Fennel Meatball Zucchini Pasta

Travel lunch: zoodles, sauce, and meatballs!

The zucchini is taking over! I've been rotating zucchini, green beans, and cucumbers among the three meals of the day all week - they are prolifically abundant in my garden. Mostly I've been eating the very basic sauteed zucchini (with onions, or bacon, or plain), but I am also eating a fair amount of "zoodles." This recipe also utilizes some garden tomatoes (those are slower in my garden, so I used up some of last year's frozen ones) in the sauce. The fennel in the meatballs was nice with the fresh basil. I actually ate these meatballs with both pesto sauce, and this simple tomato-basil one. Both were delicious.

Fennel meatballs
1 lb beef or venison
1/2 small onion, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
freshly ground pepper
1 egg
1 T coconut flour

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix ingredients together and form into 1" balls. Place on a rimmed cookie sheet or cake pan in a single layer and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
3. Serve over zucchini noodles with pesto or tomato basil sauce.

Tomato-Basil Sauce
1/2 small onion, diced
1 T fat (lard, ghee, coconut oil)
2 cups chopped tomatoes
2 T tomato paste
1/2 tsp salt, more to taste
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
big handful fresh basil, chopped

1.  Heat fat in a heavy saucepan. Saute onions until translucent, then add tomatoes. Simmer for 5-10 minutes to cook down.
2. Add remaining sauce ingredients, and adjust seasonings to taste. Continue to simmer another 5-10 minutes until desired thickness.