I feel like every time I surf the internet or pick up a magazine at the moment I’m reading about the Paleo Diet and, more specifically, Zoodles, aka Zucchini Noodles. You’ve gotta love the name ‘Zoodles’ – I can’t stop saying it. Anyhow Zoodles are simply ribbons or fine strips of zucchini, used in place of pasta. Zoodles are, I’m guessing, soaring in popularity due to being Weight Watchers, Paleo and Gluten friendly.
Seeing as Zoodles are ‘everywhere’, I figured it was a sign I should give them a bash. Convieniently I muttered these musings out loud on my Facebook page and some lovely people kindly came back with some cooking tips, which I duly adhered to (coupled with a quick poke around on Google). My thoughts on Zoodles? AH-MAZING! I’m a convert. Even Hubby gave them the thumbs up. Here’s what I did.
Ingredients (serves two)
Two large zucchinis (as a rule of thumb, you want one zucchini per person)
2 teaspoons Olive oil (or coconut oil)
Freshly ground black pepper
- Using a julienne peeler (like the one pictured) place a zucchini on a chopping board and go to town with your julienne peeler. You can also use a mandolin, or, for wide fat strips, kind of like pappardelle (pasta resembling fat ribbons), simply use a normal vegetable peeler.
- From here you have several ‘cooking’ options:
- Heat up 2 tsp of olive oil (or better still, coconut oil – tasty!) in a frying pan. Gently fry Zoodles on one side for 30 seconds (I gave them a good season with salt and black pepper at this stage) then flip them over and sear the other side for another 30 seconds. Then pop the Zoodles on a plate and top with your choice of sauce etc (I had mine with meatballs and pasta sauce – yum!).
- Alternatively an easier method would be to biff them in your sauce of choice to simply warm them through and serve immediately.
- Or, pop them in a microwave proof container and nuke them for 1 minute.
However you cook your Zoodles, the secret, I’m told, is not to overcook them otherwise they’ll go mushy.
I’m envisaging these morsels of delight with fresh pesto and lashings of grated parmesan. I think I’ve got tomorrow night’s dinner sorted.
