Thursday, March 28, 2013

Son of Zoodle - a Veggie Tale of Zucchini - rific Tagliatelle Proportions - a Low Carb Pasta Lover's Treasure

This is a publice service announcement. 

Son of Zoodle unleashed.
Son of Zoodle is unleashed upon humanity!!!!

You remember my Oodles and Oodles of Zoodles post don't you? If you don't, here is the link to the Oodley Zoodley Zoodles post. Just click on it and through the wonders of Al Gore's internet, you will be instantly transported to the page where the zoodles live in my Fluffy Chix Cook "permanent record."







Benriner Slicer making oodles of zucchini angel hair zoodles.
But as you know, to make those oodle-licious zoodles, you must have a specialized gadget--a one-hit-wonder-unitasker. You know Alton speaks spurilously about unitaskers in Good Eats, and this unitasker is called a Benriner Cook Helper Slicer. And so I started thinking...to myself.

I said, "Self?"

"Yes," my self answered.







Oodles of angel hair zucchini noodles in the line-up for the big show...
"Can you think of a better way to enjoy zoodles (zucchini noodles--of the angel hair variety) in any way shape or form that doesn't require the use of a unitasker?"

"Hhhhhhhm," said my self..."lemme t'ink about it for a minute."

Oodles of original zoodles being consumed with plenty
of garlic and olive oil, while waiting for self to return
with a brilliant idea.
And so I waited.

Impatiently.

Cuz I'm an immediate gratification chix if you haven't noticed by now.

And I waited.

And I waited.

And then I told my self, "Look you either need to shake it into high gear or you're fired."

To which she replied...well...I can't repeat it here but it involved a physical impossibility which ended involving the horse I rode in on.

Haruuummmmphhhhh! High dudgeon ensued and retribution will be met in Chapter 12 (as Sting said in a story about a song during the Berlin tour).

However, I eventually held the day because I looked down at my vegetable peeler and remembered my Zucchini Ribbon Salad...which started my mind straying toward longing, lucious thoughts of tagliatelle and oh how I missed it...

And then this.

Son of Zoodle was born. Yep. It's not new. It's not new to me, I have been making zucchini tagliatelli for quite a while, but it is new to the blog, cuz I'm just remembering to tell you about them if you don't already know!

Son of Zoodle (aka zucchini pappardelle if we want to
be completely accurate, but tagliatelle works too cuz
they shrink after cooking.)

Son of Zoodle or zucchini tagliatelle (or pappardelle - which is the thicker width of pasta, typically about 1/2 to 3/4-inches in width) is simply made by running your veggie peeler down the longest zucchini you can find in the super market.

Shave in one place till you get to about 3/8-inch, then rotate slightly and begin your veggie peeling again.

Rinse and repeat, working your way around the zucchini until you are left with the core. Many would discard the seed-based core at this point and if you are serving it to a bunch of fancy pants, you should.

But if you are serving it to your penny-conscious spouse, significant other, mother, father, sister, brother, kid, or pet--do what I do...cut the core lengthwise into long strips about 3/8-inch wide. Stack the slices (about 3 deep), then make long thin slices about 1/8" wide. Essentially, you've just made hand cut tagliatelle. And use the slices of core with the remaining Sons of Zoodle.

Two small zucchini are great for 2-3 people. It makes a pile or plethora of plentitude. After that, all you do is heat a big ol' non-stick pan. Add a couple of glurgs of olive oil, about 3 cloves of slivered garlic and saute that for a minute. Then add the zucchini tagliatelle, a couple of pinches of salt, fresh black pepper and cook for 2 minutes TOPS! Just a quick saute over high heat and boom, baby!!!! You're done.

Top it with Parmesan. Top it with cheese or serve it nekkidy. Top it with meat sauce, meatballs and sauce, Alfredo, pesto. Whatever!

Just eat it.

This concludes our public service announcement.


6 comments:

  1. I'm guessing my zoodles left a greenish puddle on my plate because I sauteed them too long? Is that why you say 2mns tops?

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    Replies
    1. Becky, maybe, but that happened to me this last time, too. I'm thinking it could be due to spring and lots of chlorophyll in the zucc skins. That's a good thing. Chlorophyll is very good for us and helps break toxins down! :)

      Aren't they yummy though? And easy!

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    2. If you salt them and let them drain for 15 minutes, and then gently squeeze them in a paper towel, you'll have less moisture.

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  2. I bought the one-trick-pony version, and have never regretted it. I would gnaw my own arm off in hunger before I could "peel" a couple whole zucchini worth of noodley goodness at dinner time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Arlene! Haha! The peeling goes pretty quick for 2-3 small zuccs. I wouldn't however, look forward to peeling 10 of them, but then that would be a LOT of zoodles!!! Truly oodles and oodles of zoodles!

      I do like my one-trick-pony though for turning out the angel hair versions!

      XOXO

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  3. Hi Katey,

    Great tip! I don't do that to often because:

    1. I'm lazy
    2. I feel like by making them exude their water that I'm losing important nutrients (could be a load of whoooey though).
    3. I don't much care for the texture change in salt soaked zucchini or eggplant (back in the days when I could eat eggplant)...

    but it will absolutely give you a much dryer zoodle!! Thanks so much for the tip girl!!!

    And welcome to the site!

    ReplyDelete

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