Saturday, June 29, 2013

Raw Shaved Squash Salad

I hereby declare this a summer of raw fruits and veggies (and other things in moderation).

We went to a guerilla restaurant, the Agrarian, for dinner with some friends, and I ordered a dish that involved raw shaved yellow squash, and a black garlic puree mixture for dipping.  It was quite delicious, and I was very pleased to learn it was possible to enjoy raw yellow squash.  Our friend Gretchen works for the restaurant and informed me that they soaked the squash in some kind of vinegar.  And doesn't that just sound fresh and yummy!

So today at the farmers market I bought some squash and decided to make it into a salad.  The process was so simple that a paragraph of explanation should suffice:

Ingredients/Directions:
Shave the squash into a bowl with a vegetable peeler, and add a couple splashes of rice vinegar, a sprinkling of salt and sugar, and fresh cracked black pepper (I used flower pepper from Trader Joes).  Mix the contents of the bowl.  No need to let it soak, just eat up.  

Note: The squash we bought also tasted surprisingly delicious raw without the vinegar mixture, but that may have been the variety.  With other varieties, you may find it needs some soak time.

I used rice vinegar because I like its sweetness and wanted to see how it would taste.  I'm sure balsamic or apple cider vinegar would work quite well also.  If a significant amount of vinegar accumulates at the bottom of the bowl, carefully drain it.  I put a little too much vinegar in mine, and after tossing it a bit, had to pour some out.

The result did not disappoint.  Here's to an excellent start to the summer of raw fruits and veggies!



2 comments:

  1. yum!!!! We are making this as soon as possible.

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  2. Actually they don't soak the squash, they just lightly toss in a vinaigrette right before plating it. And I got to make the vinaigrette the other day and we do use rice vinegar in it!

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