Description
A lemon-zest infused dressing adorns these gorgeous zucchini ribbons. This zesty zucchini ribbon salad is the perfect side pairing to pasta dishes, or salmon. Vegetarian. Gluten-Free.
Ingredients
- 4 zucchinis, ribboned
- 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 10 kalamata olives, halved
- 1 oz blue cheese, crumbled
- Sprinkle red pepper flakes
- 2 tsp olive oil
- ½ lemon, zest and juice
- Pinch Sea Salt
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp basil leaves, torn
Instructions
- Zoodle. To get the picturesque zucchini ribbons, I use a peeler. This is not always the quickest way, so if you have a mandolin or a mechanized tool, by all means, put it to use. Slice the ends of the 4 zucchinis. Then with one hand holding the vegetable in place on the cutting board, make vertical peels down the zucchini. The result is long, wide, almost translucently thin zoodles.
- Chop. Halve the 10 cherry tomatoes and 10 kalamata olives.
- Combine Ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine zucchini ribbons, halved cherry tomatoes, and halved kalamata olives.
- Prepare the dressing. To make the dressing, in a small bowl whisk together the ½ lemon juice and zest, small pinch of salt, ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper, and 2 tsp olive oil.
- Dress, Top, and Toss. Pour the dressing over the zoodle mixture and toss, adding the 1 oz blue cheese crumbles, sprinkling with the red pepper flakes and topping with 2 Tbsp torn basil leaves. Toss until combined. Serve immediately or refrigerate.
Notes
This salad looks best when using the peeler method since it creates gorgeous ribbons of zucchini with those dark greens contrasting against the whitish yellow centers. Feel free to zoodle whichever way you like, even just a rough chop of the zucchinis will do it.
If you are making ahead of time, leave the blue cheese crumbles for just before serving to preserve their bite and flavor. Also note that the salt will extract the water from the zucchini resulting in a slightly wet salad dressing. Simply drain off excess water and add a bit more lemon juice to spruce it up.
VARIATIONS: Sometimes I swap fresh tomatoes with sundried. Try something tonight and tell me how your zesty zucchini ribbon salad turned out in the comments section.
Pairs well with Spaghetti Squash Pasta with Meat Sauce
Keywords: Zucchini Ribbon, Salad, Side Salad, Vegetarian, Gluten-Free, Italian, Sides, Raw
