Zoodles

I grew up eating pasta, a couple times a week - no less. my mum, and nonna have always made pasta sauce from scratch and in huge variety. bolognese, amatriciana, arrabiata, napoletana (also known as 'stupid sauce' in my family because it's so easy it's stupid), carbonara (the real way, none of this cream business), formaggio e burro, the list goes on! So i've never really thought to buy a pasta sauce that is complete, if i do it's like a barilla jar that i'll add veggies and protein to. i do however, find supermarkets fascinating. i don't buy very much at all from them but i just like looking. i was in a small, local supermarket that had some pasta sauces in the freezer section, super dooper gourmet - how did i know this? because the price tag was also super dooper gourmet.

so once i get the sauce ideas flowing (prawn and chorizo this time around), i then need GOOD pasta. i am the biggest pasta snob you'll ever meet, i only eat it out if i can be assured it's not a disappointment. i'm not fussy normally but pasta is something that is so easy to make for me and i've eaten it forever so i don't want to waste time, and a meal on sub-par pasta. yeah, i know i'm sounding like an absolute wanker at this point.

if i'm buying packet pasta, it's barilla all the way for me (this is not a sponsored post, i just love barilla). their egg pappardelle is an absolute delight and a half. so i normally choose that. today, however, the shelf was empty!! panic began to swirl around me, what do you mean my favourite very specific, non-conventional variety of pasta that is generally unavailable in the normal range of barilla had run out?! instead of supplementing (apparently i couldn't bring myself to do that this particular day) i went home empty handed thinking i'll just have it with rice. yeah, that's not sacrilegious at all.

when i got home, i took a well-deserved instagram break and checked my feed for the 5768493 time for the day (:P) and saw zoodles. i had zucchinis in the fridge from my nonno's garden, all weird shaped and knobbly, but zucchinis nonetheless. i don't have a cool, whizz-bang spirooli machine but i do have a conventional potato peeler so i started peeling the zucchinis in their entirety and it worked a treat. zoodles was now on the menu and evened out the richness of my prawn and chorizo sauce superbly. day saved.

Zoodles

Ingredients
2 zucchinis, peeled into ribbons
12 prawns, raw and peeled
1 chorizo sausage, sliced
1/2 red capsicum, roughly chopped
3/4 cup tomato passata
1/2 onion, sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves
Crushed chilli to taste

Method
Heat sliced chorizo in a medium pan, stirring until the oil from the sausage begins to separate
Add garlic, onions, capsicum, and chilli
Saute until onions have begun to caramelise - around 10-15 minutes
Add the tomato passata, combine and then add in the prawns
Cook until they have all just turned orange
Serve atop your zucchini ribbons with freshly cracked black pepper

Serves 2-3