Domini Kemp’s year of healthy eating: Use your noodle

Certain kitchen gadgets can transform the way we cook, mix, shred or chop. But others (and I am thinking about pasta machines here) get relegated to the back of the cupboard, never, ever to be used again. Possibly only discarded or reassembled when one moves house.

But take a good food processor. The best ones work a strange kind of alchemy. As if by magic, mundane tasks like grating become just simple steps in a process, rather than the source of burning resentment at being some kind of indentured kitchen maid. It’s one of the only gadgets I regularly use and don’t resent too much when washing up.

Sure, top-range models can be pricey, but there are decent ones around €100 and believe me, it’s worth every single cent in terms of time and energy saved.

I wrote last year about the spiraliser, a gadget which turns raw vegetables into spaghetti-like ribbons and one that Susan Jane White features heavily in her fantastic book, The Extra Virgin Kitchen.

I dabbled with it, but after a while it ended up in a cupboard, quietly gathering dust along with the pasta maker. Kids gets mega excited when they see an apple turning into spaghetti-like fruit noodles, so I get suckered into ‘Ta dah’ type cooking occasionally when my ego needs a boost.

However, I do genuinely like making courgette noodles to have instead of pasta and that’s when I discovered a little julienne peeler for well under a tenner, that gets the same results with no machine assembly. (Sweeney O’Rourke sell online and they are called Julienne Peelers).

If, like me, you’re keen to eat more vegetables, in new ways, the spiraliser or the julienne peeler is for you. The nutritional benefits are considerable. Because the veg is raw or nearly raw, its nutrients remain largely intact.

If your digestion is delicate though, and too much raw food is a problem, up your intake gently. And the results are tasty, too. Kids like the results and you can easily mix up some carrots and courgette if you feel like going crazy! For versatility – simply because they’re (a) the right shape and (b) not strongly flavoured – carrots and courgettes are best. Use them raw or just warmed through in Asian soups and as replacements for noodles. Even bolognese works; just use courgette instead of spaghetti.

But one recipe has proved particularly popular – a twist on pasta pesto made with sundried tomatoes, olives, garlic and soaked sunflower seeds, it’s easy to make and, with spiralized courgette instead of spaghetti, super-nutritious too. It also works well as a dip. So, food that multi-tasks – nothing wrong with that!

We call it vi-coise (vegan nicoise, get it?) thanks to Ms Róisín Ingle. She has asked that the name be trademarked and that we crack on with some patents... let’s just say, watch this space.

Food cooked and styled by Domini Kemp & Gillian Fallon