Tonight, I made zoodles. They are... well? They are. You either love them, or don't. I happen to think they are great, if done right. There is a trick to them, and it's worth it. Trust me. If you don't salt your damn zoodles, and drain them well? You are going to have a big fucking mess on your hands. And when I say drain, I mean drain. You'll need a colander over a bowl, but to really get them drained well, you'll also need a clean tea towel to squuuuzzz all of that zucchini juice out of there. I always let them drain for at least an hour before working with them.
Today being Thursday, there weren't a ton of other things in the house. I didn't even have onions, which is kind of weird, if we are being honest. I use onions in just about every damn thing I do. So, I improvised a bit. I had some of my favourite Italian sausage, the zoodles, a pack of criminis, garlic, one hell of a very sad tomato, flour, butter, thyme, smoked paprika, and surprisingly, some plain Greek Yogurt.
This sauce had not even entered my brain place until I gave it a little thought. Originally, I thought I'd brown the sausage, brown the mushrooms, and add the zoodles to that with lots of chopped garlic. But... I decided to get creative, mainly because I organized my kitchen even further, and had more space to work with.
Aaaanyway, when everything was done, it was GOOOOOOD. I mean hump my leg, good.
So, I'll quit beating around the bush, and get to it. Let's get it on...
Mise En Place:
Medium sauce pan
Measuring jug
Cutting board
Knife
Immersion blender, or heat-proof blender.
3 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 tbsp olive oil
3 1/2 tablespoons flour, or flour equivalent as the case may be (I use potato for this.)
4 cloves roughly chopped garlic
1 cup greek yogurt
1 cup water
1 very sad tomato, baked
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp smoked paprika
a good pinch of salt, to taste
Method:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees, F, 150 C.
Slice your sad assed tomato in half, and place in a small baking dish, skin side down, and coat the cut sides with olive oil, and salt. You can also use butter here. I have baked tomatoes in both, and they are tasty, either way. It's a low enough temperature that you aren't going to burn the butter in the cooking time. Anyway, bake your tomato for about 90 minutes or so. I check this about every 30 minutes. to mark progress. You want a tomato that looks cooked down, and a bit dry on top. If you take it out too soon, it will be a bit too wet.
Start your sauce, by placing your yogurt and water into a jug. Whisk to combine. You could really also just use milk, here. It's basically a Bechamel base, but when it's Thursday, and you don't want to go to the store until tomorrow, because you are damn stubborn, this is what you do.
Next, start the actual cooking by placing your chopped garlic, and butter into a sauce pan. Allow this to bubble away for about 3-5 minutes, until it smells fucking amazing in your kitchen.
Add flour. Stir this around until incorporated, and then allow THAT to bubble for a minute or so.
Slowly add your dairy mixture. I do this in stages as it thickens, so I can watch. Because I like to watch. Also, I like to be able to control the thickness, which can vary slightly, depending on humidity, etc. You want to dump a bunch of cold milk into a hot roux? Well? It will still come out fine, I'm sure. I just like to watch. Heh.
Once that's done, thick, and glorious, you can remove your pan from the stove, and add your halved tomato to the sauce. Blend with an immersion blender, or dump into a heat-proof blender if that's what you have. Or... you could probably just mash the hell out of the tomato with a fork, and then add it in, if you have neither. It's all fine, although that won't be AS fine.
Now, you can add your paprika, thyme, and salt.
Kaboom! This will serve at least 8 people over pasta, over zoodles, etc.
Enjoy!
-H
Today being Thursday, there weren't a ton of other things in the house. I didn't even have onions, which is kind of weird, if we are being honest. I use onions in just about every damn thing I do. So, I improvised a bit. I had some of my favourite Italian sausage, the zoodles, a pack of criminis, garlic, one hell of a very sad tomato, flour, butter, thyme, smoked paprika, and surprisingly, some plain Greek Yogurt.
This sauce had not even entered my brain place until I gave it a little thought. Originally, I thought I'd brown the sausage, brown the mushrooms, and add the zoodles to that with lots of chopped garlic. But... I decided to get creative, mainly because I organized my kitchen even further, and had more space to work with.
Aaaanyway, when everything was done, it was GOOOOOOD. I mean hump my leg, good.
So, I'll quit beating around the bush, and get to it. Let's get it on...
Mise En Place:
Medium sauce pan
Measuring jug
Cutting board
Knife
Immersion blender, or heat-proof blender.
3 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 tbsp olive oil
3 1/2 tablespoons flour, or flour equivalent as the case may be (I use potato for this.)
4 cloves roughly chopped garlic
1 cup greek yogurt
1 cup water
1 very sad tomato, baked
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp smoked paprika
a good pinch of salt, to taste
Method:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees, F, 150 C.
Slice your sad assed tomato in half, and place in a small baking dish, skin side down, and coat the cut sides with olive oil, and salt. You can also use butter here. I have baked tomatoes in both, and they are tasty, either way. It's a low enough temperature that you aren't going to burn the butter in the cooking time. Anyway, bake your tomato for about 90 minutes or so. I check this about every 30 minutes. to mark progress. You want a tomato that looks cooked down, and a bit dry on top. If you take it out too soon, it will be a bit too wet.
Start your sauce, by placing your yogurt and water into a jug. Whisk to combine. You could really also just use milk, here. It's basically a Bechamel base, but when it's Thursday, and you don't want to go to the store until tomorrow, because you are damn stubborn, this is what you do.
Next, start the actual cooking by placing your chopped garlic, and butter into a sauce pan. Allow this to bubble away for about 3-5 minutes, until it smells fucking amazing in your kitchen.
Add flour. Stir this around until incorporated, and then allow THAT to bubble for a minute or so.
Slowly add your dairy mixture. I do this in stages as it thickens, so I can watch. Because I like to watch. Also, I like to be able to control the thickness, which can vary slightly, depending on humidity, etc. You want to dump a bunch of cold milk into a hot roux? Well? It will still come out fine, I'm sure. I just like to watch. Heh.
Once that's done, thick, and glorious, you can remove your pan from the stove, and add your halved tomato to the sauce. Blend with an immersion blender, or dump into a heat-proof blender if that's what you have. Or... you could probably just mash the hell out of the tomato with a fork, and then add it in, if you have neither. It's all fine, although that won't be AS fine.
Now, you can add your paprika, thyme, and salt.
Kaboom! This will serve at least 8 people over pasta, over zoodles, etc.
Enjoy!
-H
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