My First Zoodles

I love food. 

I can spend hours, pouring over pictures of food.

Instagram is my go to place for culinary inspiration. I seek to find healthy, clean and tasty dishes I can cook in less than 30 minutes. 

It was during one of those Instagram binges that I discovered ‘The Zoodle.’ 

What is a zoodle I hear you cry? Well, a zoodle is created by passing a zucchini through a spiralizer producing a ribbon like noodle shapes. Zoodles are a healthier, low carb option to pasta and a great way to increase your vegetable intake. I have a variety of allergies, and don't do well with wheat so this sounded perfect for me. 

Whilst in London for a little trip, I found a 3-in-1 spiralizer online for the nifty equivalent of 50 AED. 

Boom. Done. 

I loved the idea that I could make three different size and textures of noodles with this product. 

My spiralizer arrived just in time before my flight to DXB (thank you Amazon Prime) so I tucked it into my suit case and set off to the Arabian gulf. 

Back in the land of camels I decide to take my first adventure into zoodle land. I wanted something simple, fresh with clean flavours that I knew I would like. I decided to make...

...drum roll please

Garlic Shiitake Mushrooms with Oven Roasted Tomato Zoodles. 

A quick bit of research reveals the key to delicious zoodles is removing the excess water from the zucchini before cooking. 

So here is how my first zoodle adventure went…. 

Ingredients (serves 1)

1 zucchini

8 cherry tomatoes

6 shittake mushrooms

1 Garlic Clove

To season...

Basil

Chilli flakes

Lemon Juice

Salt

Pepper

I inserted the zucchini into the spiralizer and twisted it until the vegetable was shredded into large noodle ribbons. I did this over a colander, so when I covered the zoodles in salt and placed them in the fridge for 20 minutes, the excess water was drawn out. Don't forget to place a plate under the colander or your going to have a zucchini water river in your fridge. 

Then I turned the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6

Meanwhile, I washed, and sliced the tomatoes in half. Set them on a baking tray and brushed them lightly with oil, salt, pepper and fresh basil and placed them in the oven. 

I then heated a tablespoon of oil in a pan and added the chopped garlic. I warmed the garlic for a minute then added the mushrooms, which I cooked until soft. 

I removed the zoodles from the fridge, rinsed the salt off and squeezed out as much water as I could. I then placed the zoodle on paper towels to absorb the rest of the water. 

I then turned up the heat on the pan and added the zoodles to the mushrooms. I threw in a pinch of chilli flakes and cooked until the zoodles were to my liking. I hate over cooked veggies so it was only for about 4 minutes, but you can adjust accordingly. I then added the tomatoes, and tossed them in the zoodles. 

Serve, and season with lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. 

Enjoy. 

EHH

xxx