Ingredients
Serves 4-61 medium zucchini or two smaller ribbed, washed
1 handful of watercress, washed
10 mint leaves, washed
10 purple basil leaves, washed
Two thick slices of sourdough bread
1 lemon
Drizzle of your favourite cold pressed olive oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
2 tablespoons of goat’s curd or fresh ricotta cheese
Method
Use a potato peeler to slice the zucchini lengthways, do the whole zucchini so you have lovely long silky ribbons the width of the zucchini. Place the zucchini into a bowl and sprinkle generously with salt and allow to sit. After about ten minutes rinse the salt from the zucchini with cold water and then lay the zucchini out on a plate until needed.
Bring together in a mixing bowl the watercress, mint and basil leaves along with a pinch of salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Use a citrus zester or fine cheese grater to grate the zest of the entire lemon into the salad and then half the lemon and squeeze the juice of half the lemon over the leaves. Mix gently using your hands.
Grill the sourdough over a bbq or grill plate until toasted and even a little charred on the crusts.
Drizzle the bread with a little olive oil and then smear the goats curd over the bread.
Toss the zucchini through the salad and then arrange over the top of the two pieces of bread.
Finish with a little cracked pepper and maybe another drizzle of olive oil and serve immediately.
Matt Skinner's wine suggestion: Sauvignon Blanc
The smell of spring in the air should have you automatically reaching for
Sauvignon Blanc. This season's ingredients are literally made for this variety and while all number of variations on broad beans, peas, mint, basil, lemon, sea salt, and really good peppery olive oil are perfectly suited to Sauvignon Blanc, it's good old goats cheese that creates one of the best matches.
This stylish example from the stony soils of Rapaura within the Wairau Valley is home to many of Marlborough's finest examples and would be spot on. While a big sniff will reveal classic grapefruit, gooseberry, and mineral character, the palate is dry, tight, and balanced beautifully by mouth-watering acidity and great length of flavour. And if all that isn't enough, Sauvignon Blanc - particularly the NZ kind - remains one of the most widely consumed wine styles on planet earth.