POTATO NOODLE RECIPE DIRECTIONS:
- Put 6 quarts water and kosher salt into a stockpot and place on stove. Bring to a boil.
- Make an ice bath with the 3 quarts water and 3 quarts ice. Set aside.
- Process potatoes through spiralizer, place into a mixing bowl, and immediately toss with the lemon juice to prevent browning.
- When water is at a hard boil, squeeze excess liquid from potato spirals by hand, and place into the boiling water. Set a timer for 2 minutes.
- Strain potatoes from boiling water and immediately place into ice bath to stop the cooking process. Leave in ice bath for 5 minutes.
- Strain blanched potato spirals from ice bath and let sit for 5 minutes to air dry. Potato spirals can be refrigerated for later use at this point.
“PRESERVED” LEMON RECIPE DIRECTIONS:
- Using a peeler, peel zest from lemons in large strips from top to bottom. Make sure there is no white pith on the zest, as it will become very bitter during the blanching process.
- Place lemon zest strips in a saucepan, add 1 pint water and 1 TBSP salt. Place on stove and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes. Strain. Rinse out saucepan.
- Place strained lemon zest strips back into saucepan, add second pint of water, second TBSP of salt. Place on stove, and bring to a boil for a second blanch. Boil for 2 minutes. Strain out lemon zest. Rinse out saucepan again.
- Place twice blanched lemon zest back into rinsed saucepan, and add 3rd pint of water, but NO salt this time. Place on stove, bring to a boil, and strain. Cool lemon zest and julienne the short way across the strip. Set aside.
PRESERVED LEMON VINAIGRETTE RECIPE DIRECTIONS:
- Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well with a whisk. The vinaigrette will separate, so it will need to be stirred again right before dressing the salad.
ROASTED GARLIC RECIPE DIRECTIONS:
- Place whole garlic cloves and salt into an oven safe dish.
- Fill with oil to just cover the garlic. Cover dish tightly with foil.
- Place in oven at 225F for 4 hours.
- Remove from oven, strain out whole garlic cloves (reserve oil for another use), and cool. Place into a deli container when cooled completely.
FINAL ASSEMBLY:
- Place potato noodles and zucchini noodles into a large mixing bowl. With gloved hands, mix the two noodles together dry, incorporating well. Add the cherry tomatoes, fennel, mozzarella pearls, roasted garlic, and basil to the noodle mixture. Pour Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette over the salad, and with gloved hands, mix thoroughly, but gently. Taste for salt, and adjust if needed.
- Portion out noodle salad ½ cup at a time, and twirl carefully on plate, gaining as much height as you can.
- Make sure each portion has fairly equal amounts of the garnish (cherry tomatoes, mozzarella pearls, roasted garlic, etc), and make sure some of the garnish gets on top of the salad.
- Drizzle a small amount of olive oil around salad on plate. Using squeeze bottle, drizzle some Pimento Salsa directly on top of olive oil so the sauce “floats” on the olive oil.