Now, this blog will not be all raw food and veggies, I promise, as I am a hearty and frequent meat eater and will share some of those recipes too! But, as it is summer in Sydney, the heat makes salads and cooler, lighter meals more enticing, and puts me in the mood to try new and raw things (whether they be salads or other things). I saw this recipe on one of my favourite blogs, and then tried a type of raw zucchini spaghetti at a local cafe, and was impressed, and then fate smiled upon me by showing me the awesome little spaghetti-making gadget in a kitchen store, so all combined to make the delicious meal below happen!
I am also blessed with an amenable husband who is willing to try anything in the culinary department at least once, which means that I can try lots of different new types of recipes and know that he will eat them, a luxury I know a lot of people do not have! He will also advise me whether it is something that he would eat again or not, based on his enjoyment level, and this recipe below got the tick of approval! It was amazingly delicious, something about the freshness of the sauce made it zing in your mouth, and it lasted really well in the fridge, I was still eating it some days later!! And, even better, no cooking required!!
So, allow me to present to you – raw zucchini spaghetti!! (Does anyone else find it hard to spell the word zucchini? I always want to double different letters, more ‘n’s and ‘h’s for some reason …)
The recipe came from the lovely Sweet Madeleine (http://sweetmadeleine.ca/2012/08/06/raw/), who I read religiously and very much enjoy – she doesn’t normally do recipes, but insightful and amusing posts on her life, her family and living sustainably, go check her out!! However, while she used a peeler on the zucchinis, we had the advantage of this awesome little gadget (see pics below) that makes spaghetti out of veggies (it also will make those cute little curls in salads) – completely an indulgence, but so awesome, because the texture is great!! It does take a bit of time to get all the zucchini into spaghetti, but doubles as a good arm workout, turning the little thing!!
Jon made the sauce while I made the spaghetti (because he knew I would enjoy the gadget more!), and it only took about 15-20 minutes all up. We used a couple of green zucchinis from our fortnightly organic delivery, and some yellow ones we bought from the organic place up the road, for the wow factor of different colours (they taste pretty much the same but look prettier).
The only odd thing is that dishes like this can confuse your brain, in that because you call it spaghetti, and that’s what it looks like, your brain expects it to be hot, which it isn’t, but as it still tastes awesome, you can work around that!!
Raw Zucchini Spaghetti
1. First get yourself 4 medium sized zucchinis. Wash them thoroughly.
2. Create spaghetti/noodles in some way out of your zucchinis – I used the awesome little gadget you see below that makes spaghetti out of veggies.
You put the zucchini inside, then turn it til the spaghetti comes out!
You can also use a mandolin (some type of fancy slicing kitchen implement), or even just go to town with the peeler or grater to make fettucine-type pasta – you’ll get different textures, but the overall taste will still be great. No cooking required – I did not cook the zucchini in any way, and it was great!! I’ve also made other recipes with raw zucchini in salads, you’d be amazed at how versatile it is if you haven’t already tried it raw!
Spaghetti, pre-saucing
3. Next blend together (I recommend using a food processor or similar) the following ingredients until smooth:
1 ripe tomato, chopped
½ cup sun-dried tomatoes
½ red bell pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 clove crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Dash black pepper
Dash cayenne
The sauce might be fairly liquidy, but it will then soak nicely into the zucchini spaghetti.
4. Then mix all together, in a big bowl.
Sauce and spaghetti combined!
Then serve and enjoy! Voila!!
The finished product! So yummy!
I definitely plan to make this again, repeatedly through summer – I also planted some zucchini plants over the weekend, so am hoping to use our own zucchini to make this in the future! Or even other veggies, the possibilities are endless!! I hope you like the look of this recipe, and try it – let me know if you do!
And please, if you have any good recipes of this type, share in the comments – I think my little gadget will work with carrots, cucumber, beetroot, and all sorts of things, so am definitely looking for new raw recipes to try!
Grow it, Cook it, Freeze it! 