Warm Zucchini Thread Salad

I am a sucker for fun knife cuts. If a recipe involves playing with knives and slicing vegetables, count me in.

This isn’t to say I am entirely comfortable with my skills although I have been taught my entire life how to clean, sharpen and respect a chef’s knife (thanks, Daddy). It has more to do with the feeling I get when I focus on a repetitive creative undertaking. When I was a child my parents were folk artists who worked diligently to pump out their hand crafted art like machines. My mother used to sit behind this tall wooden work bench listening to talk radio while she painted hundreds of beautiful little cottages, pretty letters, animals, and trees. Sometimes, depending on the holiday, every surface would be covered with tiny hand painted Santas, bunnies or turkeys. I learned at a young age how to meticulously paint small wooden objects, and made a game to see how many I could paint in an hour. It was tedious, consistent, and amusing work much like chopping vegetables.

These days the cutting board is my canvas, the knife is my brush, and food is my paint.

Warm Zucchini Thread Salad is bursting with comfortable Italian flavors and is easy to prepare. The more laid-back approach to this salad would be to use a mandolin to thinly slice the zucchini, but I don’t have to tell you I did not use one. This salad is served warm out of the pan. It is velvety with a slight punch of tartness from the red wine vinegar, and a happy crunch from the pine nuts.

Warm Zucchini Thread Salad 

Time in kitchen: 45 minutes
Servings: 4
Nutrition information per serving: 208 calories, 22 carbohydrates, 7 grams fiber, 8 grams protein

Ingredients:
1 15 oz. can small white beans, drained and rinsed
½ red onion, thinly sliced in to half moons
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves, smashed but left whole
4 small zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise then cut in to strips
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted

Directions:

Before anything else, rinse and drain the beans. In a small bowl, toss the beans with salt, pepper, a dash of olive oil and a dash of red wine vinegar. Set aside to marinade.

Slice the zucchini lengthwise into long flat strips. Then, thinly slice the flat strips lengthwise to make thin ribbons.

Heat a large sauté pan with a lid to medium heat. Add olive oil, smashed garlic, red pepper flakes. Infuse the oil; about 2 minutes (be careful not to burn the garlic). Add sliced onions and gently cook until golden; about 5 minutes. Take out the whole garlic cloves. Add the zucchini threads and combine them carefully with the onions. Cover and steam; about 5 minutes. Remove lid; add red wine vinegar and toss the ingredients gently; cook an additional two minutes until the zucchini is tender. Turn off the heat. Toss zucchini salad with small white beans and fresh basil leaves.

To plate twirl the warm salad in the middle of the plate. Top liberally with toasted pine nuts.