Zucchini Arrabiata

This is a truly simple dish suitable to make for a quick lunch or yummy dinner. The sauce is spicy and flavorful and the zucchini noodles hit the spot without being loaded down with empty carbs. It's easy to adjust the spice level according to how you like it by controlling the red pepper flakes and sausage. I am usually totally anti kitchen gadget, but in this case a mandolin slicer or julienne cutter works best to make the noodles.

What you'll need:

4 fresh zucchini

5 cloves of garlic, 3 diced;2 sliced

3 large hot Italian chicken sausage (make sure it's gluten free)

2 tsp olive or avocado oil, divided

1 large can crushed tomatoes (I use San Marzano)

1T dried Italian seasoning

red pepper flakes

black pepper

What you do:

Slice the zucchini on the julienne blade of your mandolin. No mandolin? You can still slice the zucchini into "french fry" size pieces with a knife.

In a large skillet use 1 tsp of oil and saute your sausage breaking it up into bits. You will have to remove the casing to do this. Add 3 cloves of the diced garlic and the Italian seasoning. Saute a minute more. Pour the can of tomatoes over the sausage and stir well. Taste for heat. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes if you want more heat. Turn the flame to low and allow the sauce to simmer down until it becomes thick.

In the meantime, heat another large skillet with 1 tsp oil. Throw in the sliced garlic, a small pinch of red pepper and a shake or two of black pepper. Stir the garlic and pepper around until the oil becomes fragrant. Now remove the garlic and discard it. Saute the zucchini noodles until soft but not mushy. You want them to have some body so they will stand up to the sauce.

Taste the sauce and adjust spices if necessary. Serve sauce over a bed of zucchini noodles.

Adjusting the spice:

There are a couple of options. For slightly less spice, omit the red pepper. For significantly less, use 2 sweet Italian sausages and 1 spicy. For more spice add more red pepper.

Enjoy!