How do I make Spaghetti Veggies?

[ShawtyCat]

Okay, here's my dilemma. I dont have one of those fancy smancy machines where you attach a veggie, twirl and nice curly veggie strands come out the other end. So what do I do? Is there another way to do this or should I just buy a food processor or that fancy machine?

Jodi

[mudbug]

Which vegetables in particular are you referring to? You can use a particular type of zester and do it by hand...

[ShawtyCat]

Aha! I found the machine it's $43 - 125. Should I get the cheap imitation of the Bering Turning Slicer ? It's $23.

Oh, cchiu......I mean veggies like carrots, potatoes, beets etc. You use this Turning Slicer to make em into strands. It looks like spaghetti and Im not sure you can do them by hand. Unless someone knows how and is willing to share.

[phatch]

You could carve a long thin continuous strand with a paring knife by hand. Much like peeling an apple in one long piece. This would be more like an irregular triangular linguine though. Difficult and time consuming. If you plan on doing this often, the machine is probably worth your time.

Phil

[cape chef]

If you have a sliceing machine at work, lay your desired veggies leanth wise on the slicer, slice thin slices useing the guard, and stack them on eachother,

hand slice into very thin juilienne, seperate with your fingers as you would fresh pasta and place in ice water, the ice water will help them kind of curl up a bit.

[chiffonade]

Another option is to use the julienne setting on a mandoline, cut a zucchini in 1/2 or 1/3's, then run the washed outside of the zucch on the julienne blade. You get "sticks" that can be sauteed and treated as pasta. We did this in spa cuisine class and it was great. Of course, this is only good if you have a mandoline!

[isaac]

CUT THEM ALL BY HAND LOL

oh, i forgot... i am not in school anymore LOL

BRING OUT THE MANDOLINE

[Suzanne]

Sure, you can always julienne by hand, but ... WHY? I think it would be impossible for a mere mortal to hand-cut those spirals.

The main difference between the turning slicer and the mandoline is that the turning thing gives you one very, very, VERY long continuous curly strand. The mandoline gives you a straight julienne and the length is limited by the length of the item you're cutting.

I've used the turning slicer to cut daikon (BIG asian radish) and carrots for garnish, and to cut sweet potatoes to deep-fry into little curly pompoms. I don't think it would work very well on the skinny carrots you usually get to use at home -- it needs a BIG piece to work on. With the mandoline, you can cut just about anything. You could even julienne zucchini full-length. And it comes with 3 different width julienne blades.

Personally, I love my Benriner mandoline! And the price on that site is very good.

[marmalady]

Shawty, I saw a new little gizmo out, I think from PCD (Professional Cutlery Direct) www.pcd.com It looks like a harp-style peeler, but instead of the blade being flat, it's got little teeth in it. Haven't tried it, so don't know how it performs, but it's only about $12 I think.