Transcription
Hey guys, it's Melissa. Welcome to my channel. Also, welcome to my kitchen.
In today's video, I'm gonna do a little something different. I wanted to show you guys how I make zucchini noodles, also affectionately known as zoodles. I first got into eating zoodles because I was looking for a way to incorporate more vegetables in my diet. Some of you guys already know I've been trying to figure out ways to improve myself, especially when it comes to my physical health, and I've been focusing on diet and exercise in order to do so. And one thing I noticed about my diet was that it significantly lacked a good amount of vegetables. So I was finding ways of incorporating more vegetables in my everyday meals. That's when I came across using zucchini as noodles as a replacement for pasta.
I've been also trying to reduce the amount of carbs in my diet, could eliminate the amount of sugar in my diet as well. I'm basically on a low-carb, high-fat sort of a diet. My body responds well to low-carb, high-fat. I can go into more detail in another video as to why I chose to attempt that sort of a lifestyle and the results that I've been getting. If you guys are interested with this, let me know in the comments down below. I love spaghetti, so this has been a good alternative for me.
To make zucchini noodles, you'll need a spiralizer. This particular spiralizer comes with three blades. The one that I'm going to use right now, this blade, this is the one that I like using when I'm making my noodles. But then it comes with two other blades that are stored below it, very convenient. Might need a chopping board. This "hunka thing" I bought from Costco. And of course, you're going to need zucchini. You can make more. Sometimes I do make more than just two zucchinis, I'll make three or four, but it ends up being a lot. And I know this when I'm cooking the zucchini, it's a lot easier to manage when it's just two versus three or four.
What you're going to need to do first is chop off the ends of the zucchini after you rinse them and dried them. Make sure you rinse and dry your vegetables off. You need a flat surface in order to attach the zucchini to your spiralizer. So I'm gonna lay down some paper towel on my chopping board. There's a reason for that, I'll explain later. And now I'm going to take one of those zucchinis. I'm going to attach it to the end that has the spikes in it. This is the end that's gonna be pushing the zucchini towards the blade. And then I'm gonna attach it to the end that's almost like a little spoke that helps hold the zucchini in place. The way that this spike works is as you're rotating it, it causes the zucchini to rotate around this spoke, and then that's how it ends up being sliced with the blades that's on this side. It comes with this little handle right here in order to basically provide support as you're pushing the zucchini forward.
You can probably hear there's a little storm going on outside. Actually, it's a pretty big storm that's going on outside, but we're gonna try to ignore it and make our zoodles. With my left hand, I'm providing for to push the zucchini cord, and with my right hand, rotating it. And as you can see, it's making little noodles. It's pretty simple, it's pretty easy. That's why I like using this spiralizer. And at some point, it'll stop moving forward. There's nowhere else for it to go, it's reached the end. And then I'll move the spirals over, I'll spread them out a little bit on the paper towel. When you pull the zucchini chunk out, you'll see that the center is still intact. This is where like the seeds are. You can keep it, you can cook that part if you want, throw in your salad, what have you. And then there's some extra pieces over here.
And then I'm gonna go ahead and spiral the other zucchini. I usually like putting the wider end where the spoke is in order to take advantage of the amount of flesh that's on that end. When you notice before, when I got to the end of zucchini, that part doesn't get spiralized. So I like the end that has the most vegetable to be spiralized. So I'm wasting the least amount. Hopefully that makes sense. And the spiralizer comes with these suction pads on the bottom that helps hold it in place.
Now, the reason why I have the paper towel out and I'm spreading the zucchini noodles out onto the paper towel is because a large portion of zucchini is actually water. I'm feeling zucchini right now, and you can feel how moist it is. You can feel the water content. When you think about noodles, we think about spaghetti, we think about pasta. Nobody wants soggy spaghetti, nobody wants soggy pasta. The thing that you should do in order to kind of reduce the amount of water that ends up being cooked with the zucchini is to spread it out on your paper towel. Pat it dry. So I'm gonna go around patting the zucchini dry for a little bit. I also heard of people sprinkling some salt on the zucchini, especially if you're gonna be salting it anyway, just sprinkling some salt on the zucchini and then letting it sit out for about, you know, 15 minutes or so, and then drying it. Because then the salt can help pull or draw some of the water out of the zucchini. So when you go the patted dry, it's a bit more effective. I personally haven't tried that yet, but that's just a tip, something to try in the future when you make your zoodles, just in case you're having issues with having too much water remaining in them.
Another tip that I have for you guys, when you're spiraling the zucchini, it's basically making multiple long continuous noodles. So when you're eating it or when you're cooking it, if you don't cut them ahead of time, you end up with this really, really, really, really long noodle as you're eating, or multiple really long ones. So at some point, it's good to cut them. Now I'm gonna go ahead and cut these noodles into smaller chunks. That's what I'm talking about. I already transferred the zucchini noodles and I'm gonna set the temperature to about, hmm, medium to high heat. This particular butter is made by Kerrygold, and I usually buy it in bulk from Costco. And the reason why I really like this particular butter is because it's made from milk from grass-fed cows.
So I pour it in the zucchini noodles. It'll cook in like, maybe 10 minutes. Just want to like stir it around with it. It's kind of hard to do when I only have one hand. Usually, I'll be holding onto the handle of the pot. So while that's happening, I'm gonna start making the sauce. Usually with zucchini noodles, I like eating it with one of two sauces. Either I'll put some pesto on top of it. That's my salmon that I was cooking, it's ready. So what I'm gonna be making right now is more of a tomato-based sauce. In this pot, I'm gonna melt a little bit of butter. I just flipped over some zucchinis and turned down the temperature a little bit. It smells so good, you guys. I'm looking forward to diving into this. Anyways, like I was saying, I wanna melt a little bit of butter. I'm gonna put into the pot some diced tomatoes.
Now let's put the whole team in again. This is something that I bought from Costco with organic diced tomatoes. This may or may not be enough diced tomatoes. I think when I add just a little bit more. Check on my zucchini. You don't smell it? Pretty much done. I'm gonna turn off the heat. Move back to my sauce. It's starting to boil. I like to add some garlic. I also like to add some Italian seasoning, as well as some salt. And then you can just go ahead and give it a nice stir. How long you cook this for, how long depends on the consistency of the sauce that you want. In order to compensate for the wateriness of the zucchini, then I would recommend that you leave this on the stove boiling or simmering for a bit longer in order to allow the water content to evaporate more.
Now for phase three, my favorite part, and that is eating. I sprinkled on some Parmesan cheese on top. Put some pesto on the side. But yeah, this is the final product. Let me know in the comments down below what you thought and if you've ever tried making zoodles. If you thought this video was helpful, make sure you give it a thumbs up and feel free to share it along with others. Until next time, you guys, Bon Appétit.