I made Beet Carpaccio and Pappardelle with Zucchini Ribbons!

It is hot! If you live in New York, this is not news, but I still can’t get over it. Food-wise this means I’ve been desperately trying to avoid using the stove while still making use of all the beautiful produce that’s around/feeding myself. Here are two recipes, one that doesn’t use the stove at ALL and one which does, but not for a crazy amount of time.

The beet carpaccio recipe is from Epicurious and it actually calls for roasted beets, which I’m sure would be delicious, but which isn’t going to happen in my kitchen until it’s cooler. I ignored the roasted part and used the beets raw and it was delicious! Also, the dressing for this is ridiculously good and could be good on many other things. My notes in bold!

• 12 2-inch beets, trimmed

• 1 cup crumbled soft fresh goat cheese (about 5 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons minced shallot
• 1/3 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
• 1/4 cup walnut oil or olive oil (I used olive oil)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar (I only used one teaspoon)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place beets on sheet (if using both light- and dark-colored beets, place them on separate sheets to prevent discoloration). Sprinkle beets lightly with water. Cover tightly with foil. Bake until beets are tender when pierced with fork, about 40 minutes. Cool on sheet. Peel beets. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Place in resealable plastic bag; chill.) (I skipped this step and just peeled the beets and used a mandoline on the smallest setting to slice them thinly)
Using cheese slicer or knife, slice beets very thinly. Slightly overlap slices on 6 plates, dividing equally. Sprinkle with cheese, then shallot, salt, and pepper. Whisk vinegar, mint, oil, and sugar in small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over beets. Sprinkle with chives.

The next day, we had leftover dressing and I decided to incorporate it into this other “low-cook” recipe from the blog Cooking Books (http://cooking-books.blogspot.com/) which I ran across on the Serious Eats Photograzing section.

Pappardelle with Zucchini Ribbons


2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
Enough olive oil to suit your taste and coat the pasta

Whisk all of these together and set aside. (I skipped this whole above piece and used the leftover dressing from the beets, but I’m sure this is excellent as well!)

For the pasta and zucchini:
1 package pappardelle pasta
1 tomato chopped (I put in cherry tomatoes cause big tomatoes aren’t *quite* in season here)
2 zucchinis, peeled into ribbons using a vegetable peeler (I had one big one -- all good!)
I added some quickly sauteed spinach and garlic, and threw some cubes of fresh mozzarella on top. Goat cheese would also be good, I bet.

Cook the pappardelle pasta according to package directions, and combine with the tomato and the zucchini ribbons. Toss with the vinaigrette while the pasta is still warm. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.