Last week I got a new mandolin.
But it’s not the kind you are probably thinking… are you thinking this?
That’s not what I got.
Mine slices stuff. It looks like this…
I used to have a pretty steady hand for cutting really thin slices of things, but on my last trip to Italy I kind of went over the edge drinking cappucinos.
To the point were my other caffeine friend and I were tag team ordering and drinking two at a time everytime we stopped walking. Which was about 3, sometimes 4 times a day, x 11 days…well, you can do the math. But aren’t they so very tiny and cute? Ahh. Tiny, cute and dangerously addictive….
But I was here:
- Bella Firenze!
Where the alternative for extra energy was this:
Mmmm, chocolate. They eat these. Not just look at them, in Montacatina, Italy.
I couldn’t afford to eat these AND buy new pants, so cappucino it was….
But I traded my steady slicing hand and it never came back. Which lead to the need for a mandolin.
I looked up how to use it creatively on the internet. That went pretty well.
After I recovered from the picture of what happens when you don’t use the holding tool which goes between you, the vegetable and the razor sharp V blade of death, which I was totally unprepared to see, I was good to go.
Which brings us to a clean recipe side dish which is also vegan and raw-friendly. I call it Cuke, Zuke & Carrot Lemony Strip Slaw. It looks like this:
Lemony Strip Slaw
It has 6 ingredients:
1 small to medium zucchini
1 small to medium cucumber
1 medium carrot
2 T lemon extra virgin olive (or just add a T of lemon juice to plain oil)
1 tsp. of coarse ground sea salt
1 tsp. thyme leaves
Method
1. Holding the veggie (with the holder) at a 45 degree angle, slice on the thinnest mandolin setting that will create whole strips. Do this for all three veggies.
Zukes, carrots, cukes.
2. Toss the strips into a deep bowl.
The lemon is for "photo aesthetics", please don't toss 2 halves in your salad 😉
3. Drizzle the lemon oil or oil/lemon combo over the strips. Add thyme and salt. (I show the lemon/oil combo in this recipe – I brought lemon oil from Italy so I’m not sure if it is available in Canada – anyone know?)
4. Toss and enjoy. You can add more squeezes of lemon to suit your taste.
This is a beautiful side that you expect to taste vinegar in, but it doesn’t need it. So fresh and good and it gets better and better as it marinates in the fridge, and the bonus is that it uses up those zucchini!
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