ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Weston Ochse is a former intelligence officer and special operations soldier who has engaged enemy combatants, terrorists, narco smugglers, and human traffickers. His personal war stories include performing humanitarian operations over Bangladesh, being deployed to Afghanistan, and a near miss being cannibalized in Papua New Guinea. His fiction and non-fiction has been praised by USA Today, The Atlantic, The New York Post, The Financial Times of London, and Publishers Weekly. The American Library Association labeled him one of the Major Horror Authors of the 21st Century. His work has also won the Bram Stoker Award, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and won multiple New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. A writer of more than 26 books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson. His military sci fi series, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war. Weston likes to be called a chaotic good paladin and challenges anyone to disagree. After all, no one can really stand a goody two-shoes lawful good character. They can be so annoying. It's so much more fun to be chaotic, even when you're striving to save the world. You can argue with him about this and other things online at Living Dangerously or on Facebook at Badasswriter. All content of this blog is copywrited by Weston Ochse.

Friday, January 24, 2014

6 Dangers in Making Zucchini Noodles and Aoli

Making Zucchini Noodles can be more dangerous 
than you think!


I did it.

If you read yesterday's post, you know that I was going attempt to make zucchini noodles for the first time. It was pathetically easy. Thanks to Against All Grain for the buying advice for the slicer and the tutorial.

I took a video on my iPad but lacked the skill necessary for me to upload it to YouTube. It wanted me to log-in but wouldn't let me type anything. So I'm afraid I leave you with this link, instead. It's about 2:54 minutes. Stay until the end. You'll crack up.

But there was some danger, so here are the things to watch for.

1. Make sure your slicer is secured to the counter. As you can see in the video, mine moved around a lot in the beginning. I could have lost a finger or even an arm.

2. Don't try and turn the wheel with your left hand like I did. It makes you look goofy and not all of the noodles come out long and beautiful. Once I got the hang of it, some of my noodles were four feet long.
3. Block the view of family and friends who want to watch. This will keep them from laughing uproariously at you and will, in turn, keep you from wanting to push them through the noodle slicer.

4. When making aoli, it makes a big difference in how many garlic cloves you add. I used six garlic cloves and 3/4 cup of avocado oil, two egg whites, and salt and pepper (pulsed until thick). It would have worked find with three cloves. The evening news showed a significant increase in vampire deaths in our zip code and the ones surrounding us. I'm positive that this was from our breath. We should be paid for our service.

5. Sweat the noodles in the oven by placing them in a single layer on a paper towel on an oven tray. Sprinkles with sea salt. Put the oven to 225 deg for 30 minutes. Then remove. You still might want to dab them with paper towels or else your pasta will be too watery.

6. When adding the noodles to reheat and finish in a saute pan, do it gently. Fold them into the sauce, don't stir. Do this for five minutes on medium low heat and you'll rock the meal.

So what did I make?

Zucchini noodle pasta with a lemon aoli, kalamata olives, chives, and Parmesan cheese.

Recipe
Makes 2 servings.
  • Noodles from two large zucchini, sweated and ready.
  • Make Aoli (see above) but also add 4 tbs lemon juice, and use less garlic than I used.
  • Drain can of kalamata olives, then pulse in food processor until quarter-moon size.
  • In deep frying/saute pan poor two tbs olive oil and heat high. Add olives for two minutes, then reduce to medium low. Add noodles and fold several times. Add aoli and fold until noodles are completely coated. Heat for 4 minutes. Add 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, fold, then serve. I added a little baked fish for protein and crunch.
This was delicious.

I'd like to hear how others make zuchini noodles.

If you try this, please let me know.

Cheers

Now go cook and buy my books

Weston Ochse
Renaissance Man
Super Hero for Rent
Yakuza of the Written Word






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