Let me just say – before we dig into the {other half of the} recipe I promised you back here – that my recipe plug-in is making me sad, and I’ve an orange striped cat named Dougal – sitting on the desk, just to the left of my left elbow – attempting to chew my hair. Notwithstanding, it’s promising to be another stunningly warm and sunny Sunday in the great Pacific Northwest, and for that I am profoundly happy. And grateful. Especially grateful. It’s been a long, hot Summer. We don’t get that too often around here.
I am not sure how this happened, but it is now Wednesday and another 3 days have passed. I’d secretly love it if this merry-go-round that I am currently on would slow down. Just a touch.
A lot has happened since I rattled out that first paragraph. For a start there’s been showing up at a fancy hotel on the side of a lake with enough Chocolate and Coffee Ice Creams for 180 people. Mother Nature obliged with perfect eating-ice-cream-by-the-side-of-the-lake weather. Last weekend saw some tourist activity going on while Ma and Pa were here. I love being a tourist in my own town. That usually involves riding the ducks, Pike Place Market and a quick trip up the side of Lake Washington. This time was no exception. There’s also been an awful lot of dish-washing for a single girl. Not to mention a couple of rather annoying headaches. I blame the cease-and-desist order I slapped on all cans of Cherry Coke Zero within a 30 mile radius. On top of all that busy-ness, the number of you swinging by my little blog exploded after I posted this recipe. It was a very good kind of exploding – although it left me a little drained – mainly because it was so unexpected. Had I known that what you really, really wanted was things that looked like they were really bad, but tasted awesome & made your back-fat go away, I’d have worked on that sooner. I’m getting with the program now.
The highlight though was a podcast review that made me laugh out loud. A listener wants me to be “more real, less zealous” – which wins the Oxymoron of the Week Award, since I am as zealous as I am exactly because I am being so real. How can I not be completely over-excited about eating more and exercising less? How can I not be wildly happy about finally discovering how to wave bye-bye to back fat after trying every diet known to man? I mean. Hello. Which all just made me remember this great truth: You can’t make everyone happy, no matter how hard you try. The good news is…that’s got nothing to do with you.
Now, let’s get back to the completely over-exciting and wildly happy topic of eating more. Specifically more low carb and keto stuff that will help make all those wobbly bits disappear. BOOM!
I already shared with you the salad that I served up with these Grilled Lemon Prawns with Coconut Cream Squash Noodles. You remember – that was the salad I refreshed the next day, added a pound of grilled bacon to and called lunch.
I’ve read about the using squash-for-noodles thing, but never actually tried it. It was about time. Eeny, Meeny and Miny are polite enough to just eat whatever is put in front of them, but they did look a little skeptical when I whipped the lid off the dish of “noodles”. I had warned them that there would be no starchy stuff going down at the Brown house, so they were expecting something out of the ordinary. They were not expecting what they got though.
You can serve the squash / zucchini “noodles” raw, but I prefer them warm. If you choose to warm your “noodles”, you don’t want to cook them because they are so thin they will turn to mush very quickly. I simply heat them through. I used coconut oil and cream for 2 reasons – to stop the “noodles” sticking to the pan while they warm through, and also to add a little moisture and slipperiness (like pasta noodles). The combination of coconut oil and cream also imparts a very light coconutty flavor which goes really well with the prawns and lemon.
Eeny, Meeny and Miny were flabbergasted at how good a meal without starch tasted. No-one missed the pasta noodles. One of them commented how her mother would just love me because she had eaten more vegetables at my house that night than in the previous year. No one left the table feeling like they’d just eaten a meal of 80% veggies. I converted 3 new keto devotees right there at my table. It was awesome.
PS. It’s now Saturday. One whole week after I started telling you about this. Please don’t let it take you as long to make it as I spent trying to get the recipe to you. I think you’ll be really glad you tried it sooner rather than later.
Author: Carrie Brown | Prep time: 10 mins | Cook Time: 10 mins | Total time: 20 mins | Serves: 4
- 1 1/2 lb / 670g pre-cooked shrimp, tail-off and deveined
- 2 TBSP coconut oil, warmed until just liquid
- 1 TBSP dried rosemary
- Juice and zest from 1 lemon
- Fresh ground Lemon Pepper
- 2 TBSP coconut oil
- 4 large yellow squash (zucchini / courgette)
- 2 large green squash (zucchini / courgette)
- 1/2 cup / 4 fl oz. heavy cream
- Freshly ground pepper
- Place shrimp, 2 TBSP of liquid coconut oil, rosemary, lemon juice, zest and lemon pepper in a bowl and mix well. Set aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the prawns thoroughly coated.
- Julienne the yellow and green squash with a julienne peeler or a mandoline.
- Heat 2 TBSP of coconut oil in the largest pan you have, over a high heat. It is easier to toss the “noodles” well if you have a large pan.
- Toss the julienned squash in the pan with the oil, separating the “noodles” as you do so.
- Heat for 1 minute.
- Meanwhile, heat a griddle over high heat.
- Pour the heavy cream into the squash and season with ground pepper.
- Cook squash for another minute until the cream just starts to boil, tossing the squash frequently.
- Stir the prawns in the marinade and then spoon the prawns onto the hot griddle. Grill on high until warmed through & starting to brown, about 1 minute.
- Toss the squash to make sure it is evenly coated in cream and turn into a serving dish and cover with a lid (or foil) while prawns heat.
- Pile “noodles” onto each plate and place prawns over the top.
- Spoon a little of the lemon marinade over the prawns.
GeninaI have never made “spaghetti” squash. Do you cook the squash whole and THEN cut it and use the jullienne it? Or do you jullienne it raw?
I could not cut into my big yellow spaghetti squash and know I am doing something wrong!! thanks!
carriehey there – you don’t use Spaghetti Squash for this, you use regular green and yellow squash – zucchini. You julienne it raw and heat throught per the instructions. Easiest, quickest thing ever. Let me know how it goes! Hope that helps.
GeninaOh okay! Thanks! Next food shopping I will get them and let you know how it turns out! :-)
Claire LucasTried this tonight, they were AMAZING!! So easy to make the ‘noodles’ and the prawns were delicious with the lemon. Another incredible recipe, thanks Carrie!
carrieI love this recipe too, Claire – so quick and easy it’s almost not a recipe!
Turkey and Mushroom Stroganoff » Carrie Brown | Marmalade and Mileposts[…] Hubs last came over for The Friday Night Dinner – and spurred on by the resounding success of the Coconut Cream Squash Noodles – I determined it was time for them to test the whole Squash For Noodles! […]
NancyIn quite a few recipes you list “heavy creme”. Is that like half-and-half, or more like whipping cream? Or something else? this looks really good!
carrieNancy – more like whipping cream. If you are in the UK it would be double cream. Hope that helps!
KathyI LOVE this recipe! I also add asparagus and spinach to the ‘noodles’ for even more deliciousness! Thank you, Carrie!
Redif you DID want to use a spaghetti squash – you just poke a hole in it and bake it in a pan at 325 until it’s a bit soft….then cut in half, scrape the seeds out, and with a fork scrape out the rest. A good sized squash will make at least 5-6 cups of spaghetti.
carrieRed – I really do need to try that one of these days!
Drew ThompsonHi Carrie:
Just bought one of these for making courgette spaghetti:
Lurch Spirali 10203 Green / Cream
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002E19IB0/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Works fantastic and quick. Just square up one end and then peel the courgette, onto the Spirali and in seconds you have spag.
cheers
Drew
Episode 24 - Zoodles - Ketovangelist Kitchen[…] Grilled Lemon Prawns with Coconut Cream Zoodles […]
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