This weekend was Columbia’s annual Palmetto Tasty Tomato Festival. This is my personal favorite food and music festival that Soda City has to offer! All the local vendors get together to promote farm to table foods and sustainable practices. The event is actually held at City Roots farm too, doesn’t get much cooler than that! Every year I say I am going to attend as a guest opposed to working behind one of the stands, but that has yet to happen. My goal is to attend and take some photos to do a blog post for you guys on everything they have to offer, it really is amazing. The only issue is that I always cave because it feels so good to be a part of the behind the scenes activities. The sense of community is wonderful and while I imagine guests feel a similar vibe, I cannot help but feel pride in helping this event run as smoothly as possible.
So maybe next year I will succeed in posting some photos for you guys from the festival. This year though, I was slinging Fat And Juicy Bloody Marys from my home town of Charleston all while stuffing my face with fresh tomato sandwiches from Rosewood Market and pickled potato and tomato tacos from Tazza Kitchen. We even had a crazy storm blow through. It cleared some people out but most people waited it out, helping everyone hold down tents and laughing through the crazy weather. One minute we were drenched in sweat at a hundred degrees, next we were shivering from being soaking wet in rain water. I wasn’t complaining, we had an adventure!
In honor of the Tasty Tomato Festival, today’s recipe starts a mini trend for this week, that of basil pesto and tomatoes in pasta. The zucchini noodles created the perfect base for my creamy pesto. The addition of tomatoes and roasted red peppers really pulled the dish together to make it a healthy, light meal that is perfect for the season. I prefer this dish cold, but you could certainly warm it up. It would also be good with a little bread on the side to lap up the extra sauce if you wanted to make it a bit heavier. You could also use regular pasta, of course, but the zoodles truly keep this dish light and summery.
Let me know if you make this quick recipe! Comment below or use my hashtag #peppersandpeaches on instagram or twitter so I can check it out! You can also tag me @peppers_peaches!
- 2 large zucchini (or 3 medium sizes)
- 1 cup sliced cherry or grape tomatoes
- ½ cup roasted red peppers (I used the kind in a jar)
- 1 batch of my fresh basil pesto recipe (below):
- ½ cup soaked cashews (8 hour cold soak is best or 15 boiled)
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- 2 cups packed basil
- salt and pepper to taste
- Combine basil pesto ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Create zucchini noodles using a noodler or if you do not have one, using a potato peeler to create ribbons will work well too.
- Add basil pesto, tomatoes, and peppers to zoodles.
- Toss well to combine. Taste and add more salt and pepper. I needed more salt but not more pepper. Salt really makes a different in this dish so add slowly until you reach the right flavor for you!
- I enjoyed these noodles cold but I'm sure they would be good warm too.
Nicole says
My boyfriend declared it’s the first good thing I’ve made in a while! Thanks for a great recipe!
Jenn says
Haha! I’m so happy to hear that! You are very welcome 🙂