Spiralized Zucchnini Squash Pseudo Pasta

For months, I’ve been seeing all these recipes that call for “spiralized” vegetables, and I finally decided to try my hand at producing “pseudo pasta.” First, I researched to find a quality hand-driven veggie spiralizer.

I’m not a fan of piles of electric appliances in the kitchen – I have very little counter space or cabinet room, and I prefer less noise, and more exercise from doing tasks by hand, so I chose the OXO Good Grips 3-Blade Hand-Held Spiralizer from Amazon based on good reviews for dependability and ease-of-use and cleaning.

Next, I looked up recipes for making vegetable spirals, and found plenty. I scanned several, picked out the best advice from each, and set to work on mine. With three zucchini and three squash at the ready, I chopped off the top and bottom of one of each and tossed the ends into the compost/chicken bucket. My chickens love all the kitchen scraps, so I save any leftovers or food waste to feed to them.

Then I had to choose a blade, and attached it to the base. There are three included with the Oxo device. One produces 1/8 inch “spaghetti cut,” another 1/4″ “fettuccine cut,” and the third “ribbon cut.” I selected the “spaghetti cut,” and started twisting my vegetable. It worked! It worked! Perfect spirals! I spiraled one squash, one zucchini, even tried using the grippy food holder to twist the last bit of the stub close to the blade. I filled a pretty chicken wire bowl, handmade by Colette Clark, full of very pretty spirals.  I was not sure what to do with the core that holds the vegetable in place on the blade; I ended up slicing all the cores into thin strings and using them too.

Next was the drying bit – squash and zucchini hold a lot of moisture, so I spread out the spirals on paper towels. Briefly, I considered if linen napkins would work just as well except create less waste. Although I’m hard pressed to go through a roll of paper towels in six months, preferring recyclables, I pressed forward, recklessly ripping off eight paper towels; two for on top, two for on the bottom, for two wicking stations. I sprinkled ground sea salt over both stations of veggies to encourage more moisture removal.

After ten minutes, I patted the vegetables dryer, put a teaspoon of olive oil in a large pan, set the stovetop to medium, and proceeded to stir-fry the spirals. They browned quite nicely. At the same time, I put two packets of previously frozen mussles in garlic butter on another burner and let them steam, while two slices of Cuban bread went into the toaster.

In all, I had less than 30 minutes invested in producing a colorful, fairly healthy meal. Now, I can’t wait to “spiralize” other food – apples to make apple chips, maybe some potatoes, or even better – sweet potatoes! The pictures of spiraled cucumber and carrots look attractive; I’m thinking I can produce some nifty salad toppings.

Pictured:

Chicken wire bowl by Colette Clark – artist at The Bascom: A Center for the Visual Arts Highlands, NC

Publix Premium Mussels, Garlic Butter Frozen, 16 oz.