Grandpa Joe's
Zucchini Carpaccio

Mille grazie to Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar, TV hosts of Extra Virgin, for this one.

About this recipe

Not too long ago I was preparing an Italian dinner menu for a charity auction.  The dinner was to be one of the auctioned items.  I needed a splashy dish for my antipasto course.  A few days later I found what I needed watching an episode of Extra Virgin on the Cooking Channel.  It was a huge hit with the folks with the winning bid!

Ingredients

  • 4 small zucchini
  • ¼ cup blanched almonds, roughly chopped and toasted
  • lemons
  • sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • fresh mint
  • black lava salt

Directions

  1. Carefully slice the zucchini about one-eighth inch thick on a mandoline and lay the slices out onto a large platter (or on individual plates as shown in the picture).
  2. Sprinkle the zucchini with the lightly toasted almonds. 
  3. Squeeze lemon juice over the zucchini and almonds and season very lightly with sea salt and pepper.  Add thin slices of lemon, then drizzle olive oil over the zucchini. 
  4. The zucchini can sit for up to 20 minutes this way, allowing the flavors to gently marinate the zucchini, but still leaving a crunch of the raw vegetable.
  5. Just before serving, tear the mint leaves and strew over the squash. 
  6. Season again with black lava salt and pepper and serve at room temperature.
Zucchini Carpaccio.
Posted: March 2014.