Zucchini as noodle = genius! It is a great way to use up the ever-prolific zucchini, does not require purchasing a packaged anything, is GF, and looks amazing. oh yeah!
Before embarking on this recipe, I was worried that the "noodles" would fall apart, or that the whole pasta dish would just taste like zucchini sauce - which while not bad, was not what I was going for. Instead, the zucchini takes on a noodle form that is really zucchini-ish. It holds its own flavor rather than blend in with the sauce AND keeps a noodle shape that you can twirl up on your fork!
I followed a recipe from the
New York Times and it used a veggie peeler to peel thin strips from the zucchini. Other recipes talked about mandolines and skinny julienned strips, and I have neither a mandoline nor the patience to cut such uniform tiny noodles. They look nice though, and I think you could go raw that way: just salt and sweat them for 30 minutes.
For these I peeled each zuke down to the seeds - you'll know when you get there because they get harder to peel. Also, the directions to saute in olive oil for just 3 minutes seem critical - it gets your peeled slices somewhat translucent and al dente like, but not at all overcooked. (Also keeps your noodles from losing their integrity! they don't get mushy at all.) I topped mine with a quick sauce of mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage, wine, fresh basil and oregano, and pepper flakes. Really really yummy and very filling. I like the original recipe's light topping of just parmesan, salt and pepper too.
Before embarking on this recipe, I was worried that the "noodles" would fall apart, or that the whole pasta dish would just taste like zucchini sauce - which while not bad, was not what I was going for. Instead, the zucchini takes on a noodle form that is really zucchini-ish. It holds its own flavor rather than blend in with the sauce AND keeps a noodle shape that you can twirl up on your fork! 
I followed a recipe from the New York Times and it used a veggie peeler to peel thin strips from the zucchini. Other recipes talked about mandolines and skinny julienned strips, and I have neither a mandoline nor the patience to cut such uniform tiny noodles. They look nice though, and I think you could go raw that way: just salt and sweat them for 30 minutes.
For these I peeled each zuke down to the seeds - you'll know when you get there because they get harder to peel. Also, the directions to saute in olive oil for just 3 minutes seem critical - it gets your peeled slices somewhat translucent and al dente like, but not at all overcooked. (Also keeps your noodles from losing their integrity! they don't get mushy at all.) I topped mine with a quick sauce of mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage, wine, fresh basil and oregano, and pepper flakes. Really really yummy and very filling. I like the original recipe's light topping of just parmesan, salt and pepper too.
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