Zucchini "spaghetti"

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Sep 5th 2007 @ 1:52PM

a plate of faux pasta, with julienned zucchini standing in for spaghetti

For most of my life I ate zucchini one of two ways. It was always sliced into rounds and then was either steamed or pan fried in a little bit of olive oil. Occasionally it was cut lengthwise and grilled, but mostly that happened at the hands of cooks other than my mother, so it was very infrequent. I was 22 before I discovered that zucchini could be cooked down to a creamy consistency over low heat or that it could be finely chopped and quickly sauteed.

Once my eyes were opened to a world of zucchini cooking options I started playing around. A while back, I hit upon a way of mimicking spaghetti noodles with zucchini that has become one of my favorite ways to prepare it. I use the fine matchstick blade on my mandoline (Amazon has some for under $10 that would do the job nicely) and slice the zuck lengthwise, so that I come away with long strings of squash that look like squared off spaghetti (don't use the inner seeded area, as it just shreds).

I heat a little olive oil in a nonstick pan, mince a couple of cloves of garlic and toss it all together over medium heat until the zucchini softens but isn't mushy. I like to eat it just like that, a sort of "pasta" alio olio that's a bit healthier than the traditional one due to the use of veg instead of starch. You could also top it with pasta sauce or toss other veggies in for a primavera. Play around, anything goes as long at it tastes good.

Filed Under: Hacking Food, Food Gadgets, Ingredients
Tags: fake pasta, Gadgets, hacking food, mandoline, mock spaghetti, vegetables, versatile veggies, zucchini, zucchini alio olio, zucchini pasta

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-05-2007 @7:26PM Marion in Savannah said... Oh, my... That sounds good enough to, as they say down here, make you want to slap your mama. YUM! Thanks for posting this.
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9-05-2007 @7:25PM Silver_Potato said... That sounds absolutely wonderful
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9-05-2007 @8:31PM Allison said... Marisa, glad you've discovered one of my long-time faves, although I simply use some rudimentary knife skills to thinly slice a zucchini lenghwise. (A knife and a simple box grater have gotten me through nearly 50 years of cooking.) Just wanted to add that any pesto you make also makes this -- as well as almost any other fresh veggie -- taste like a smash hit.

Just this last year I've started making basil pesto with variations on the basic toasted pine nuts theme -- walnuts, almonds, macademias and even pistachios. I also have ramped up the amount of garlic I add since I get really fresh (read really flavorful) basil from my CSA farm share and it can handle the extra "heat."
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9-05-2007 @10:43PM Noah Oliphant said... Great post. I can't wait to try this one. I'd toss in some parmigian cheese at the last possible moment.

http://www.reciperate.com
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9-06-2007 @10:59AM Jason Levine said... That sounds good. It might be just the thing to go with the Peanut Butter Chicken I planned on making tomorrow night. Hopefully, my Picky-4-Year-Old will try it.
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9-06-2007 @5:06PM Vanessa said... It's true...it's a great way to kill off a few zuchinnis and eat well too...I stumbled on to this last month and blogged about it here:

http://www.whatgeekseat.com/wordpress/2007/08/14/a-slight-change-in-perspective/
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11-04-2007 @8:06AM BenjaminJ said... Great tip. Its also good to slice them lengthwise quite thin and substitute it for lasagna noodles when making lasagna. My family fell in love with it this way when we were subjected to the low-carb craze a few years back. Try it, it's amazing. The only tip for that is watch your liquids, or it can end up kinda soupy. making your own sauce with more tomato paste and less sauce helps.
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