I Love my Spiralizer – Zoodles, Toodles and Boodles

I recently fell in love with one of my new kitchen tools, my Spiralizer. I have to admit it wasn’t love at first sight, it was a relationship that was six months in the making.

I purchased my spiralizer via Amazon Prime over six months ago, unboxed it, took it apart and then put on a shelf in my pantry. Over the last six months, I’d catch the spiralizer glancing my way and I would return the looks, letting the anticipation of that return touch and use build between the two of us….sigh

Then at the urging of my Around the Kitchen Table co-host Susan Serra, I brought my spiralizer into the kitchen.  Being a chef and a guy, I didn’t pay too much attention to the directions and just jumped right into using my spiralizer.

My first attempt at zucchini was flawless. I ran two zucchini’s through just to be sure I had it down after all practice makes perfect (do you sense the overconfidence?). I felt good about sharing spiralized vegetables on my next cooking show, easy-peasy!

Everything was set up for my show, my spiralizer was out, we had a good crowd and everything was going great. Then I loaded my spiralizer with a zucchini and had a bit of an epic fail. I hadn’t taken into account being nervous (yes even after 300 shows I still get nervous) and was using too much pressure as I tried to push the zucchini through the blades. It was getting a little ugly, but I eventually realized what I was doing wrong and the vegetable noodles started to flow. It was a beautiful thing!

After spiralizing my zucchini, turnips and beets, I was ready to cook up some deliciousness!

Of course, since I was eating so healthy with these wonderful veggie noodles, I decided to make some buttermilk fried chicken to go with all those delicious vegetables! But any way you serve those noodles you’re going to have one delicious meal! Try them as a pasta replacement with your favorite sauce or mix them half and half with pasta to gradually ease your way into just veggies.

If  you enjoyed this recipe you may also like these:

• Buttermilk Chicken and Waffles
• Pesto Three Ways
• Pasta alla Caponata

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5 from 3 votes

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Spiralized Vegetable Noodles and Pesto

If you’ve never tried a spiralizer you don’t know what you’re missing! Use Fresh vegetable noodles and make your dishes extra special and extra delicious!

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8

Calories: 546kcal

Author: Chef Dennis Littley

Ingredients

• 2 zucchini
• 2 beets – peeled
• 2 turnips – peeled

Broccoli Rabe pesto

• 2 cups chopped broccoli rabe leaves and flowers no stems
• ¼ cup grated Romano Cheese
• ¼ cup toasted pine nuts or walnuts
• 2 cloves Garlic
• ¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Pepper Greens Pesto

• 2 cups pepper greens no stems
• ¼ cup grated Romano Cheese
• ¼ cup toasted pine nuts or walnuts
• 2 cloves Garlic
• ¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cups cooking oil or as needed

Vegetable Noodles

• olive oil as needed to saute
• seasonings as needed

US Customary – Metric

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Instructions

Pesto

• To toast your pine nuts get a sauté pan very hot , then turn off the heat, and add your pine nuts. Keep the pine nuts moving around so they toast without burning. Set aside to cool
• Add greens to food processor and pulse till fine
• add pine nuts to greens and pulse until its minced very well.
• Add garlic and grated Romano Cheese, pulse to combine
• Drizzle in the Olive Oil until it has a nice smooth consistency without looking oily

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

• mix four, sea salt and black pepper together
• beat eggs with buttermilk until smooth
• rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels
• dredge chicken in seasoned flour coating all the pieces well.
• dip floured chicken into buttermilk egg mixture, then back into flour. Repeat process until all the chicken has been breaded.
• Allow chicken to rest for 5 minutes before frying.
• Heat large skillet with one inch of cooking oil in pan. heat oil to 350 degrees
• add chicken pieces gently into cooking oil, being careful not to splash hot oil. make sure to have your fan on!
• allow chicken to cook on one side for about 5 minutes or until golden brown, turn over chicken and fry until both sides are golden brown.
• Remove chicken from skillet to paper towels or drying rack and allow to drain for 2 miutes.
• place chicken onto baking dish and into 350 degree oven and bake until an internal temperature of 165 degrees is reached (about 15 minutes)

Vegetable Noodles

• add vegetable noodles to a saute pan with a little olive oil to coat and saute for 3-4 minutes. Add pesto or seasonings and continue to saute for 2 minutes longer. Vegetables will be crisp and can be cooked longer if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 546kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 99mg | Sodium: 852mg | Potassium: 763mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 735IU | Vitamin C: 21.4mg | Calcium: 158mg | Iron: 3.6mg

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