Thirdly, I don’t want to have to make frequent trips across the kitchen to finish clearing everything up because the mandoline is located in a different drawer on the opposite side of the room from the other utensils I’m using (see, I told you it was the lazy girl’s version).
No, which is kind of odd, I haven’t cut myself on one yet, but I just find them to be so annoying.
I’m late to the party, has the ship sailed already, and is everyone aware that mandolines are a stupid way to cut zucchini ribbons?
First of all, you have to use them extremely carefully. Secondly, I don’t want to add to the pressure of knowing that my hand is about to meet its demise when I’m rushing around a kitchen or my hands are shaking from hunger. Should I happen to “ooops” and slip for an instant, I might end up severing flesh. My flesh. No me gusta. (do not tell me about spiralizers. Yes, they’re fantastic and do protect your hands, but I don’t have the room or money for such a fancy device.
Since the weather isn’t cooperating with my belief that it is summer yet, I decided to go with a very green theme using peas and pesto. Additionally, I added some crème fraîche and topped it with spinach, Parmesan shavings, and lemon zest (believe me, the lemon zest really does make all the difference). I can only picture how delicious this would be if there were some croutons added. But don’t even get me started on that.
How to make Zoodles not watery or soggy
In essence, zucchini are green, solidified tubes of water that we refer to as vegetables. The minute you burst into one, the cell walls are sliced open and begin releasing waterfalls of liquid (seriously, they’re made of about 2095 percent water, aren’t they crazy?)
A zucchini releases even more water when it cooks. The solution? Saute in small batches. In this manner, the liquid that the zucchini released can have an opportunity to evaporate off the hot pan’s surface. When you add too many zoodles to the pan, they will all release their liquid at once and steam one another in the pan’s bottom rather than sautéing. Resulting in a sad soggy mess.
The other culprit is salt. When you salt a zucchini, it releases more water, so if you happen to accidentally salt it while it’s cooking, the water problem will only get worse. The answer is to salt your zoodles right before serving, as soon as you remove them from the heat.
Granted, this goes against what your grandmother taught you, but in general, vegetables should be salted first thing in the cooking process to allow the salt to absorb and enhance the flavor. However, save the salting for right before serving when it comes to zoodles and the Battle Against the Sog.
Use a box cheese grater
Finally, you can even use a box grater to make zoodles. Grate it lengthwise, aiming to create the longest possible strands. These “noodles” will be extremely thin and will discharge a large amount of water. Before sautéing, I would try to squeeze some of the water out in a paper towel. Grated zoodles are almost never al dente, so this is not my preferred method.
