Food & Wine (September 2011)
Like a summer boyfriend who hasn't quite gotten the message, it's the time of year when it seems as if zucchini has overstayed its welcome.
"No, no, it was an awesome summer! We had some really great times together! It's not you, zucchini, it's us. We just...we need a little break."
Let's call this a swan song to summer squash.
And it is. The only issue is that, even using a mandoline as the recipe recommends, we found it incredibly difficult to slice the squash as thin as it appears in the magazine. Our squash was still good (delicious, in fact), but thicker ribbons are more difficult to skewer without snapping them in half. When making this dish again, we'll try using a wide vegetable peeler, or maybe even just try to take our time with a sharp knife to achieve extremely thin ribbons.
We made a few changes here:
The recipe calls for placing the ribbons on "4 pairs of 12-inch bamboo skewers." If you look at the Food & Wine photo below, you'll see that the skewers they use are two-prong. Because the ribbons and prosciutto are both so delicate, double-skewering each piece will help them to not fall apart (and it makes them easier to flip while grilling). We don't have bamboo skewers, so instead we used four long metal skewers to build two big kabobs of squash and prosciutto.
We found the dressing (which is essentially equal parts lime juice and olive oil) to be extremely tart, in an "oh my goodness why is your entire face puckering?!" sort of way. It was too much to stand, so we tempered the dressing with a lot more olive oil, some salt and even a little honey to balance that tartness and mellow the dressing out a bit.
And for those of you have already given up on summer grilling (or are sans grill), we made this indoors on a grill pan and thought it turned out extremely well. Sure, it lacked the smokiness of outdoor grilling, but it was still delicious.
If you haven't already ditched squash and zucchini for another crush, we definitely recommend you give these a go.
Who knows, you may fall in love all over again.
Grilled Squash Ribbons and Prosciutto with Mint Dressing
Food & Wine (September 2011)
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Total Time: 30 minutes
Serves 4
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1/4 cup chopped mint
- 2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 medium zucchini, very thinly sliced lengthwise on a mandoline
- 2 medium yellow squash, very thinly sliced lengthwise on a mandoline
- 6 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. In a small bowl, combine the lime zest and juice with the mint, garlic and the 1/4 cup of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Alternately thread the zucchini, yellow squash and prosciutto onto 4 pairs of 12-inch bamboo skewers. Lightly brush the vegetables and prosciutto with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
Grill the skewers over high heat until the zucchini and yellow squash are lightly charred, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Serve with the mint dressing on the side.
For variations on this dish, visit FoodandWine.com.