Double Tomato Pesto Spaghetti with Zucchini Noodles

Liam has a best friend. His name is Marco and he lives on the second floor of our building and he's two and a half months younger than Liam and they have been parallel-playing in the backyard since the lockdown loosened and what started as parallel has become collaborative in the way toddler collaboration happens: primarily through arguing over the same truck. They argue over the truck every day and are still best friends the next day. This seems like a reasonable relationship model and I'm not going to intervene.

Marco's mother is Teresa and she's thirty-one and a social worker and she and I have been doing the backyard-fence version of friendship since April that has become something more now that the kids play together. We talk over the fence while the boys run and Nora sits in the bouncer between us and we cover everything from the pandemic to sleep deprivation to the particular psychology of two-year-olds to what Teresa calls "the great renegotiation of what normal means." She's good company. I'm glad she's on the second floor.

Made cold sesame noodles for lunch three days this week because July is too hot for hot food and cold sesame noodles with cucumber and scallion are the right thing to eat at noon in a Boston July. Liam eats them with chopstick attempts. The attempts are more dramatic than successful but the intention is there.

The tomatoes are ahead of last year by two weeks. The rains have been right. I checked them Friday and counted eleven ripe ones on three plants and went inside and told Nora, who is my current kitchen audience whenever I'm cooking. She watched me slice the first one with both hands waving.

When I went inside after counting those eleven ripe tomatoes on Friday, I knew exactly where they were going. This double tomato pesto spaghetti has been on my mind since the plants started showing color — it’s the kind of dish that makes the garden feel like it had a plan all along. It’s quick enough for a noon lunch with two kids in the house, bright enough for July, and the kind of thing you can tell Nora about while you’re making it, watching her wave both hands at the cutting board.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

8 oz spaghetti
2 medium zucchini, spiralized or peeled into ribbons
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (oil-packed), roughly chopped
1/3 cup basil pesto (store-bought or homemade)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and black pepper to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving
Fresh basil leaves, for garnish

Instructions

Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.
Prep the zucchini. While the pasta cooks, spiralize the zucchini or use a vegetable peeler to create long ribbons. Pat lightly with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. Set aside.
Sauté the tomatoes. In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the cherry tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes and cook for 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cherry tomatoes begin to soften and burst.
Combine everything. Add the drained spaghetti and zucchini noodles to the skillet. Spoon in the pesto and toss to coat, adding reserved pasta water a splash at a time to loosen the sauce as needed. Season with salt and black pepper.
Serve. Divide into bowls and top with freshly grated Parmesan and a few torn basil leaves. Serve warm or at room temperature — both work beautifully in July.

Nutrition (per serving)

Double Tomato Pesto Spaghetti with Zucchini Noodles — The Tomatoes Were Ready and So Were We