Mmm courgetti

March 20, 2016 5:33 AM

I discovered the joys of courgetti and bought myself a turning slicer. Please share with me your favourite courgetti recipes. Ideas for things to do with other spiralized veg also welcome.

Bonus question: best way to cook large volumes of courgetti?

posted by roolya_boolya to Food & Drink (7 answers total)

If it helps, in the US this is usually called "Zoodles" (zucchini noodles).

My Mr makes a classic Bolognese sauce and serves it just like spaghetti. You might find good recipes on Paleo blogs like Nom Nom Paleo.
posted by matildaben at 6:57 AM on March 20, 2016

I literally just bought one of these because this recipe for jicama "fries" is so amazing and I got tired of hand-slicing matchsticks.
posted by Mchelly at 7:42 AM on March 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

raw spiralized carrots and beets in a green salad. it's maybe too simple for what you're asking but I find there's something about the spiral cut that brings out a sweetness in the raw carrots and beets not present when cutting the normal way.
posted by nologo at 8:07 AM on March 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

best way to cook large volumes of courgetti?

Just barely cook it, if not just let it warm through in a sauce. It turns to mush fast. I find the microwave is actually the best, for having to move them the least and getting it done quickly.

I make cucumber strings all the time for salads, and for noodle dishes - hot or cold, but I am especially partial to a hiyashi chuka (vegetarian, chicken) and cold sesame noodles, and in pretty much any noodle recipe you can halve (or more!) the amount of real noodles and make up the difference with courgette, cucumber, and carrot (maybe also some apple, firm pear, or coconut?).

I've been eyeing the crank-style cutter like you have, particularly for making fried onion straws and sweet/potato strings.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:50 AM on March 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

I love this recipe, although it's written for matchsticks.
posted by rossination at 10:41 AM on March 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

The key to any pan-fried courgetti/zoodle is extracting as much moisture as possible, IMO. So, for basic prep, spiralize the noodles, put into a colander, toss with liberal quantity of sea salt or kosher salt. Let sit 30 mins, push the noodles into the bottom of the colander to drain. Really try to get the moisture out. (You can sub a cheesecloth bag or paper towels for the colander, but I find the colander is the easiest to deal with.)

So, some recipes:

Super simple recipe with fresh tomatoes and grated parmesan.

Cold preparation with tofu and Asian veggies. This one says to cook with tofu, but you can sub sautéed chicken. Also note that this site has a lot of recipes. Most that I have tried have been OK to good. The person who runs the blog spiralizes pretty much everything, so they have recipes for spiralized broccoli, jicama, apple, etc.

Half soba, half cucumber noodle cold prep -- can be done with courgette/zucchini as well.

Throwing them into a general Asian-style vegetable stirfry also works well. Treat them as you would bean sprouts – they should be one of the last things to go into the pan because they’re very delicate and don’t need a lot of time.

I like them a lot with summer pestos, too. Nice and light.
posted by zeee at 12:03 PM on March 20, 2016 [3 favorites]

BTW, I second the advice of Lyn Never above: the microwave is very good at doing a single serving of zucchini/summer squash.

• Fill a bowl full of zucchini/squash noodles, I find about 2 "average size" zuchini or squash is about right.
• Add two tablespoons of water, you don't need a whole lot.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• Microwave for approx 3 min and then leave cover on for another 2 or as long as you want to keep it warm.
• Put anything on top that you want: shrimp scampi, bolognese, veggie stew, etc.

posted by jeremias at 3:48 PM on March 20, 2016 [1 favorite]