Zoodles and Meat Sauce!
Y'all, those aren't noodles - they are ZOODLES! Aka zucchini noodles. And they are magical. And low carb. And naturally gluten-free. And, you'll think I'm nuts, but they totally satisfy my craving for pasta (and pasta is probably my all time favorite food).
So, zoodles. I'd been curious about zoodles since seeing them on Pinterest and since I've been trying to get back on a more consistent low carb eating plan. My dad came to visit and upon a trip to the local Williams Sonoma, treated me to my very own vegetable spiralizer.
That, since you asked, is this crazy thing.
Looks complicated but it's super easy to use. You can do zucchini, carrots, cucumber, potato (curly fries anyone?) and even apples! It comes with three blades - shown here is the more noodle-y one, but there's also a ribbon blade (hello ribbon fries), and a shoestring cutter. If you are interested in getting your own - here's the one I have and definitely recommend.
So anyway, you don't need a spiralizer - you could use a grater to make zucchini noodles as shown here - but the recipe below uses the gizmo.
ZOODLES & MEAT SAUCE (serves 2)
Ingredients:
- 4-5 Fresh Zucchinis
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 jar (24 oz) of your favorite spaghetti sauce
- 1 whole onion, diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil or butter (your choice)
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- dash red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 c red wine
Directions:
1. First - you'll prep the zucchinis. Begin by preheating your oven to 250F. Then wash and dry the zucchinis, then split them once in half short-ways and slice the ends off so they are flat. They are then ready to run through the vegetable spiralizer.
2. After zoodling all your zucchinis, lay them out on a cookie sheet covered in two layers of paper towels. Sprinkle your tbsp of salt on them and massage through so all noodles have a light coating. This will draw a lot of excess water out of the zoodles. Top with a layer of paper towels and throw in the oven for 30-40 minutes to let the zoodles sweat out the water.
3. In the meantime, cook up your ground beef. For our recipe, I broke up a pound into approximately 1 inch chunks that are sort of like meatballs. Cook on medium-high until brown, then drain the grease and set aside.
4. Next, saute your onion in olive oil or butter until cooked through on medium heat.
5. Then add half your wine, then the meat back in. Top with your spaghetti sauce, add the rest of the wine, your garlic, and remaining spices, then allow to cook on medium-low or low for awhile (depending on when you'd like to serve dinner).
6. When your ten minutes away from serving dinner, take your zoodles out of the oven. Remove the soaked paper towels and use another layer to squeeze out any additional water you can get to.
7. In a separate (large) skillet, melt some butter or olive oil on medium heat. Then, add your zoodles and saute them for approximately 3-6 minutes to your desired level of doneness. If making zoodles for a crowd, I recommend doing this step in a large electric skillet.
8. To serve, have a kitchen scissor nearby as zoodles tend to be extremely long and you may have to "cut" them as you portion out onto hungry people's plates. Top with sauce and parmesan cheese, or whatever your spaghetti and meat sauce custom may be.
Mangia!
