Do you get yourself birthday presents? I usually get myself a little something just for fun. My birthday was in November and as part of the birthday celebration, I treated myself to a new kitchen gadget. I know, surprising that I would opt for something to cook with. Contain your shock. 😉
The purchase was made on a whim, but may just be one of THE.best.kitchen.gadgets I’ve ever had. It’s called a spiralizer and basically it is a plastic slicer that shreds vegetables into cool shapes. Stay with me here… I got mine on Amazon for just under $30 and it’s called the Paderno World Cuisine Tri-Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer
I started out using it mainly to shred my zucchini to make zeggs instead of dragging out the food processor. It’s much easier to clean up than the processor and I’m all about saving clean up time. Then I started using it to make veggie noodles to use like pasta with some butter, garlic and parmesan. Then I moved on to shred sweet potatoes to use in a cool looking sweet potato casserole at Thanksgiving.
If you look at the picture on Amazon, I mostly used the blade on the left to make the finer shredded veggie noodles. Last night I was dying for a spicy, creamy tomato dish called paprikash. Basically this is like the Hungarian version of chili or stew. Most times it’s served over wide noodles like egg noodles. I don’t usually have egg noodles on hand so I was thinking about just having the paprikash straight up.
Then I was struck with a moment of brilliance. I had several yellow squash and I had my spiralizer! Hello fancy squash noodles! Let’s try. (Sadly, I think I actually did speak to my yellow squash and spiralizer like this.) I used one of the other blades for the first time to make the “noodles”. It’s the one on the right side in the picture that makes the wider, ruffled shapes. I got to spiralizing and they turned out to be the perfect shape.
So bam, I had my yellow squash noodles and whipped up pork paprikash for dinner. Shhhh, I don’t think The Kid noticed that they weren’t noodles underneath the pork and sauce. I sure wasn’t going to be the one to tell her. They were ruffled and in strings just like egg noodles would be and they were also a similar color. Hee hee, never the wiser.
Pork Paprikash with Yellow Squash Noodles 
- 2 large yellow squash (400g), spiralized into noodles
- 1 lb boneless pork chops, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup sliced red pepper
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 tsp poultry seasoning
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
Spiralize your squash into noodles and place in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for about 2 minutes until softened. Don’t add water or they’ll get mushy. You just want to nuke them until slightly cooked. Feel them after to make sure they are noodle texture. If not, microwave for 30 seconds more and test again.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and spray with non-stick spray. Add the pork pieces and cook for 4 – 6 minutes until no pink remains. Remove the pork from the pan and add the onions, red pepper, and garlic.
Saute the veggies for 2 – 3 minutes until softened. Sprinkle the flour and spices over top, and saute another minute. Add the tomato paste and wine, and stir to combine. Scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen the browned bits stuck on the bottom. They add flavor so you don’t want to just leave them behind. Add in the broth and vinegar and bring the mixture to a boil.
Once boiling, add the pork back to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes or so until the pork is tender. Remove from heat and stir in the almond milk. Serve over the yellow squash noodles.
Makes 4 servings at 214 calories each – 24g protein, 14g carbs, and 4g fat.
Notes
- I used pork chops from Walmart called pork sirloin chops. They were boneless and very low in fat. You can use chicken breasts or thighs in place of the pork if you prefer. Hungarians make paprikash with both chicken and pork.
- If you don’t want to use the yellow squash noodles, you can serve it over egg noodles for a traditional version or over spaghetti for an American version of the dish. Your calories will obviously be different if you go this route.
- If you don’t want to use wine, simply add more chicken broth in it’s place. I had wine leftover from a sausage dish so I threw it in to get it out of the fridge.
- Traditional paprikash uses sour cream to add the creaminess at the end of mixing. Since The Kid has a dairy allergy, that was definitely out of the question. Unsweetened almond milk was perfect for this purpose and was a dairy free option for us. You can use sour cream if you prefer or even Greek yogurt would work.
And you thought healthy eating had to be boring. After this experiment, I’m now going to get out my spiralizer
Speak Your Mind