantee I'll be able to hold up my end of the bargain every week (it's a big undertaking!), but I'm certainly going to try.

One thing my meals have been focusing on lately are more vegetables. Especially with the summer growing season, and all the beautiful things available at the city farmer's markets, I'm trying to get in all my greens. One way of doing that, is to cut out some of the carbs, and figure out ways to add veggies to old favorites. So one of my tasks for this first MIM, was to attempt something I've been seeing around pinterest lately, "pasta" made of zucchini using a mandoline. I got to use my mandoline!

Menu Item Monday: Zucchini "pasta" Alfredo

1 pkg pancetta pieces

6 small zucchinis 

~3/4 cup alfredo sauce

So there's not really a mind-bending recipe here. Basically once the zucchini was cut, I drained it on some paper towels to dry a bit. I warmed a big skillet over medium, threw in the pancetta to brown up a bit, threw in the zucchini to saute and soften (~4-6 minutes), and then coated the whole pan with the alfredo sauce. Viola. Dinner.

Verdict? Gosh darn tasty damnit! Honesty. This was delicious. I would definitely make it again. The zucchini has a crunch just like al denta pasta does, and it even swirls around a fork to fit into your mouth! Two enthusiastic thumbs up. (P.S. I didn't even cut any of my fingers!)