My soon to be mother-in-law gifted me an amazing spiral slicer for my birthday this past May. I first saw this unique kitchen tool used by the always fabulous Mimi Kirk in her raw cookbook, Live Raw. Ever since then, I had the itch to experiment with making my own veggie "noodles". I thought they'd be a welcome change of pace from regular gluten-free pasta, something I tend to make at least once a week.
Now that our summer garden currently resembles a wild jungle of produce, we have more cucumbers than we know what to do with--which is a fantastic problem to have. Using the spiral slicer, I grabbed a few fresh large cucumbers and spun them into something I'd like to call "un-spaghetti". I left the dark green peel on for some added color to the "noodles" and immediately tossed them with balsamic vinaigrette, crumbled bleu gorgonzola cheese, diced red onion, and warm roasted pecans. This is a vegetarian dish but could easily be made vegan by using a non-dairy crumbled cheese instead. It's a perfect light summer bite that creates a whole new take on salad.
Spiral Cucumber "Noodles" with Balsamic and Bleu Gorgonzola
Yield: 2 servings
- 2 medium cucumbers
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- 1/4 cup crumbled bleu gorgonzola cheese (or non-dairy option)
- 1/4 roasted pecans
- balsamic vinaigrette
- Optional: salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- Using a spiral slicer, spin two unpeeled cucumbers into long noodle-like ribbons.
- Toss with all other ingredients and serve as a fresh take on salad.
