So, I pretty much have to avoid pasta these days (wheat intolerance) plus trying to reduce carb intake anyway. Serious downside of this is I have had to give up some of my favourite meals – like spag bol.

Until now! My wife bought a spiraliser from amazon (never heard of it before…) and made spaghetti out of courgette. And it tastes amazing!

I am so happy (and full)

Just thought I’d share if anyone has been going through the same horrible situation 🙂

Next thing I’m be getting is a smoothie maker….

No love for spiralisers?!

I dunno, but I like butterbeans as a pasta substitute.

Link?

I use a julienne peeler to make courgette noodle / spaghetti. I guess it results in shorter noodles than a spiraliser, but the end result is basically the same. Lovely fresh veg turned into noodles.

I’ll post a link when i get home, first use really simple. Wish we’d bought one years ago!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=spiralizer+courgette&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=DHa6U_-kIfL30gWs8YCQBQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg

Looks ‘weird’ – surely it wont taste anything like pasta? Which is the whole point?

Mine bought one and it’s the schnizzle! Well impressed, especially when they’re lightly sautéed too, mmm mmm

This is the one we went for:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lurch-1-Piece-Spiralo-Vegetable-Spiralizer/dp/B002USUAH8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1404734199&sr=8-4&keywords=spiraliser

Some of the others don’t use the whole veg and leave a core.

Re – taste, it was lovely, yes not exactly like pasta, but most of the taste of spag bol is the sauce. Didn’t even need to cook it, as the hot sauce does just enough.

There’s good gf pasta btw- dove’s farm is excellent in particular. Heinz spaghetti is a wee bit harder to cook with than normal spaghetti but it tastes like the real thing. Though it is still full of carbs. MMMMM carbs.

Any benefit to having a vertical one v a horizontal one? The horizontal ones look easier to clear the noodles as your one looks like they end up under the cutting blade, Is that taller than it looks?

I think.the horizontal ones leave a ‘core’ so you get less out of the veg. It was simple to use…

Will have to try gf pasta at some point.

“Substitution” foods are universally shit. I’ve seen no end of ‘bread’ and ‘cake’ and ‘pasta’ made from all sorts of weird and wonderful mixes

If you want spag Bol. Just have a bowlful of the Bol bit, or eat less pasta, or just cook up some veg to go on the side, but buying an implement to turn a perfectly good veg into “pretend” pasta?

I’m bored of just having a bowl of Bol and GF pasta is rancid, I can easily Julienne veg with a knife but your then limited to the length of the veg. The spiraliser therefore seems a pretty perfect gadget.

Pik n Mix – Member

GF pasta is rancid

You’re either doing it wrong or buying the wrong stuff- it tastes the same as real pasta, handles much the same too.

Also,

“Substitution” foods are universally shit.

That must be why when the food stall at the scottish enduro series started handing out gluten free bread because they’d run out of normal bread, nobody could tell? (genius seeded, incidentally)

You’re either doing it wrong or buying the wrong stuff- it tastes the same as real pasta, handles much the same too.

I’m really not. It may work for you but it certainly doesn’t for me, goes for bread as well. I’ve tried them all (and I do mean all) and granted some were better than others but none will replace the real thing.

I’ve served Dove’s Farm stuff to a lot of people, they can’t tell. I’d bet money if I put it in front of you, you’d not know either. “Oh, yours looks almost the same as mine!” Yes. “Can I try it? Oh, it tastes almost the same too!” It is the same!

(it does break up a bit though- if you serve a mixed sauce-and-pasta dish and go back for late seconds you find it’s started to lose its structure- eventually it ends up a bit of a soggy mess in the bottom of the dish. But only if you’re a slow eater)

You would lose that money 😉

I can live without bread since I discovered socca and pasta has been replaced by veg (soon to be spiralised veg)

Aah, gluten free isn’t technically a substitute food though, it’s a “food using the same ingredients, but with the bit that makes it either a)work as that intended food, or b) taste nice taken out” See also fat free biscuits. The fact that it was handed out to hungry people who “didn’t notice/chose not to complain” is no proof of edible-ness or even…point. 😆

It you’re not going to eat something then don’t eat it. Replacing it with something vaguely similar but not as tasty just serves to remind one of what your not “allowing” yourself to eat.

but not as tasty

According to who? You?
We are not all the same you know.

Fat free biscuits are not as tasty as real biscuits. This is an undeniable truth ( like the sun setting in the west, Hora buying a bike that is too small for him, that sort if truth)

Wife was also glued to this website last night. I’m looking forward to eating her new creations!

A food blog and resource for cooking healthy recipes with the spiralizer

Re substitute foods, don’t see the problem. I would love to eat pasta, and occasional do (and regret it the next day…). This gets me almost as close. If I closed my eyes I swear my mind thought it was pasta….

Personally I think that I would rather vegetable pasta in quite a few dishes rather than actual pasta just from a taste perspective. Never tried it before but I’m going to buy a julienne peeler to give it a whirl.

Interesting.

I’m a big fan of cauliflower rice, as a rice substitute. Basically floret a cauliflower, then blitz it in a food processor. 7 mins in a microwave and then use as rice. It’ll carry a sauce well, or is great stir fried with prawns, scallops, a bit of chorizo, and veg to make a fake paella. Big portions for <400 cals, perfect for my fast days on the 5:2

Will have to look at this spiralizer for more pasta based experiences.

Pik n Mix – Member

You would lose that money

All I can say is, if you used decent stuff and found it “rancid”, it’s user error. Could there be a minor difference that the couple of dozen people I’ve tried it with just couldn’t tell? I suppose that’s possible if you’ve got a princess-and-pea tongue.

user error

Of course it is. I know what I’m doing, I know what I like. Everyone’s different matey.

If other people can’t tell it from the real thing when I cook it (and as I say, think I’ve made myself a different dish and they’re actually eating normal pasta), but when you cook it it’s “rancid”, then the thing that’s different is the cook, not the diners.

By all means don’t eat it but don’t go trying to put other people off.

Maybe I just have a better palette than you and your diners, not saying it’s definite but it’s as likely as your idea that I’m at fault.
Sorry folks to keep Northwind happy IMO GF pasta is rancid.