ON AN UPWARD SPIRAL
For months now I’ve been wondering what all the fuss is about zucchini spaghetti. People who’ve tried it tell me it’s a lighter, fresher alternative to pasta, regardless of whether you’re trying to cut your carb or wheat intake.
As reported recently in
The Age, the zucchini pasta served at Heal.Thyself in Yarraville is one of the raw food cafe’s biggest sellers.
So the other day – while I was doing laps of my favourite homewares store – I decided to buy myself a vegetable spiraliser. There are quite a few brands and sizes on the market to choose from, but my nifty little gadget set me back less than $40. Basically, you impale your chosen vegetable on a little bed of spikes and the spiraliser does the rest, pushing it through the special blades so it comes out the other end in long, curly strands – remarkably like … well … spaghetti.
Some people prefer it raw, but I seared mine for a few seconds in a hot frypan with a little olive oil first (I don’t recommend blanching it in boiling water, as quite a bit of liquid tends to leech out of it, making it more like zucchini soup). Removing the zucchini spaghetti, I added some chopped garlic and chilli flakes to the same pan, sliced button mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and asparagus, then tossed this through the “spaghetti” with some canned tuna, crumbled feta, lemon juice, sea salt and a splash of lemon-infused extra virgin olive oil. Though the texture of the spaghetti is certainly different, it looked great and tasted delicious. You can use other vegies, and while the idea of carrot spaghetti doesn’t thrill me, I might try sweet potato or beetroot next. Try your vegie pasta out on the kids with a big dollop of their favourite bolognaise sauce. Who knows – maybe you’ll end up sneaking some extra veg into their diet and they’ll give you rave reviews instead of turning up their noses. Let me know how you go – I’d love to hear your feedback.
