Carrot “Rice” Leek Risotto with Bacon
If you just bought a spiralizer and need new recipe ideas, look no further! Ali, from Inspiralized loved her spiralizer so much, she created a blog dedicated to spiralized vegetables.
First off, ever since I started food blogging, I’ve been a fan of Skinnytaste. Now, I’m not just saying that because Gina kindly let me share a recipe here today. When you first start off as a healthy food blogger, you can’t help but discover Skinnytaste and immediately start drooling. Needless to say, she’s been an inspiration to me from the beginning. In June 2013, I started my food blog, Inspiralized. Inspiralized is a blog dedicated to cooking with spiralized vegetables. Yes, that’s right. All of my recipes use vegetable noodles! Imagine my happy surprise when I saw Gina’s Zoodles and Meatballs, her Asian Turkey Meatballs and Zoodles with Lime Sesame Dipping Sauce and her Zoodles with Lemon Garlic Shrimp. Somewhere along those lines, she mentioned that she was on a “zoodle kick.” Welcome to my world, Gina! Like me, Gina wanted to share that spiralized veggies (noodles made of vegetables using a spiralizer) are a healthy, Paleo, gluten-free, unprocessed alternative to regular pasta. Of course, these noodles can also similarly be made with a mandolin or julienne, if you don’t happen to own a spiralizer.
What Food Can You Spiralize?
Aside from spiralizing zucchinis, there are many other vegetables that can be turned into noodles. Actually, spiralizing is a great way to eat seasonally. For example, over at Inspiralized, I made a lot of butternut squash and sweet potato noodles this winter. While these veggie noodles allow us to make hearty bowls of low-calorie and low-carb pasta, they can also be turned into rice! By simply placing your spiralized vegetables into a food processor and pulsing for a few seconds, the noodles are transformed into rice-like “bits,” perfect for using as rice. Not only is this “spiralized rice” clean-eating friendly, it’s quicker and easier! No more waiting for water to boil, no more expensive rice cookers and no more accidental mush.
What vegetables work best as rice?
Any vegetable that doesn’t have a high water content (ie zucchini). Such as butternut squash, beets, plantains, sweet potatoes and of course, carrots. That brings us to today’s recipe: Carrot Rice Leek Risotto with Bacon. Using springtime leeks really gives this dish a fresh seasonal taste. The carrot “rice” is seasoned simply with pepper, garlic, and lemon juice. Add in the salty, richness of the bacon and that’s all you need to make this flavorful and savory bowl of rice.
This recipe is not only Paleo, gluten-free and dairy-free, it’s a refreshing, light way to enjoy an otherwise mundane vegetable: the carrot. This carrot rice dish saves well when refrigerated, so make a big batch on Sunday and enjoy it at work for lunch or reheat it for an easy weeknight dinner. Well, I hope that I’ve Inspiralized you today and that you’re now on your way to the kitchen to make vegetable “rice.” Most importantly, I hope to see you around on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and on YouTube or Vimeo. Thanks again to Gina – I can’t wait for the Skinnytaste cookbook!
More Spiralized recipes:
Brussels Sprouts and Sausage Parsnip Spiralized Pasta Spiralized Turnip and Potato Au Gratin Casserole with Turkey Raw Spiralized Beet and Mandarin Salad with Mint Quick Spiralized Zucchini and Grape Tomatoes
