Ah the dog days of summer; too hot to move; too hot to fire up the oven, so time to get creative in the kitchen.  Lately I keep seeing pictures of zucchini pasta made with the fancy dancy vegetable spiralizer that I don’t have.  The meals all look light, healthy and delicious, so I decided to improvise and see how close I could come on my own.  Fortunately my little Julienne peeler did the trick and I had zucchini pasta straight from the garden to the plate in no time flat.

I promised several weeks ago that I would follow up with a recipe using preserved lemons.  I made this one up on the fly one evening when I came from work late, hungry and tired.  The nice thing about this little combination of fresh harvest is that it works with practically any mix of vegetable you have on hand and takes very little time to make.

The Basic Plan for serving two:

• Rinse 1/2 to 3/4 of a preserved lemon and slice into into tiny slivers.

• Saute a sliced shallot or small onion for a few minutes in a little bit of olive oil.

• Add thinly shaved or minced garlic and sliced red peppers, sauteing for a few minutes further until softened. If you want to add some shrimp or grilled chicken breast. now would be the time to do so.

• Add the zucchini, other vegetables of choice, preserved lemon, a handful of rough chopped basil and the zest of one fresh lemon.  Saute for just a few minutes more, stirring constantly to mix well.

• Squeeze the juice from 1/2 of a lemon on top and stir to coat.

•  Top with some fresh cherry tomatoes, your choice of nuts (I’d suggest roasted pine nuts or sliced almonds) and perhaps some shaved Pecorino Romano.

That’s all there is to it.  Enjoy!