Raw Zucchini Salad with Lemon and Basil
Slicing zucchini paper thin yields a salad with a wonderful, silky mouthfeel; the lemon and olive oil and basil all come together to create one unifying flavor. This simple but lovely recipe is from The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook by Jack Bishop.
Ingredients
4 medium zucchini (about 1.5 pounds)
3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
salt
10 large fresh basil leaves, cut into very thin strips
Add instructions here!
My Notes
After trying two of Bishop’s tomato salads that looked simple but tasty, and not being too excited about either, I was nervous about this one, since it’s even more simple! But I’ve never eaten raw zucchini so had to try it. I used a vegetable peeler to slice the zucchini into long thin strips. Bishop says to refrigerate the sliced zucchini until well chilled, but mine was already cold so I didn’t bother.
I’m not sure of the exact proportions I used, but I only used 1 zucchini and I vaguely recall that I needed more lemon juice than called for: 3/4 Tablespoon. I think I actually used 1.5 Tablespoons, and maybe the zest too? In any case, the salad was wonderful. It was totally different than I expected. I’ll definitely be making this salad for friends!
Rating: B+
Derek: B-
The captious vegetarian 
Tallulah said,
May 11, 2008 at 7:44 am
This sounds good, I am going to try it for mother’s day dinner today.
Tallulah said,
May 11, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Here is what I made:
8 squash (I used 4 yellow/green squash, 4 bright yellow squash), cut into long, thin pieces using a vegetable peeler
25 basil leaves, cut into long thin strips
1 tbsp. sea salt
3 tbsp. lemon juice
I loved it, so did mom. Dad didn’t like it because he doesn’t like basil, and Hana thought it was too sweet. Thanks for the recipe!
Tallulah said,
May 13, 2008 at 2:14 am
Yes, I failed to use olive oil. I don’t think it needed it. I think if you respond to the comment I made here I get your message, which might be more direct than going through mom 😛
ReBecca said,
June 24, 2010 at 5:27 pm
I had one rather large zucchini, added two tomatoes and three ears of corn scraped off of the cob. I also used a bit of cilantro and a beautiful spring onion, all from my garden. A splash of white wine to add a bit more interest and it was heaven for the company we fed!