Experiments in Spiralizing

After a few months of following food blogger Ali Maffucci's blog Inspiralized and Instagram account (@inspiralized) and admiring the photos of beautiful, vegetable-based dishes she makes, I guess you could say I was "inspiralized"  to buy a Paderno Spiralizer and try it out for myself.

Basically, a Spiralizer is a tool that turns vegetables into "noodles" very quickly and easily. Zucchini noodles aka "zoodles" seem to be the most popular vegetable to spiralize, but you can also make noodles out of beets, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots and other veggies.

Here's a quick demo of how it works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3aKSoRxUwM

 

I tried out my Spiralizer for the first time last weekend on some zucchini & squash I got at the Columbus Avenue Greenmarket, a local farmer's market in my neighborhood.

[caption id="attachment_358" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Zucchini & Squash from Columbus Ave Greenmarket[/caption]

The tool comes with 3 different blades (A, B & C).   Blade A makes thick flat spirals that remind me of flower petals a little bit. Blade B (my favorite blade) makes well formed, rounded, long spiraling noodles. Blade C makes short, thin noodles that are more like shreds.




[caption id="attachment_356" align="aligncenter" width="300"] "Zoodles" from A, B and C.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_357" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Blade A cut[/caption]

I took all the noodles I created and added them to this meat sauce recipe from Nerd Fitness, but substituted ground turkey for the ground beef.  I also used my red onions instead of a regular onion. (Sorry, I don't have a pic of the finished dish.)

I love this tool so far and plan on experimenting with it a lot more. Stay tuned for some detailed recipes!

If you're interested in trying a Spiralizer out too, you can get one on Amazon for <$40.