Oodles of zoodles

This is my new favorite summer dish, and my new favorite dish to look like a much better cook than I am. Prep time ~10 minutes, depending on how fast you chop. Cook time ~ 5-10 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4):

• Zoodles, aka Zucchini nooodles, aka super thin slices of zucchini: 4 medium sized zuchs (one per person)
• If you have a mandolin or spiralizer, use that to get pasta-like strips of zucchini. Otherwise just use a vegetable peeler
• Shrimp: 1 pound of small sized shrimp, cleaned
• Frozen works fine, just make sure to dethaw earlier in the day. This might be best, since you can get the shrimps pre-cooked where they just need to be heated rather than cooked
• Garlic, chopped very fine, 2 tablespoons
• Grape / cherry tomatoes, halved, 1.5 cups
• White wine, dry-ish, 1/4 cup (optional)
• Olive oil: 3 tablespoons 
• I never measure this, but it should be enough to coat the bottom of the pan well and make the base of the sauce for the zoodles. you can add too much oil, since you don't actually need to put all of it on the zoodles at the end
• Butter, salted, 2 tablespoons (optional)
• Red pepper flakes, dried (optional)
• Lemon, half
• Parsley, fresh (optional garnish)
• Salt and pepper to taste (needs a fair amount of both I think)
• Parmesan cheese, grated, as a garnish

Steps

1. Create your zoodles
2. Heat olive oil and butter over medium-low heat for 2 minutes in a big skillet or thick soup pot
3. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and stir about until fragrant, roughly 1 minute
4. Add white wine and let the mixture come to a simmer
5. Add shrimp and tomato halves (cook until shrimp no longer translucent if cooking from raw shrimp, or until everything heated through if pre-cooked shrimp)
6. Add salt and pepper here. Do a taste test and spice accordingly. A little paprika sprinkled on top is nice too
7. Using a slotted spoon, remove shrimp, garlic, tomatoes from pan and set aside in a bowl
8. (Optional step) Reduce heat to low, take the zooodles (however much fits in the pan at a time), and cook gently for max 2 minutes, coating in the liquid but not overcooking (they should keep their crunch). You can skip this step and eat the zoodles raw as well
9. PLATING: Create a base layer of zoodles on the plate in a circle, then spoon some of the shrimp / tomato mixture on top in the center. If it looks a little dry, add some of the sauce from the pan, there should be plenty left. Squeeze some lemon juice over it (just a bit, but the acidity really brings out the flavors). Sprinkle some fresh parsley on top. Sprinkle some parmesan on top. Serve immediately. 

VEGAN OPTION: just don't add butter or shrimp. this works completely fine without a protein, but i'm not sure how to make it a vegan main.