I have finally been well enough, in the last week, to start putting pencil to paper and ingredients into saucepans and make a start inventing, creating or brewing (Cheek! lol) my own recipes. I really do hope I still have my mojo? lol.
This recipe started to form in my brain whilst cruising GlutenFreeGoddess.com and found an posting about using raw courgette as a replacement for cooked pasta. I was intrigued by the beautiful photo of swirls of courgettes on the plate. Of course Karina has a super attachment that fits on her juicer that produces fancy thin stings of courgette. I don't so I've had to used my mandolin on the smallest julienne setting and hope for the best. lol. The courgette needs no cooking as the warm sauce takes off the crispness of the raw vegetable strips. I have been having a slight reaction to gluten recently so I was more than happy to give this idea a try.
GFG serves hers with a Cashew Nut Cream sauce (click on the link at the bottom of this posting for GFG post) but I wanted to serve ours with a tomato based sauce. At first I was going to make Donna Klein's Garden Bolognese but then changed my mind. I had a lush bunch of asparagus in the fridge and the recipe came together very quickly from there.
I started with a large, plump red onion then gathered together garlic, fresh tomato, veggie stock, flageolet beans and then the last ingredient was the Fines Herbes. I love this dried blend of herbs..Parsley, Chervil, Chives and Tarragon..you can buy them at any supermarket.
We both really enjoyed the sauce and luckily the flavours and textures all complimented each other. Phew!
Now the 'raw' spaghetti! Completely works texturally and looks great even if ours was more of a linguine shape due to our mandolin. And one medium courgette per person is more than plenty and it works well as a base neutral 'pasta' like taste against the sauce. However...we both agreed that the coldness of the 'spaghetti' was a little off putting..so to combat this next time...and we will definitely be trying this raw spaghetti again...I will take the courgette out of the fridge in the morning so the veg will be at room temperature instead of chilled..Ooops!...and make sure the sauce/topping is very hot before serving and added right before eating..Ooops darn photos! lol. My Love also suggested warming the serving bowls or plates too. I'm quite excited about trying other sauces out with this raw spaghetti..who knew? lol.
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| Rocket and Roses Asparagus, Tomato and Flageolet Bean sauce on Courgette Spaghetti |
1 large red onion, chopped
1 tsp rapeseed oil or oil of choice
2 garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped
4 ripe tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp fines herbes
1 bunch of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1" lengths..tips separated
1 14oz tin of flageolet beans, rinsed and drained
8 fl oz veggie stock
Salt and black pepper to season, to taste
In a skillet heat a little oil and saute the onion for 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to combine and cook for a further 4 minutes. Add the tomato paste and freshly chopped tomatoes and cook out until the fresh tomatoes have gone pulpy. Add the aspargus stalk pieces and the veggie stock along with the Fines Herbs and stir well to combine. Bring the stock to a gentle boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover and cook until the stalks are just tender.
Add the drained flageolet beans and the asparagus tips to the skillet and stir well and cook for 4 minutes for the beans to be heated through and the tips are 'just' cooked.
Courgette Spaghetti
Work on the 1 med courgette per person ratio.
Courgettes, peeled and any large seeds removed
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| Stage 1 - Prepared courgettes |
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| Stage 2 - Lot's of lovely 'raw' spaghetti |
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| Stage 4 - Place the 'raw' spaghetti in the bowls |
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| Close up of the sauce and raw spaghetti |
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2010/08/raw-zucchini-pasta-in-vegan-curry-cream.html
Enjoy!
~R~
