After one hell of a winter that included record-breaking snowfalls and extremely low temperatures, you can imagine how excited us Bostonians are to welcome spring. I can feel it in the air. People have smiles on their faces and the city has gotten its mojo back. On top of that, the Boston Marathon is today and so the city was bustling this weekend with runners and their families exploring our beautiful town. My husband and I ran a 5K as part of the marathon running events and spent quality time with our friends and family as well. It was just an overall fantastic weekend that I wanted to cap off with an equally fabulous meal. Further, I recently ordered a spiralizer in an attempt to cut down a bit on my carbs and so I wanted to find a recipe that I could use it for.
I was flipping through my Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine a couple of months ago and found this recipe. While it calls to be eaten with tagliatelle pasta, I thought it would be awesome with zucchini pasta instead (inspired from an amazing dinner we had at our friends’ house a month ago). I am happy to report I was right! Here is my version of it, but if you want to use the tagliatelle pasta I included instructions for that below. I also halved it for only two servings.
Enjoy and good luck today runners!!!
Ground Turkey Ragu and Tagliatelle Zucchini Pasta
Ingredients:
- About 1/4 cup olive oil
- ½ pound ground turkey, dark-and-white-meat blend
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- ½ carrot, grated or finely chopped
- ½ rib celery with leafy top, finely chopped
- 1 large clove of garlic, chopped
- About 1 tbsp. thinly sliced fresh sage (or you can use dry)
- About 1 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary (or you can use dry)
- About 1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme (or you can use dry)
- About 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt and pepper
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 14 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes crushed with your hands
- 3 zucchinis, spiralized
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Parmigiano-Reggiano
Directions:
- In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil, four turns of the pan, over medium-high. Add the turkey and cook, breaking into pieces with a spoon, until browned, about 5 minutes.
- Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and herbs; season with salt and pepper. Partially cover and cook until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.
- Add the wine and cook until the wine is reduced to about 1/4 cup, about 3 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and reduce the heat to medium-low. Partially cover and cook until the sauce thickens, 15 to 20 minutes. **If following tagliatelle instructions, see down below.
- While the sauce is thickening, spiralize the zucchini and sautee them in olive oil for about 5-7 minutes. You want to get the zucchini to cook down a little bit.
- Remove the bay leaf from the sauce and add all of the zucchini pasta into the sauce. Let simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring. The zucchini will start to wilt a bit.
- Add the butter and stir.
- Serve topped with cheese!
Makes 2 servings.
- **Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Salt the water, add the pasta and cook to al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water.
- Drain the pasta and return it to the pot.
- Add the butter, half the sauce and the cooking water; toss. Serve topped with more sauce and cheese.
Heaven on a Plate 