I was planning meals last week and thought the kale and cannellini-stuffed sweet potato meal I'd made before sounded good, but then I remembered a friend's recent Instagram post that showed a pan full of sweet potato "noodles," and I was reminded that I wanted to try that out. I'd had some success making "zoodles," or zucchini noodles, and I wanted to experiment more with alternative forms of pasta. So I basically decided to deconstruct the stuffed sweet potato meal and switch out kale for spinach.
Ingredients
2 medium-to-large sweet potatoes
2 bags baby spinach
1 BPA-free box cannellini beans
2 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil
salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne
I used the same piece of equipment--a mandolin--as I used for the zoodles. I had a little more difficulty with the raw sweet potatoes, as they're much firmer than zucchini, so I had to press the potato across the blade with more force, which made me more likely to also slice a finger (which I did, but it was minor, but still required a bandaid break). The other drawback to this method is that I can only get my "noodles" a certain length--from the blade to the base of the mandolin, which is approximately four inches.
In practice (i.e., when I'm eating), this isn't a problem; if they were any longer, I'd cut them anyway. But appearance-wise, it bothers me just a little. Another friend who'd made zoodles told me she used the slicing disk on her food processor to get the form, and I thought, hmm, I wonder if that's one of those extra parts I've kept in a baggie when my dad gave me his food processor... So next time I may try that method.
Back to my meal. I soon realized it was easier to first quarter the sweet potatoes length-wise to get them to slice easier. And then I had a sort of core left for each quarter, because the thinner the quarters got, the closer my fingers got to the blade, so I had to abort and discard the core. Eventually, I got as much sliced as I possibly could without creating a blood bath, and I added them to my pan, which had been heated on medium with garlic and olive oil:
The hard part was over. Once my noodles cooked down some and began to get tender, I added in TWO WHOLE BAGS of baby spinach. I started with one bag, but I knew from experience that one bag of raw spinach cooks down to about a child-sized handful (never ceases to amaze me), so I then added another. Once the spinach was all wilted (beautiful image, no?), I added the cannellini beans, and then some seasoning.
I let it all cook for a few more minutes, until the noodles were the texture I wanted and the beans were warm. In the end, I probably spent no more than 25 minutes preparing this meal. The bulk of the work was in slicing the potatoes. And the final product was delicious:
Sweet potato noodles, which I've decided should be termed "spoodles," are a winner. I'll definitely make them again, but perhaps using a different piece of equipment. I need my fingers intact.
Ingredients
2 medium-to-large sweet potatoes
2 bags baby spinach
1 BPA-free box cannellini beans
2 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil
salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne
I used the same piece of equipment--a mandolin--as I used for the zoodles. I had a little more difficulty with the raw sweet potatoes, as they're much firmer than zucchini, so I had to press the potato across the blade with more force, which made me more likely to also slice a finger (which I did, but it was minor, but still required a bandaid break). The other drawback to this method is that I can only get my "noodles" a certain length--from the blade to the base of the mandolin, which is approximately four inches.
.JPG) |
| Slicing away . . . little bit of potato, little bit of finger. |
Back to my meal. I soon realized it was easier to first quarter the sweet potatoes length-wise to get them to slice easier. And then I had a sort of core left for each quarter, because the thinner the quarters got, the closer my fingers got to the blade, so I had to abort and discard the core. Eventually, I got as much sliced as I possibly could without creating a blood bath, and I added them to my pan, which had been heated on medium with garlic and olive oil:
 |
| It looks like shredded carrots, I know. |
The hard part was over. Once my noodles cooked down some and began to get tender, I added in TWO WHOLE BAGS of baby spinach. I started with one bag, but I knew from experience that one bag of raw spinach cooks down to about a child-sized handful (never ceases to amaze me), so I then added another. Once the spinach was all wilted (beautiful image, no?), I added the cannellini beans, and then some seasoning.
 |
| Looks good enough to eat! |
I let it all cook for a few more minutes, until the noodles were the texture I wanted and the beans were warm. In the end, I probably spent no more than 25 minutes preparing this meal. The bulk of the work was in slicing the potatoes. And the final product was delicious:
 |
| This is not the portion I ate. I had one and a half more of these. |
Sweet potato noodles, which I've decided should be termed "spoodles," are a winner. I'll definitely make them again, but perhaps using a different piece of equipment. I need my fingers intact.
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