Vegetable ‘Pasta’

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For the family/person that is cutting back or totally eliminating gluten, pasta is often a sad loss…  At least it is for me.  One alternative is to cook pasta for those people that can eat it and let those that can’t eat pasta they can use some of the new substitute pasta like quinoa, rice, spelt, etc.  Often if you look at the label though, these are not necessarily fully gluten free.  Here’s another neat choice.  Vegetable ‘pasta’.

For most kids getting more vegetables into their diet is a bit of a trial.  This is one way that they might even like vegetables and maybe even ask you to make them.

Most typically this type of ‘pasta’ is used in raw cooking.  There is no reason whatsoever that you can’t steam the vegetables before you put a sauce on them or just put a warm/hot sauce on them before you serve it.  The pasta is usually so light that it takes very little effort to warm and soften it.

The most common pasta vegetable is the versatile zucchini.  It is mild in taste and takes on the flavours of sauce well and holds its shape fairly well.  It is usually of reasonable size and is fairly straight.

But don’t stop there.  Experiment!  Most of the root vegetables lend themselves really well to this application.  They are usually served raw to lightly cooked so most of the nutrients are retained.  Carrots full of carotene.  Parsnips make light and fluffy noodles great for Asian soups and are great for the brain.  Sweet potatoes come in many colors.  Beets provide a great contrast.  There are so many varieties of squashes! Not just the spaghetti squash.

Just imagine a pasta dish served with one or more of all those wonderful vegetables.