Share Alike Cooking: "Zoodles" of Squash Noodles

Now to DISENGAGE the machine, simply lift the four LITTLE TABS on individual suction cups.

It's Time To Disassemble The Machine For Cleaning:

Under WARM WATER, use a (dish brush) and EASILY rinse any vegetable roughage off the machine!

COOKING YOUR
OODLES & "ZOODLES"
OF SQUASH NOODLES

There are several ways of preparing the squash noodles:

1) SALTING/ reduces water & later wash away salt.

Step 1: Place the spiraled squash into a colander or wire strainer, generously toss with salt until the strands are lightly coated. Let that sit (with a bowl sitting on top - as weight - for 20-30 minutes) to remove the EXCESS WATER. Rinse with running water and drain well. Pat dry with paper towels.

Now you have 2 CHOICES: either now saute the saute the noodles OR for AL DENTE noodles return them uncovered colander IN the fridge for 1-2 MORE HOURS. This allows the strands to DEHYDRATE all the more. (Your choice.)

2) BLANCHING / stops the enzyme actions, retains flavor.

Dip the strands of squash in a colander of boiling water for 30 seconds, the plunge into ice cold water to stop the cooking process. Saute as directed below.

3) SAUTEING / until tender-crisp.
In olive oil, saute the squash to your liking with lightly salt & pepper.

Make SURE you serve your YUMMY "ZOODLES" & fresh tomato sauce in a BOWL, because simply sauteing (w/o salting or blanching) creates a ton of juice, and I mean a TON of YUMMY juice! (...that is long as your sauce is very yummy!) It's your call.

As for me... I actually don't mind it. (For example) Recently, I LOVED my recently garden fresh sauteed zucchini "ZOODLES", which tasted so AMAZING, but I admit the amount of JUICE they produced was a rather SHOCKING at first. In fact, I thought something went wrong with my fresh tomato marinara sauce recipe! After all.. I'd forgotten to deseed the tomatoes, that time any way! So I was SURE IT was my FAULT! Then we determined the sauce was fine served over wheat pasta, Thereafter, I learned the additional steps to reducing the water and even more, which is what inspired this post!

4) SWEATING / BEST WAY to reduce water.

Preheat your oven to 200°F.
Wash and peel your zucchini squash.
Insert the ⅛-inch slicing disc into your spiral slicer. Place 1 squash on the prongs and line up the de-seeding hole in the middle of the end of the squash. Turn the crank until you’ve reached the end and have beautiful noodles!
Alternatively, use a julienne slicer to cut thin strands of zucchini. Once you’ve reached the seeds in the middle, flip the squash over and start again until you’ve reached the seeds from the other side. Discard the center portion with the seeds.
Place the noodles on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt.
“Sweat” the noodles in the oven for 30 minutes until the paper towels have absorbed most of the moisture that the zucchini let. Wrap the paper towels over the noodles and give them a good squeeze to extract any remaining liquid.*
The noodles will be drier but not soft after step 6 so you will want to cook them further at this point. Add them into your sauce and let them simmer for about 10 minutes for al dente, or 15 for soft and silky.

*Zucchinis hold a lot of moisture and will make dishes watery, if you add them in uncooked, Step 6 step helps to eliminate that.