Behold the Mighty “Zoodle!”
Yes, I am a “Zoodleholic”…it all began when my wife Alex didn’t want pasta one night – but we had a lot of Zucchini, so she bought this nifty “Zoodler” and away we went!
A recent post by the “Cook and Drink” Chefs Michiel and Jean reminded me of how much fun this is – and I will be sharing their incredible Zucchini recipe as well – let’s “Zoodle!”
It’s fast and easy: this machine turns your Zucchini, Yellow or Green, into delicious “noodles” for cooking! As delicious as regular pasta noodles, but so much healthier!
I have used both colors of Zucchini, but for this video, we sent some green Zucchini through the process:
Voila! Oh, and as you can tell, unless your Zucchini breaks or you stop partway through, you get a VERY LONG ZOODLE!
You also get the center of the Zucchini to come out as a long tube…which I dice and add to my recipe!
Time For Fried Zucchini Zoodles – “alla Nerano” Style!
So, what to make? Well, I am in love with Stanley Tucci’s delicious fried Zucchini pasta dish, called “Spaghetti alla Nerano”- so I decided to do this recipe with a twist: I’m going to use Yellow Zucchini “Zoodles” instead!
You pat them dry several times with paper towels, because they sweat – then, while they are drying, it’s time to slice your yellow squash thinly, heat some oil on your stove in a small pan, and then fry your squash slices!
As you can see, frying the slices of Yellow Zucchini first in Canola Oil, leaves them slightly crispy – and a bit of sea salt and dried basil makes them ready to use!
Just as I did in the video with the green Zucchini, I “zoodled” my yellow squash and got ready to cook it up, which takes almost no time at all – but first I needed two of my best friends:
My Blogging friend Robbie Cheadle knows I love bacon – and she does too – so this is an homage to her! I sautéed some bacon and garlic in butter and olive oil for about 5 minutes, then added the yellow squash – it only takes two minutes to cook!
Salt and pepper to taste, but folks, that’s just how easy this is to make! I find the best way to cook these “zoodles” is to toss them in and push them around, coating them with the garlic, bacon, butter an oil…then it’s time to serve!
Plate your “zoodles” and top them with the fried zucchini – I take all of the sauce in the pan and make a nice Yellow Sea around them, like an island in the middle of a delicious butter and oil ocean!
There you have it!
Delicious, healthy mostly and fun and easy to make! Of course I have to thank Stanley Tucci for the inspiration:
Here is what the dish looks like with Linguini pasta and green zucchini!
I was inspired to share this because of this picture:
The great Chefs Michiel and Jeen shared one of their own delicious zucchini recipes of their own! As they posted:
“How about a delicious, vegetarian starter, one that is easy to make and requires only a handful of ingredients? It combines orecchiette, zucchini (courgette), parsley, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and black pepper.
“Parsley is often used, as decoration, to add a touch of green to a dish. Which is such a pity, because parsley is not just a bit of green: it’s a delicate herb. In this dish it’s crucial: you will taste its slight bitterness and its peppery notes. At the same time, it enhances the flavour of the zucchini and it brings everything together.
Pasta-wise we think orecchiette is perfect for this dish. The ‘ears’ allow you to taste everything in the dish, with every bite.”
I love their recipes and their website – see this recipe here:
Stanley Tucci made a brilliant food film called “Big Night”, and it involved making this dish:
A “Timpano!”
I made this incredible “pasta pie” as part of my “52 In 22 Cooking Challenge” – remember when my wife Alex captured me taking it out of the oven and our friend David jumped in to help me plate it? Here’s that video:
Making this dish was a day long process but it was worth it!
Click here to see the recipe!
Stanley Tucci Rules!
I’ve cooked from Stanley Tucci’s cookbook many times – here is another family recipe, and guess what?
It was my #1 most viewed post, and you can see why by clicking on my story here:
Here was the second most popular:
“Sunday Gravy” With A Tucci Assist!
Yep, this “Sopranos” Sunday Gravy recipe had a Tucci assist – click here to see why:
Thanks to Chefs Michiel and Jean for the great zucchini recipe!
If you like what you see, please click on my link and follow this blog as well!
Thank you for following along on my culinary journey. If you like the story, share it with friends on social media! Thanks!
Categories: 52 In 22!, Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Chef memoirs, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Fine Dining, Food, Food Porn, Food Writing, Movies, Recipes, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
Your contraption looks like it works better than my Kitchen-aid attachment.
It’s made just to make these noodles – a “one and done” contraption to be sure!
Hi John, this is definitely a most delicious looking dish and I love zucchini which we call courgettes here. Thanks for the shout out, I Leo love bacon 🥓
Thanks for reading – always great to hear from you
Love zucchini, know of zoodles, have eaten them but do not have your ‘inspired’ contraption in my kitchen. They are very popular Down Under from the health viewpoint of fewer white carbs and more of the green stuff 🙂 ! And we even have Tucci here on our free TV stations even tho’ our huge number of cooking shows do tend o be more British or Asian . . .