Zucchini Carpaccio

Zucchini is one of my favorite summer vegetables and they come in abundance in gardens everywhere! Aside from being delicious, zucchini are a nutritional powerhouse! Zucchini are full of the essential nutrient (essential means that your body does not produce it so you must get it from your diet) manganese! In fact, just one cup of zucchini containes 19% of your daily recommended amount of manganese. Did you know that manganese can help give you beautiful skin? It's true! Manganese is responsible for the production of proline, which is an amino acid that aids in the production of collagen!  It's also full of vitamins A and C and is a powerful antioxidant. So eat your zucchini! It's delicious. Especially in this recipe.

This recipe is really quick and has only a few ingredients. It's fresh, bright and healthy and makes a perfect side dish or appetizer!

Ingredients:
-1 medium-sized zucchini
-1 medium-sized summer squash
-zest and juice of 1 large lemon
-1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
-1 clove of garlic
-1/3 cup basil
-1/3 cup mint
-sea salt and pepper

Directions:
-Using a mandolin on the thinnest setting, slice your zucchini and squash. If you don't have a mandolin, you can definitely do this by hand. Just slice it as thin as you can.
-Layer your zucchini and squash on a platter in any design you like until you have used all of them.  Make sure to generously salt and pepper between each layer. This is very important for seasoning, and to soften the vegetables.
-In a small bowl, add in the lemon zest, lemon juice and oil oil. Add the garlic to the bowl. I recommend grating it, as it will be eaten raw. You really don't want to bite down on a huge piece of raw garlic. Whisk everything in the bowl together and pour it over the layered zucchini and squash. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or so to let everything marinate.
-In the mean time, chiffonade (a fancy french word for cut into thin strips) or chop your basil and mint.
-When the dish comes out of the fridge, sprinkle the herbs all over the veg. Serve immediately. enjoy!

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