Summer Zucchini Noodle Salad - Caity



As the summer produce slows down, I am starting to panic. Despite the fact that I am excited for fall and love anything pumpkin flavored, I also love walking outside to the garden and coming inside with everything I need for dinner. My mom is especially good at creating special dishes with what is available in the garden and the refrigerator which is how this special dish was born. 

My mom flew up to Portland for a day so she could drive back to Utah with me (now THAT is love!). I had to work that night so while I slept all day, she weeded my garden, picked the produce, watered everything, cleaned the kitchen and packed my lunch for work. It was amazing. She made me ratatouille with polenta and this Summer Zucchini Noodle Salad. 

Squeeze in this last little bit of summer flavors before the big autumn switch!  

Serves 3-4

One year ago: Summer Squash with Browned Butter and Thyme
Two years ago: Barley Greek Salad
Three years ago: Elephants Tomato Orange Soup



what you'll need: 

for the salad:
2-3 zucchini and/or yellow squash
a handful of cherry tomatoes
fresh mozzarella, diced (or use "pearlini"which are already bite sized)
a few leaves of fresh basil

for the lemon vinaigrette:
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper


For the Lemon Vinaigrette:

Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

For the Salad:

Using a spiralizer, mandolin or vegetable peeler with a julienne attachment, create your zucchini and squash noodles. If using the spiralizer try to stop intermittently so you don't have a 30 foot long noodle (trust me, I know from personal experience!). 


Toss the noodles together in a bowl to mix the colors. 

Dice the mozzarella into bite size pieces. 

Slice the cherry tomatoes in half. 

Chiffonade the basil (for instructions, see our Caprese Salad recipe).


Toss the noodles with lemon vinaigrette to coat. Store any extra dressing in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. (P.S. This dressing has many uses! Check out Caity's Favorite Dinner: Chicken Parmesan, and White Pizzas with Arugula for ideas). 

Top the salad with the tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and fresh cracked pepper. Enjoy! 

One year ago: Summer Squash with Browned Butter and Thyme
Two years ago: Barley Greek Salad
Three years ago: Elephants Tomato Orange Soup



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Orange Sauce (aka Crack Sauce) - Cathy

Image
So, there's a story behind the name of this amazing, addicting sauce...The recipe itself comes from a wonderful cookbook by a San Francisco Bay area restaurant of the same name, "Tacolicious", available here --and I highly recommend getting it! Among many other wonderful recipes, I was thrilled to see in there one for a sauce "modeled after what is called nothing sexier than 'The Orange Sauce' by the devoted regulars of La Victoria taqueria in San Jose, California."  Having been to that restaurant with Keegan and Jaymie before, and yes, having found the sauce--and the tacos--to be highly addicting (hence the second name, "Crack Sauce") I was so excited to try the recipe! As it says in the cookbook, it is such a surprise to find that this creamy sauce actually has no cream in it; just oil that is emulsified in the blender with the other ingredients that gives it such a wonderful texture.  Absolutely brilliant.  And so very addicting.  It...
Read more

Grilled Lemon Chicken Salad - Erin

Image
I've just been out of town, which means my boyfriend has only stayed alive thanks to Del Taco and Burger King.  When I came home he requested "something light" for dinner, so this popped into my head.  It's a delicious, fresh-tasting, crunchy, lemony salad from Barefoot Contessa.  Our mom was introduced to it by her friend Liz Owens, and our mom gives her great credit for finding such a fabulous and aesthetically pleasing salad!  Erik gives it credit for being "really, really good." what you will need
Read more

Buttery Snickerdoodle Cake - Erin

Image
  This amazing deliciousness is from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook by Deb Perelman ( here ) and I recently made it to take to a Superbowl party where it very quickly vanished.  It's basically like a giant snickerdoodle that's cooked perfectly so it's chewy and gooey and amazing!  My only alteration was that I did more of the cinnamon sugar topping because it's so delicious, so you could scale that back if you want. what you will need cookie base: 8 Tbsp unsalted butter , room temperature 1 1/2 cups flour 1 tsp cream of tartar 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp table salt 3/4 cup sugar 1 large egg 1/4 cup milk gooey layer: 1/4 cup corn syrup 1/4 cup half-and-half 1 Tbsp vanilla extract 12 Tbsp butter , room temperature 1 cup sugar 1/4 tsp table salt 1 large egg 1 1/4 cups flour topping: 3 Tbsp sugar 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Read more