‘COURGETTI’ SPAGHETTI: A CRAZE FOR VEGGIE PASTA AMONG CARB-FREE EATERS
EAT PASTA, loads and loads of it – and watch yourself get fit and healthy. In case you think I’ve gone off the dietary rails, let me clarify: I’m talking not about the carb-crammed, gluten-laden sort, such as spaghetti carbonara drenched in cream and bacon, but eye-catching pasta made from vegetables. Pasta without the guilt.
Top of the vegetable pasta pops is courgette, easily transformed into spaghetti-like worms – or “courgetti”, as they’ve become known.
At first glance, it’s hard to tell a plate of courgetti apart from one of pesto-clad spaghetti, and the texture is not dissimilar either. But for the growing number of gluten-free, raw and health-conscious eaters, vegetable pasta is a godsend.
Even spaghetti bolognese is back on the menu. Melissa and Jasmine Hemsley, among the first food bloggers in the UK to make vegetable spaghetti fashionable, have brought solace to thousands of gluten-intolerants with their standout beef ragu with courgetti, which is as near as dammit to the sinful original.
Ella Woodward also champions courgetti in her best-selling cookbook Deliciously Ella. Of her recipe for courgette noodles with minted avocado sauce, she swears that “this is the richest, creamiest pasta I’ve eaten in years, honestly it tastes like there’s a pot of cream in the sauce. The texture perfectly echoes that of carbonara… A lot of excited yelping could be heard around the house the first time I made this.”
The Hemsleys, Woodward, et al are using other vegetables, such as beetroot, carrot and cucumber, to trick our eyes and palates with equal success.
If you’re wondering how you transform your vegetables into spaghetti, reach for the latest must- have gadget, the spiraliser.
Last year, the Hemsley sisters branded their own spiraliser, which was sold like hot cakes through retailers Selfridges and Lakeland’s.
“We knew it would be a hit, but not to this extent,” says Wendy Miranda, Lakeland’s customer ambassador. “I can’t think of another gadget that has flown out this fast.”
The appeal of the spiraliser, Miranda says, is that it’s fun and easy to use, and the food it produces is attractive, healthy and tasty.
“It’s the perfect way to get kids to eat vegetables. They can enjoy getting involved in preparing their meals,” she says. “Young adults are loving spiralisers, too. They’re inspired by the bloggers and see the machines as trendy.
“Spiralisers are affordable – certainly they cost a lot less than those pasta-making machines many of us have stashed away gathering dust in our kitchen cupboards.”
A handheld julienne peeler will also do the trick. Or if even that’s too much, stick with your potato peeler – you won’t get elegant spaghetti, but flat ribbons you can call tagliatelle.
Another vegetable being put to novel uses is the cauliflower. Marry it with a grater and, hey presto, you have wheat-free “tabbouleh” or “rice”.
You can do plenty else with it. “Cauliflower is truly versatile,” says Lee Holmes, author of Eat Clean Green and Vegetarian (Murdoch Books). “It can be used as an alternative to mashed potato or as a dairy-free option to add richness to soups instead of cream. I also love it as an alternative to flour in pizza.”
Cauliflower couscous is appearing on the menus of many fashionable eateries in the UK.
The idea of using vegetables as eye-catching carb substitutes is nothing new – chefs were doing it to impress in the 1990s – but home cooks today are doing it primarily to cut down on gluten and fattening carbs. – The Independent