My friends know that any type of culinary gift is bound to make me happy, and the weirder, the better. Hence I received the "Spirooli spiral slicer" from a friend as a gift. Nevermind that I have a high-quality chef's knife to thinly slice carrots and a pro-grade food processor for uniformly sliced vegetables- the Spirooli would still fill a void for something I have always struggled to prepare: vegetable pasta.
Credit: Alexa Lampasona
Credit: Alexa Lampasona
It's summer and like me, I'm sure you're craving cold, raw foods and lightly prepared dishes. A favorite summer pasta dish of mine is carb-free, light and healthy- summer squash pasta. Instead of noodles, I use zucchini, yellow squash, hook neck squash (really whatever squash is available) and dress it simply with a fresh herb pesto and tomatoes.
The Spirooli is a little complicated to maneuver. Sometimes I'll attempt to secure my squash on the built-in holder and it will fall right out. It seems as if the vegetables have to be the perfect size. I was skeptical that it was a completely bogus product at first. But surprisingly, with a little elbow grease (and jamming the squash into the
Credit: Alexa Lampasona
Credit: Alexa Lampasona
holder), it worked! The handle is cumbersome to turn, but it does actually produce long spirals of pasta! It may not be worth going out to buy, but for this summer vegetable pasta, it beats spaghetti!
For this photo, I used a crookneck squash and dressed it simply with wilted spinach, diced tomatoes and chickpeas. If you need a few sauce inspirations, here are some of my favorite food blog links:
Oh She Glows thick and chunky tomato sauce from scratch
Dreena Burton's spinach herb pistachio pesto
Credit: Alexa Lampasona
Credit: Alexa Lampasona
Bold : A Cookbook of Big Flavors Green Goddess Dressing (recipe below)
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped scallions
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
- 1 anchovy fillet, minced
- Whisk together the cream, mustard and garlic in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add the mayo, parsley, scallion, vinegar, tarragon and anchovy and whisk until mixture boils again.
- Use right away, as it does not store well.
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