Giada's Kitchen: Zucchini Crudi

It's squash and zucchini season out there at the farmer's market. Thankfully more stalls have tomatoes at the market, but melons are scarce, the peaches are sweet, sweet, sweet, and there are still no peppers, but lots and lots of zucchini and summer squash. Apparently these are all signs of a dry season. Not that I'm complaining. As a resident of the great state of Texas, I've witnessed my fair share of droughts. It is so sad when July rolls around and there are no blackberries because it was too dry and hot, and most large tomatoes have a big crack across the top from trying to grow too big with too little water.

I've never eaten raw zucchini. I've come across zucchini carpaccio recipes in the past, but they've never been appealing enough for me to try. I already eat my squash grilled, sauteed, or broiled, and I'm far too lazy to grate zucchini to make zucchini fritters or zucchini bread. However, I'm suffering from a glut of zucchini because I bought too much of it last week, and I came across this zucchini crudi recipe in New Italian Kitchen. The original recipe makes an asparagus and zucchini crudi, but for me the main objective was to use zucchini in an easy and fast way that didn't involve sauteing. Below are my adapted directions for the salad, but Giada's version can be found here.

Zucchini Crudi

Zucchini (half a zucchini per person)
lemon
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
olive oil
Romano, Parmesan, or manchego cheese (any type of hard, dry, white cheese)

1. Peel the zucchini with a vegetable peeler. Once the skin is removed, use the vegetable peeler to create thin strips of zucchini. You can use a mandolin to make thin circles if you have one.
2. In a separate bowl whisk together a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, and salt.
3. Pour the dressing on the zucchini and toss. Allow it to sit for at least fifteen minutes.
4. Using the vegetable peeler to shave flakes or strips of cheese on top of the zucchini.

I really enjoyed this salad. Plain raw zucchini tastes like nothing. But once the vegetable absorbs some of the lemon juice and salt it tastes like a subtle pickle, which was well complimented by the nutty, saltiness of the shaved cheese. This salad reminded me of the vinegary, almost pickled salads that I ate when I was in Egypt. Part of my family's trip included a 4 day cruise down the Nile. Aside from the views of the Nile with temples dotting the banks, the best part of the cruise was the food. Each day breakfast, lunch, teatime, and dinner were extravagant affairs. The food that really stuck with me were the myriad of salads of pickled vegetables, from radishes, beets, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, green beans, other types of dry beans and cabbage. The vegetables absorb the vinegar or lemon juice and produce a cool and crunchy salad that is wonderful before the usual hot, heavy Egyptian meal. I highly recommended this salad in place of a traditional green salad. I think with the addition of tomatoes, cucumbers, or asparagus it could become a more substantial horderve.