Gently nestle a large soup spoon along side your mound of pasta, nudge a small amount on the spoon, slowly spin, spin, spin the pasta onto your fork making certain you have an even gravy to noodle ratio, because too much of one or the other offsets the balance you crave at meal time. I am a pasta spoon spinner. Anyone else? My children understand to set a large spoon at my place setting when they know pasta, at least when long varieties like spaghetti, linguine, and bucatini make it on the night’s menu. Alas, all of that is gone for me now. I am in search of other varieties of “pastas”. I do miss it terribly, all except for that thump in my belly feeling, but have learned to venture out and experiment with pasta’s flavorful, whole food alternatives like spaghetti squash and cauliflower “rice.” It forces me to ask myself, “what foods can I use in place of noodles, bread, or couscous?” But if I were to go off the rails, it would be with the real stuff, all in it’s white flour glory. I am paleo and Italian- a tough combination to be for sure.
We will still host “Cranky Pasta Nights” for Himself’s company’s Summer Associates, I have promised my vegan friend I would teach her how to crank out homemade pasta (sans eggs), and I still love the idea of hanging pasta from hangers all over my kitchen to dry. Those events are few and far between, so for the day to day interludes with pasta, I will enjoy adding Onion “Pasta” Noodles to my repertoire of pasta impostors. The sweet vidalia, cut in thin slices, rings separated, drizzled with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper creates a sweet, savory, nutty, and surprisingly flavorful substitute for pasta under the mass of my Bolognese Sauce.
Roasted Onion “Pasta” Noodles
Ingredients:
4 large vidalia onions
olive oil
Kosher or finely ground sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
One Recipe Bolognese Sauce- If you are strict Paleo, leave out the Parmesan Cheese
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut root and stem end from the onions, peel, and slice into 1/4 inch slices. Separate rings and place in a large roasting pan. You may have to use 2 pans. Drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes or until onions become tender and begin to brown, some pieces may even toast up a bit- yum! You may want to give them a stir halfway through roasting. Plate and top with Bolognese Sauce, or another sauce or stew of choice. Serves 4.
Note: I case you were wondering, I did not experience any re-belch-a-burp-atation with the onion pasta. But a breath mint is suggested.
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Dear Biz, I know you are gagging right now! Hee hee.
Robin Sue
10 Comments
I love more excuses to eat onions…roasting them sounds amazing!!!
Ha Robin Sue – I was thinking the same thing when I read your post about Biz!
I on the other hand would definitely eat this!
Jenn
Well she does eat onion rings. Haha! We’ll have to get here to try these (and film it!)
Have a great Friday!
RS
Hey Robin,
thanks very much for the nice little gift you left at the gym. I had to enjoy one right after the workout on Wednesday. They bring back very fond memories of hanging out in the evenings at a cafe in Diest, Belgium back in the early 90s. I’m headed to Cafe Belga in DC tomorrow, where they have it on tap!
Ray,
I think beer is one of the best recovery juices around after a WOD. Have one for me tomorrow!
Cheers!
Robin
I love the idea of roasting Vidalia onions as ‘noodle’s for that amazing meat sauce! I am trying to cut down on my pasta consumption and have found that I enjoy spaghetti squash quite a lot… this looks like another option!
My family never used the spoon to roll spaghetti but I ‘ve tried it with limited success as an adult. I basically do th best I can to roll it on a fork against the plate and sometimes it’s not a pretty site to watch me eat it. I love the idea of meat sauce on onions – two of my favorites.
oooh, great idea! some may cower at the idea of eating so many onions at once, but not me–i think it sounds delicious!
Found you thru a Pinterest pin, and I so glad. I’m loving your recipes, this one in particular! Can’t wait to try this.
YUM YUM!!! I love “spaghetti” – Typically I make it with spaghetti squash, but I love the onion version too!