marcella hazan’s boiled zucchini salad
Yes, in the blink of an eye, they are back. The zucchini are here and I need to find ways of using them. So here it is, the first zucchini recipe of summer 2016.
The name of this salad is totally unpromising, BOILED zucchini salad. But trust me it is good. Normally i wouldn’t have given it a second look, but the recipe is from the opinionated Queen of Italian cooking, Marcella Hazan, now sadly gone. I’ve never made a recipe of hers that was a failure. My sister had also been singing its praises.
This is a simple salad of steamed zucchini, dressed with garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and parsley I made it with some different shaped zucchini I had. Some of them were a bit larger than ideal, but it was still good. It is soft and creamy, with a zippiness from the vinegar that raises it above the ordinary.
It is the time to get out your best oil, vinegar and salt because it depends completely on the ingredients.
It is a “definitely more than the sum of its parts” dish. Great with just some fresh crunchy bread.
- 4 small zucchini
- 1-2 cloves of garlic crushed to a paste
- olive oil
- red wine vinegar
- salt
- pepper
- chopped flat leaf parsley
- Steam the zucchini until very tender. They need to be soft so they just hold together.
- Cut in half lengthways and remove the top and bottom and place on a plate.
- Smear the cut surfaces with the garlic.
- Tilt the plate so any excess liquid runs off.
- After the zucchini has drained, drizzle it with olive oil, sprinkle with red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning. I like mine with plenty of tang from the red wine.