If you’re growing zucchini right now, you’re probably wondering how you’re going to use this abundant summer staple. Even seasoned zucchini growers start running out of ideas, recipes, and bewildered friends and neighbors willing to take home boat-sized zukes.
Recently, I had the pleasure of dining at Mother Sacramento for the first time and decided to try the Avocado and Summer Squash Salad (V, GF). It was mind-blowingly delicious. Zucchini can be a bland “vegetable” (actually a fruit), and can quickly turn soft when cooked. Slicing it thinly and serving it raw in a salad maintains some of its natural crispness and allows the dressing to infuse each slice with incredible flavor.
I’d never had the pleasure of eating zucchini this way and it was fantastic. Brilliant, actually.
I’ve since done some “zucchini salad with avocado” Googling and have come across several promising-looking recipes. Some of them instruct you to slice the zucchini into ribbons, others spiralize it, and a few tell you to dice it. I think thinner is better for salads, so I’m gravitating toward ribbons, potato-chip thin discs and spirals.
Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Sweet Corn & Avocado recipe from Maria and Josh’s Two Peas & Their Pod blog looks pretty close to what I enjoyed at Mother and it’s the recipe I plan to make. I’ll be using the ripe garden zucchini I just harvested. Just waiting for a lovely looking store-bought avocado to ripen. Sweet corn is readily available right now and I need to pinch back my basil plant, so I may add basil to the recipe below… just like Mother does. I’ll probably skip the cilantro and the queso fresco.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 medium zucchini
- 2 medium yellow squash
- 2 ears cooked sweet corn
- ΒΌ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- 2 medium ripe avocados, peeled, pitted, and sliced
- 1/2 cup queso fresco (optional)
- In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil and lime juice together. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Trim the ends of the zucchini and yellow squash. With a vegetable peeler, shave lengthwise into long, wide strips about 1/16 inch thick.
- Put the zucchini and yellow squash ribbons in a large bowl. Cut the sweet corn kernels off of the cob, cutting close to the cob. Discard cobs. Add sweet corn, cilantro, red onion, and avocado slices to the squash ribbons. Pour olive oil and lime dressing over salad and toss until coated.
- Crumble queso fresco over the top of the salad and season with salt and pepper, to taste. (Angela’s note: I will probably skip the cheese since I’m avoiding dairy most days.)
V = Vegan
GF = Gluten Free
