Using your vegetable peeler to make perfectly thin delightful ribbons of almost any long vegetable is super easy and super pretty. Obviously, if you have a mandolin, you can use that 😉 Pretty much all these ideas are great sides for anything grilled. Here’s a few ideas:
Summer Squashes: Prepare ribbons with your peeler (a mix of squashes and a carrot is pretty), toss with salt and pepper. Sauté quickly (2 minutes) in a skillet. This is perfect as it is, but you can always accessorize with your fresh lemon thyme leaves, or basil, or parsley, shredded cheese…. There’s a more elaborate version on the blog “Grilled zucchini ribbons”
Cucumbers: Prepare ribbons with your peeler. Toss with a little s&p, vinegar and oil of your choice. I like to toss them with arugula, if I have it, for a nice salad. Reid likes them piled on a sandwich too.
I also like a simple Asian dressing of 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, which, again, is pretty much the same thing, but made different by your selection of vinegars and oils.