Adventures in Vegetables Part 2

If you read my last blog post you probably know that I was raving about my new spiralizer.

This week I’m continuing along that vein and letting my excitement and love about it continue to flow.

I do not take the purchase of kitchen items lightly. I covet my counter space and will not buy just any kitchen gadget. It must hold it’s own and be versatile in order to show its worth for the space it occupies.

So when I discovered the sprializer I had such a strong emotional response that I knew I just had to have it.

This week I had my heart set on a zucchini noodle dish. Using the spiralizer, I shaved one yellow onion and one red pepper. Then I changed the attachment to make noodle strands and started noodling the zucchini. Simply turning the crank and seeing the beautiful spirals twist out brought me so much joy I couldn’t help but clap out loud. I have recently picked up that behavior from my two-year-old who is the definition of self-expression.

When you slice anything with the spiralizer it literally comes out in one big strand so the onion, red pepper, and zucchini slices were probably 20 feet in length. There is no way to twist all of that onto your fork and you don’t want to choke on your beautiful creation. You can cut them into six inch pieces or you can prepare the whole dish and then cut them while you are eating them. My husband tried to just keep twirling, and twirling, and twirling and even he at one point had to pick up his knife and cut the strands. Trust me you will be twirling for a long time. The great thing is that you can twirl the zucchini noodles up just like spaghetti. So you get the texture, the flavor and the act of twirling to simulate a real pasta experience. The next great thing about this recipe is that it will stand alone as a healthy vegetarian dish or you can add a pound of ground meat to it for a heartier rendition. Simply sauté the ground beef or turkey up in the saucepan with the garlic, oil, onion, and red pepper. In all it took me about 25 minutes to make this dish and we enjoyed it immensely. At the end of the meal my husband had cleaned his plate, gone back for seconds and said, “Delicious.” That was all I needed to hear, this is a winner for sure.

You will need 2 kitchen gadgets to make this recipe:

Either a food processor or a good blender AND a Spiralizer or mandolin. (I don’t have a mandolin but I have been told it would work. I don’t have any experience with those.)

Zucchini Noodles

 

1 red pepper

1 yellow onion

3 cloves crushed garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon sea salt

3 zucchini

1 jar roasted peppers

1 yellow mango

½ serrano pepper

½ bunch cilantro

½ lemon juiced

Directions:

In a food processor combine: ½ yellow mango, roasted peppers, lemon juice, serrano, and cilantro.

In a large sauce pan on medium heat combine: olive oil, garlic, shaved onion, shaved red pepper and sea salt. Cover for about 3 minutes and then uncover. Saute for 5-7 minutes more or until the onions are a bit translucent. Add the raw zucchini noodles remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes. Pour the sauce from the food processor over the noodles, stir and serve.

 

Bon Appetite

-Dr. Purcell

P.S. If you try this recipe share with me your thoughts on the experience and post a picture!