Slow-Carb Pasta Substitute Recipe

For those on low-carb or slow-carb diets, and when have lots of nice summer squash fresh from the garden here is our recipe for using any kind of summer squash as a pasta substitute.

You can use this the way you would use any short shaped pasta like rotini or penne or farfalle. For it to work for your diet the sauce you use will need to be low-carb as well.

Most commercial sauces have lots of sugar. I would recommend making your own, our red sauce with chicken sausage recipe is also below. As a final note if you are following a slow-carb diet you will need beans as a side dish to complete the meal.

Summer Squash Pasta Substitute

You can eat this as a side dish or use the way you would use shaped pasta in a dish. It gives you the mouthfeel of al dente pasta and substance and body to the sauce without the evil carbohydrates of pasta.

Ingredients

• 6-8 medium zucchini (or any summer squash)
• olive oil

Instructions

1. Slice the squash in 1/8 thick slices. A mandoline comes in real handy for this and I would get one if you decide you like the recipe.
2. Using a cast-iron skillet (see Cast Iron the Trendy New Non-stick) add just enough oil to coat the bottom and turn the burner to high heat.
3. Saute the squash a batch a time adding a little more oil each time. Each batch can be several layers of squash deep.  I find about three deep works best.
4. Turn periodically with a spatula to avoid burning. You want most of the squash in a batch to have been in contact with the bottom for several minutes and be a bit blackened but not burnt.
5. Remove and repeat with the next batch until all your slices are done.

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Summer Squash Pasta Substitute

You can eat this as a side dish or use the way you would use shaped pasta in a dish. It gives you the mouthfeel of al dente pasta and substance and body to the sauce without the evil carbohydrates of pasta.

Ingredients

• 6-8 medium zucchini or any summer squash
• olive oil

Instructions

1. Slice the squash in 1/8" thick slices. A mandolin comes in real handy for this and I would get one if you decide you like the recipe.

2. Using a cast-iron skillet add just enough oil to coat the bottom and turn the burner to high heat.

3. Saute the squash a batch a time adding a little more oil each time. Each batch can be several layers of squash deep.  I find about three deep works best.
4. Turn periodically with a spatula to avoid burning. You want most of the squash in a batch to have been in contact with the bottom for several minutes and be a bit blackened but not burnt.
5. Remove and repeat with the next batch until all your slices are done.