I have been searching for a pasta alternative for most of my life. I’ve tried them all.
Spaghetti Squash? Let’s face it, it looks like spaghetti, but it’s squash. It tastes like squash, it feels like squash. It’s not pasta. It’s a great vehicle for any sauce, so if the sauce is your craving, you’re set. But if you want that nice, starchy mouth-feel of pasta with just a little butter and salt? No bueno.
Zucchini noodles? Much closer to pasta texturally! Much easier to cook! Have I found it? But wait, how did it get soggy so fast? And why is there SO MUCH water at the bottom of my bowl? News flash: zucchini is more water than vegetable. It overcooks in 5 seconds, and so much water comes out that your marinara sauce becomes tomato soup before you can taste it.
I have tried to rectify all of these issues in an attempt to perfect my pasta-alternative. I have cooked spaghetti squash every way imaginable: roasted, boiled, microwaved, cooked whole, cooked halved, cooked in quarters, stuffed with filling and roasted after. It’s delicious, totally. But it’s still freaking squash. My 20-year-old adjective came out there.
I have tried salting zucchini noodles to release water. What’d I get? Salt water. I’ve squeezed them through a cheese cloth and got a lovely zucchini puree. I’ve tried spiraling right before cooking and the day before after leaving them on a paper towel. The water never stops. The only alternative I can see is buying local, organic zucchini that might be less watery. But that’s only a 2-month option, if that, in Arkansas.
Frustrated, I had largely put my pasta-search on hold when cloud bread entered my life. A mixture of beaten egg whites and cream cheese is baked into a fluffy, chewy bite. A bread alternative? Now, that’s a start. Cloud bread worked brilliantly for me, and I began to think; can’t one carb replace another?
Then, I see a similar recipe for an egg fast noodle. This recipe is nearly identical but includes the egg yolk for extra stability. However, an egg fast diet is very high in fat, which I do not necessarily need. Cut some fat, and let’s see if this works.
I put the stuff in the oven, and I’m thinking I’m going to end up with a frittata with alfredo on top. I’m worriedly taking inventory of my actual pasta as a backup plan, when my timer goes off. I open it, and I see a clean sheet of egg. It looks like plain ole’ egg. How could this be pasta?
I continue with the recipe, cutting it into strips. As I’m touching it, it feels like a normal, cooked egg noodle. Confused as can be, I finish cutting, top it with sauce, and serve it. Suddenly, I’m eating pasta. Wait, no, it’s eggs. No, it’s pasta. I dreamed the egg thing. This is real pasta.
But it wasn’t. This is the only alternative I have found with the chewiness and bite of pasta. My family thought it was normal egg noodles. They could not believe otherwise.
I don’t know how this works. I really don’t. But I don’t need to. I will accept this as a gift from God and keep making my egg noodles. I hope you do, too.
INGREDIENTS FOR PASTA (serves four):
- 8 eggs
- 4 oz fat-free cream cheese
- salt & pepper
To prepare, preheat the oven to 325. Line three 8-inch square baking pans, or one 9×13 and one 8-inch, with parchment paper and plenty of cooking spray.
In a blender, dump in all the ingredients and blend it up. Once it’s combined, blend for another 2 minutes to get lots of air in there. It should look frothy on top- like an egg cream or eggnog.
Divide among pans and bake for 8-12 minutes, until it’s firm. There should be no wet, shiny spots.
Let cool until you can touch it. Remove from pan and slice with a pizza cutter to desired thickness.
Top with this sauce:
INGREDIENTS FOR ALFREDO:
- 4 oz fat free cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon margarine or butter
- 3 chicken breasts, chopped (TOTALLY optional- there’s enough protein in the pasta that you don’t need this at all)
- 3 cups milk
- 1.5 cups grated parmesean
- salt&pepper
To prepare:
Melt butter in a saucepan, and add chicken, over medium-high heat. Stir until the chicken is cooked. (Or, skip this step and just melt the butter if you don’t want meat)
Add the cream cheese and melt. Add the milk and turn the heat up until it starts boiling, stirring constantly to avoid burning. The evaporation is what thickens it, so let it roll. You’ll feel like it’ll never thicken. It will. Boil boil boil!
Add the Parmesan and the seasoning, and keep it thickening until it coats your spoon!
Gently pour the sauce over the sliced pasta (I just put it all back in the pan I baked the pasta in). Add the chicken and toss carefully to combine.
Serve it up! I garnished with some shredded parm and a dash of extra black pepper.
What else could you do with this? Add shrimp, broccoli, black olives to the sauce. Forgo alfredo, cut the pasta into big sheets, make a lasagna! Bake it in a circle and top it with pizza toppings! Cut it into bread-sized slices and grill a cheese!
I will be eating this many times, and, once you try it, I’m quite certain you will, too.
whenkathycooks 