A light and easy breezy side – Shaved Zucchini Salad with Parmesan.
It started with an abundance of garden-fresh basil. Next, a trip to the farmer’s market yielded a pile of zucchini and yellow summer squash. Certainly, I can create something with this combination, I thought.
I love the clean bright flavors of shaved zucchini tossed and fresh chopped basil, especially when it’s tossed with a simple lemon dressing. A tiny touch of heat from crushed red pepper adds interest. Shaved Parmesan and toasted pine nuts add richness and texture. For added visual interest, I used a combination of zucchini and yellow summer squash.
This delightful salad would be the perfect accompaniment for grilled steak, chicken, or fish. Fortunately, there are many other ideas. I enjoyed it as a side salad for leftover take-out burritos.
A Recipe Worth Tracking Down
A little backstory on this recipe. For many years, we enjoyed gathering with several couples for themed “Gourmet Group” feasts. Our dear friends Brian and Lynda brought this salad to one of our events.
So, while I can’t tell you what else we had that night, I do remember this salad. But when I went digging through my hard copy recipe files (yup, old-timers like me still have these) I came up empty-handed. Thankfully, through the magic of the internet, I managed to track down this bonappetite recipe.
Formula with Many Variations
The concept for this recipe translates easily to many variations. Essentially here’s how it breaks down:
- Start with a bite-sized vegetable. Ideas include sliced fresh cucumbers or halved cherry tomatoes. A variety of matchstick-sized bell peppers would add color. Blanched green beans, broccoli, or cauliflower are options as well.
- Depending on the vegetable, they can be served fresh, blanched, marinated, or grilled.
- Add a chopped fresh herb – basil, dill, thyme, oregano, chives, or thinly sliced green onion.
- Toss with an acid + olive oil dressing – apple cider, balsamic or flavored vinegar. Or use citrus – orange, lemon, or lime juice. Then combine with good quality extra virgin olive oil + other seasonings.
- Add shaved or crumbled cheese – Parmesan, feta, or goat cheese crumbles.
- Top with your favorite toasted nuts – walnuts, pine nuts, pepitas, sunflower seeds, or pecans.
Portioning
I halved this recipe and found it still served 4 people. Here’s the link for the original recipe which says it serves 6.
Additional Vegetable Salads
Here are a few of my other favorite vegetable salads that utilize the ideas above.
Shaved Zucchini Salad with Parmesan
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
- 1 pound medium zucchini or combination of zucchini and yellow summer squash, trimmed
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil
- 3 tablespoons cup pine nuts toasted
- 1/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Whisk oil, lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and crushed red pepper in small bowl to blend. Set dressing aside. Can be made in advance.
- Using vegetable peeler or mandoline, slice zucchini into ribbons (about 1/16 inch thick). Place ribbons in large bowl. Add basil, then dressing; toss to coat. Let sit for 10-15 minutes to let the flavors meld and the salt to soften the zucchini. Top salad with shaved Parmesan and pine nuts. Garnish with additional basil, and more salt and pepper and crushed red pepper, if desired.
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