I did make one little change to the suggested process. The recipe was intended to make use of thinly-sliced, raw ribbons of summer squash and zucchini. But, I was using the grill that day anyway and liked the idea of adding a slightly smoky flavor to the dish. I gave the ribbons just a minute on each side over the coals before proceeding with the salad. The sauce was a mix of minced hot chiles, minced garlic cloves, fish sauce, water, and white wine vinegar, and it will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator. The rest of the salad components included havled cherry tomatoes, I added some larger tomatoes cut into wedges, thinly sliced green onions, basil leaves, mint leaves, chopped peanuts, and olive oil. Everything was tossed with the Spicy Fish-Sauce Sauce and olive oil and placed on a platter.
The fresh herbs and crunchy nuts mixed well with the vegetables and the spicy sauce, and the salad was great alongside grilled shrimp. This book was a welcome read thanks to the care with and interest in vegetables at their very best, and the layers of flavor worked into each dish will keep me coming back to try more things.
Squash Ribbons with Tomatoes, Peanuts, Basil, Mint, and Spicy Fish-Sauce Sauce
Excerpted from Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables
Serves 4
4 firm medium zucchini or a mix of zucchini and yellow summer squash
Kosher salt
1 pint cherry tomatoes (a mix of colors is nice), halved
1/2 cup salted roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
1 bunch scallions, trimmed (including 1/2 inch off the green tops), sliced on a sharp angle, soaked in ice water for 20 minutes, and drained well
1 small handful basil leaves
1 small handful mint leaves
1/4 cup Spicy Fish-Sauce Sauce (see below)
Extra-virgin olive oil
Using a mandoline, carefully slice the zucchini from the bottom to the top to create very thin ribbons of squash. (If you don’t have a mandoline, just cut the zucchini into very thin crosswise slices, to create rounds.) Toss the squash with 1 teaspoon salt and put in a colander so the salt can draw out excess moisture. Let them sit for 30 minutes. Blot the squash on paper towels to remove the moisture and excess salt. Pile into a large bowl.
Add the tomatoes, peanuts, scallions, basil, and mint. Pour in the spicy fish-sauce sauce and toss again. Taste and decide whether the salad needs more salt. Add 1/4 cup olive oil and toss again. Do a final taste and toss, arrange on plates, and serve right away.
Spicy Fish-Sauce Sauce
Makes about 1 1/4 cups
1/4 cup seeded, deribbed, and minced fresh hot chiles (use a mix of colors)
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup water
1/4 white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
Stir everything together in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves. Taste and adjust so you have an intense sweet-salty-sour-hot balance. Ideally, make this a day ahead, then taste and readjust the seasonings on the second day. The chile heat is likely to get stronger. The sauce will keep for a month or two in the fridge.
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Lotta neat flavor and textures going on here! Not to mention colors. Perfect for the season -- thanks.
ReplyDeleteSo many veggie cookbooks out now! This sounds full of Vietnamese flavors which I adore!
ReplyDeleteSo summery and delicious! I really love those yellow tomatoes...the colour just pops!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing sophisticated dish, love all the flavors that you used, great idea to smoke the squash;)
ReplyDeletethis dish looks super complex and completely amazing! your impromptu grilling of the squash was a great idea.
ReplyDeleteI have that book! It is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI think this recipe escaped my personal radar, for some odd reason... thanks for bringing it to my attention, love everything about it!
A perfect summer dish! I have this cookbook, too, and can't wait to start cooking out of it now that my local farmers' market is overflowing with irresistible provisions.
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