Welcome and a simple recipe

Welcome to my new blog A Twirly Whirly Blog. I also write a baking blog over at The More Than Occasional Baker. I bought a spiralizer last year and have totally fallen in love with it. Initially I thought it would be another kitchen gadget that I'd use a few times but I was wrong. It's not been relegated to the back cupboard but instead sits on the front shelf where I have easy access to it. I've been using it a few times a week on average and there was a time when every meal was a spiralizer meal. I thought I'd start a blog to share recipes and to get new ideas from fellow readers/bloggers.

First of all I'd like to say I'm not being paid to advertise anything on this blog. There are a lot of spiralizers on the market and mine is not necessarily the best. I chose my spiralizer based on reviews and price and I personally recommend it. I also love the Inspiralized cookbook by Ali Maffucci and a lot of recipes are from her book. It is a great recipe book and I would recommend it if you are new to spiralizing or an old hand but want some new ideas. 

I thought I'd give you a brief introduction to my spiralizer and show you what it looks like. It's essentially a gadget that creates ribbons of vegetables/fruits. It's a great way to incorporate more fruit and vegetables in your diet. Spiralized vegetables are commonly used to replace traditional carbohydrates such as pasta, noodles or rice. My spiralizer has 3 blades that cuts thin 'noodles', thick 'noodles' and ribbons. 

 I bought a Lurch Spirali Spiralizer from Amazon

 It comes with 3 blades - ribbons, thick 'noodles' and thin 'noodles' and has a handy storage compartment for the blades that are not in use

My favourite vegetable to spiralize is courgettes. They are the perfect size and shape and I've found them to be very versatile in recipes. I use them as pasta and noodle replacements. My tips are to get the thick and straight courgettes rather than the curved ones and to make sure the courgette is well centred so you get long noodles rather than circular discs. 

I have a very simple courgette recipe to share with you.  I made a quick sauce with fresh tomatoes, fresh chili,garlic and lemon juice and served the courgetinni with crab meat and pan fried sea bass. This is one of our favourite weeknight meals particularly after a gym session! If you try it, do let me know what you think. If you have any recipe ideas, do leave a comment as I'd love to hear from you. 

 Courgettes, fresh tomatoes, garlic, chili, lemon, canned crab meat and fresh sea bass fillets

 spiralized courgetinni

 Briefly pan fry the fresh tomatoes then add the garlic and chili 

 You can either serve the courgetinni raw or quickly pan fry it which I what I normally do 

 Served with some crab meat and a slice of pan fried sea bass 

Courgettini with tomatoes, chili, lemon and crab with pan fried sea bass

Serves 2 

3 medium sized courgettes, spiralized using the thin blade

2 cloves garlic, chopped 

1 red chili, deseeded and chopped

5 tomatoes on the vine, chopped into large quarters

salt and pepper to season

1 lemon

1 can of crab meat

2 sea bass fillets 

• Spiralize the courgette into thin noodles and set aside.
• Heat a large pan and briefly stir fry the tomatoes. 
• Add the garlic and chili and cook briefly. 
• Season with salt and pepper. 
• If you want to cook the courgette rather than eating it raw, add it to the pan briefly before serving. Otherwise serve the courgetinni raw and pour the sauce on top.
• Just before serving, add a generous squeeze of lemon juice to the tomato sauce. 
• Pan fry the sea bass fillets until cooked.
• Serve the courgetinni with some crab meat on top and the sea bass fillets.