Zucchini re-invented

     We celebrated a 17th birthday yesterday.  Actually, this was a relatively low key event, in that the only thing that really occurred was a dinner.  However, it allowed me to pull out a few stops and create a menu that turned out to be a winner on all fronts.  The weather also cooperated, and we ate outside.  Considering the size of my house, this is a plus.

      I was given requests for hummus, flat bread and beef kebabs.  The rest was up to me.  I built this menu around that:  

Appetizers:  toasted almonds, salted pistachios, olives and marinated mozzarella balls

Dinner:  Bengali Shish Kebabs

              Hummus and Felaveri (Syrian Flatbread)

              Bulgur with almonds, green olives and raisins

              Tomato, pepper and cucumber salad 

              Zucchini Carpaccio

              Pavlovas with whipped cream, lemon curd and seasonal berries

     The entire meal went together fantastically.  The kebabs are Steven Raichlen's, the bulgur and tomato salad are riffs from Ottolenghi.  The zucchini dish was Patricia Wells.  This all underscores that, while I rely on online sources for some of my cooking, I also have a fairly sizable cookbook collection.  Okay, it's perhaps a hobby of mine, maybe even an obsession.  I have pared down over the years, and I don't have a roomful.  But they do take up a couple long shelves in my kitchen...

     Sometimes, you don't know what you want.  You know you want a certain style or region of cooking, and maybe even an ingredient (or maybe not).  Cookbooks give you gestalt.  Flavor.  Themes.  Sometimes they can take you in a direction completely unexpected.  I find that harder online.  Several sites try to help, but it isn't the same.  Perhaps that makes me a traditionalist.

     The zucchini is a great example.  I had a fair number of them (it being the season) and I had my fallback plan to grill them.  But thumbing through Patricia Wells' Vegetable Harvest gave me the winner.  I would never have come up with this on my own.  I would not have thought to research online for raw zucchini recipes.  Yet here it was.  

     This dish is inspired.  You need a mandoline.  This recipe relies on multiple super thin slices on the longitudinal of zucchini, marinated in a lemony vinaigrette.  This would be hard to uniformly achieve without one of these devices.  A steady hand and a vegetable peeler might be able to do it.  Her recipe then goes on to pair this with avocado.  I found that to be superfluous and skipped it.  I also forgot about the lemon thyme, but would add that the next time.  What gilds the lily here are the chopped salted pistachios.  The texture of the velvety zucchini with the mildly salty crunch of the nuts was nothing short of sublime.  Ask the guests, they were all converted.  

Zucchini Carpaccio

Adapted from Patricia Wells

Serves 4-8

In a small jar:

1T freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 t sea salt

1/4 c best quality olive oil

Shake to combine, set aside.

Using a mandoline, cut 2-4 zucchinis (see notes) into very thin lengthwise slices.  

Place on a platter and pour the lemon mixture over, making sure to coat all slices.  This should be done gently so as not to break them into smaller pieces.  

Let marinate at least 30 minutes, but an hour is best.  

At serving time, sprinkle 1/4 c chopped salted pistachios over the top.  Sprinkle with coarse salt to taste.  Garnish with a few sprigs of thyme.  

Notes:  This is a great example of where it is better to use a smaller zucchini.  Nothing longer than about 6-8", or larger than 1 1/2" across for these zucchinis.  I am not confident that a forgotten torpedo would be an acceptable option.  

Also, this is also a great example of where the ingredients are fairly simple, so using a really good olive oil is better, as it is a main stage player.  

Patricia Well's recipe as it is originally written can be found on Food 52.  It uses pistachio oil (might be a great one to try), and adds avocados.  I'm still not so sure about that.  She would also individually plate this recipe, which would be fine, but serving it on a larger platter also was lovely.