Sunday, August 06, 2006

Zucchini carpaccio with rosemary and raspberry vinegar


Last night we had some friends over for a last minute dinner type of situation, so I had to think fast, as I only had an hour and a half before they were due to come over. I had just finished all my tomatoes at lunchtime, making a cool gazpacho, so the salad options were minimal: all I had was lots of zucchini. I remember having seen a recipe mentioned on Chocolate & Zucchini for a zucchini carpaccio... All it took was the seed of an idea, and this is the version I came up with:
I sliced one large zucchini in very very thin slices and arranged it in a circle on a large plate. I chopped a couple of handfulls of fresh raspberries (fresh berry season in Sweden) and put it in a shaker with some olive oil, white vinegar and a couple of tablespoons of sugar (it's important to make it rather sweet). I salted and peppered the raw zucchini (YES you can eat it raw hehe), drizzled some more olive oil on it and then shook the vinaigrette and drizzled that on top as well. I finished it off with a sprinkling of rosemary and some chopped rocket. It is necessary to let the dish stand for about 10-15 minutes, preferably not in the fridge, but somewhere cool nevertheless. The longer it stands, the more the tastes are absorbed by the zucchini. We enjoyed our unorthodox salad as a starter. Lovely!