Zucchini Carpaccio, Spaghetti Style

I don’t often do raw. Strangely enough, I think it’s incredibly complicated.

It should be easy, since nothing gets cooked, right? Wrong.

I find raw “cooking” has way too many restrictions for my taste. I’m not saying that I don’t find the concept intiguing or interesting, far from there. In fact, my mom left a recipe book with me last month and I promised her, and myself, that I would take a look at it and try some of the recipes.

So far, I’ve looked at the pictures, and… well, they are amazing! Absolutely mouth watering.

But the recipes themselves? I don’t know… To be honest, I haven’t really registered. I’ll have to look again.

In fact, you’ve probably noticed that I don’t really put labels on my dishes, such as raw, or vegan, or gluten free… these are all things that I don’t like to worry about.

The only thing that counts for me is that what goes in the making of a dish is good for my body and as close as possible to what nature intended.

This dish here was not done with the intention of being a “raw” pasta dish replacement. I was only in the mood for a good zucchini carpaccio, and only after I plated it did I see a resemblance with a nice plate of spaghetti.

But does it really qualify as raw? Probably not, since I can’t guarantee that the goat cheese I used was raw. And how about sun dried tomatoes, or Kalamata olives… are those raw?

Frankly, I don’t know!

What I do know, however, is that this carpaccio is way tasty and comes together in no time at all. Providing that you have a mandolin handy, from start to finish, this gorgeous dinner will be on the table in less than 10 minutes!

Who’s gonna say no to that?

Certainly not me!

ZUCCHINI CARPACCIO, SPAGHETTI STYLE

INGREDIENTS(Serves 2)

• 2 large zucchinis
• 50g sundried tomatoes, chopped
• 45g walnuts, chopped
• 12 large kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 60g soft goat cheese, crumbled
• Handful fresh parlsey, chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Chop sun dried tomatoes, walnuts, Kalamata olives and parsley. Mince garlic.
2. With the help of a mandolin, cut the zucchinis lengthwise into long thin strings.
3. Add zucchini strings to a large mixing bowl, along with sun dried tomatoes, walnuts, Kalamata olives and minced garlic.
4. Stir delicately until well combined.
5. At the very last minute, add olive oil, salt and black pepper. Stir delicately, just to coat.
6. Immediately transfer to serving plate and crumble goat cheese over top. Sprinkle chopped parsley and serve without delay, as zucchini tends to render water if you let it sit for too long.