My boyfriend is the love of my life.

He is my best friend, my soul mate, my sous chef.

We live together, play together, laugh together and cook together.

At the end of a long day, all I want to do is hang in the kitchen with him, prepare a nice dinner and then sit down to it with some good wine and some good conversation recapping the day.

I love that he lets me try recipes on him and I love that he will eat almost anything I make.

Except for one thing.

Zucchini.

He hates it. Can’t stand it. Turns up his nose at anything containing it.

I love it.

How could you not like it? I always ask.

It tastes like whatever you cook it with, I argue.

You eat yellow squash, and they’re in the same family, I reason.

Turns out. They’re not the same.

Not for him at least.

Much as it pains me to admit, on this one, he was right.

I was flipping through Good Housekeeping and stumbled upon an article about allergies. Food allergies fascinate me. Thankfully neither of us have any, but they are on the rise today.

Scanning through the article, my eyes see two words: zucchini and ragweed.

People with ragweed allergies often have a sensitivity to zucchini. Not an allergy, just a sensitivity.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

All those times he wrinkled his nose and told me zucchini tasted like a** to him were because of ragweed, not his taste buds.

Damn.

I hate when he’s right.

So, now I don’t argue with him.

I just make zucchini dishes when he’s not home.

This is one of my favorites. And one of the easiest.

You will need

• 1 or 2 zucchini depending on size and your hunger levels
• olive oil
• garlic, chopped
• salt
• pepper
• eggs

Cut the ends of the zucchini and peel the skin. With a vegetable peeler or a mandolin, or a sharp knife and a steady hand, peel the zucchini lengthwise into ribbons.

Rotate the zucchini, peeling from each side until you hit the seeds.

Repeat on the other zucchinis.

When you have a pile of ribbons, drizzle some olive oil in a pan and toss in the ribbons.

Turn to medium heat and toss in the chopped garlic.

I put the garlic on top of the zucchini and stir it around because I have a tendency to burn it otherwise.

Sprinkle some salt and grind some black pepper and continue to cook until the zucchini is cooked through. It will start to turn a bit translucent.

If you are using a big enough pan, push the ribbons to the edge, leaving a space in the center.

Crack one or two eggs (depending on hunger again) and cook until sunny side up. Feel free to cook to over easy if you prefer, but you really want a runny yolk on these.

If your pan is too small to accommodate, just put the ribbons into your bowl and cover to keep warm.

Top with the fried eggs.

Sprinkle some parmesan cheese over the top if you wish.

Run your fork through the egg, cracking the yolk, and letting the yellow gooey center seep over the green ribbons, forming a sauce for your “pasta.”

The slightly crunchy, tender zucchini that’s a little sweet and a little spicy from the pepper.

The rich warmth of the egg coating the ribbons.

This is spring in a bowl.

If you want to make this a vegan recipe, leave out the egg and parmesan. Squeeze some lemon juice to make a lemon garlic sauce. Or, treat the zucchini as you would pasta and add your favorite tomato sauce.