This Vegetarian Summer Carpaccio is a plate of thinly sliced vegetables, fruit and mozzarella, garnished with a light balsamic dressing.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Do you find yourself eating lighter fare in warm weather? More salads, less carbs? I certainly do! I wanted to make something different from the usual salads full of leaves, cucumbers and tomatoes, and this Vegetarian Summer Carpaccio is it.
Now I am exercising a slight artistic license to the name, but what’s life without a bit of risk?
What is Carpaccio?
Carpaccio is Italian in origin. Traditionally, it’s a plate of thinly sliced, raw meat, typically beef, and first came about in Venice, Italy, apparently styled after a Piedmont speciality.
These days though, carpaccio comes in all forms, sashimi style platters are always a welcome sight as far as I’m concerned, and cool salad style carpacci (plural) are hard to beat on hot, hot days!
Vegetarian Summer Carpaccio Recipe
That’s what I give you today, a Vegetarian Carpaccio, especially for the summer. And you’ll be very proud of me when I tell you that I resisted all temptation to use any of my beloved “exotic” Middle Eastern and South East Asian ingredients!
- No sumac.
- No pomegranate molasses.
- No lemongrass.
- No galangal.
- No kaffir lime leaves!
Vegetarian Summer Carpaccio Ingredients
Tomatoes – get different colours if you can, for more of a statement. Black tomatoes would look awesome in this!
Mozzarella – I love mozzarella pearls (balls) for this. When I first posted this recipe, that’s what I used, as you can see in one of the images, rather going against the very principle of carpaccio being made up of thinly sliced ingredients.
But hey, call me a daredevil! You can do the same or get whatever you can and either slice it up or take little pinches of it for a more blasé look.
Salad Dressing – I simply adore a good balsamic vinegar and use it quite often in dressings. You can’t beat the combination of balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Slice your fruit and vegetables thinly but don’t fret too much about it, as you can see in my pictures. A thin serrated knife, like a bread knife, is your best option for slicing tomatoes without squashing them.
I’ve kept the carpaccio simple, going for ingredients that will complement each other. I would advice you to increase the number of tomatoes, avocado and strawberries rather than adding to the type, if you want more. Remember, less is more.
If experimenting with other ingredients, think of all the flavours and textures you’re putting together. In this carpaccio, we have creamy from the avocado, sweet from the strawberries and the ripe tomatoes, tart and sweet from the dressing and a sharp, aniseed flavour from the basil leaves.
Every mouthful is an explosion of flavours!
Let’s get our aprons on!
If you like the recipe and article, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you!
And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor, and hashtag it #linsfood
Lin xx
More Summer Salads
Vegetarian Summer Carpaccio (with fresh produce form the garden)
Ingredients
- 1 avocado
- 6 medium sized ripe tomatoes different colours
- 4 strawberries
- 200 g mozzarella pearls or regular mozzarella
- some small basil leaves
- a few pomegranate seeds for bling optional
Dressing
- 2 Tbsp EV olive oil
- 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice about half a lemon
- a very generous pinch salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp juice from the fresh pomegranate if using the seeds
Instructions
- Mix the the dressing ingredients together and set aside.
- If using fresh pomegranate seeds, add any juice to the dressing but no more than a teaspoon.
- Slice the tomatoes up into thin rounds, about 4-5 each tomato.
- Slice the strawberries thinly.
- If not using pearl mozzarella, slice the mozzarella up into rounds or just pinch and break it up into little pieces for a more rustic look.
- Arrange all the salad ingredients on a large plate with the tomatoes at the bottom, haphazardly throwing the basil leaves on.
- Scatter the pomegranate seeds on the salad, if using.
- Drizzle the salad dressing all over and serve immediately.
I think I’m more in love with this vegetarian version than the actual thing! It sounds so light, looks so elegant and would get done in a jiffy. Heaven on a plate!
What a whimsical and light salad! I love everything going into it. I must remember to try this!
Thank you Shana, good to see you here, thanks for stopping by!
Love these bright and cheerful summer salads! And I really like adding pomegranate seeds to salads, they add a pop of colour!
Exactly! It’s more the colour than anything else! Thank you Diana!
I live in New England and couldn’t agree with you more about the heat… If I wanted hot weather I would live in the tropics! LOL This is a perfect beautiful summer dish! What a great vegetarian twist on carpaccio! YUM!
Thank you so much, Holly! Kindred spirits!
This dish reminds me of Summer, so beautiful and fresh looking.
Thank you Bintu!
This recipe looking super light i love it. Really good idea for summer !
Thank you, definitely a favourite!