Summertime Sauté of Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes
Some of the best vegetables are summertime vegetables. In Texas, that summertime harvest can come pretty early, before it gets so hot it just burns the vegetable garden up. Then, where we live, the birds and rabbits can destroy a well loved garden in no time flat. It can be hard! After a lot of hard work, we are fortunate to have a vegetable garden that we’ve made somewhat successful in Texas.
We use tomato “starters,” as our harvest time can be somewhat short. This year, we actually used zucchini seeds and out came a very large plant. So it was time to create a side sauté of these delicious veggies.
We haven’t been successful growing onions in Texas, but all the other produce came from the garden. After chopping to bite size chunks, mix the red onion and zucchini with olive oil and garlic salt or sea salt.
Next, it’s time to blister the tomatoes. Super easy process of just placing the cherry tomatoes in a very hot frying pan with a bit of olive oil. Shake the pan to ensure the tomatoes blister evenly on all sides but not too much so they burn. The goal is to keep them whole, so when you bite into them the flavor just bursts in your mouth.
Look at that concentration! ;)
They look so good! They can be eating just like this, tossed with a bit of spinach pasta or all by themselves.
In this case, simply set them aside while the zucchini cooks. Using the same pan begin to saute the zucchini and onions.
After the mixture has softened and brown slightly place the sliced basil (or tear over the pan) in with the veggies. Next add a good amount of fresh ground pepper, and any more salt, if desires.
You should start to smell the aromatics of the basil. At that point remove from heat.
It’s that easy!
Don’t forget to sprinkle a bit of Parmesan cheese to finish it off and serve. It makes it even more satisfying when the veggies came from the garden just that afternoon.
On this night we served with our Tuscan Grilled Chicken found under Chef Recipes.
Summertime Zucchini and Tomato Saute
Ingredients
- 2 medium Zucchini, cut into wedges
- 1/2 Red Onion, cut into thin slices
- 18 Whole Cherry Tomatoes
- 2 + 3 tablespoons Olive oil, divided
- Garlic Salt or sea salt
- 12 fresh Basil leaves, sliced (or torn) into strips
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Place the cut zucchini and red onion in a bowl. Add the 3 tablespoons olive oil. Sprinkle
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a skillet to very hot. Add the cherry tomatoes, shaking and shifting the pan so the tomatoes blister, but not burn, on all sides. About 3-4 minutes. Remove from the skillet and set aside in a bowl. Reduce heat to medium.
- Using the same skillet add the zucchini and red onion mixture. Sauté until the vegetables soften and the zucchini slightly browns, about 7-10 minutes.
- Add the torn basil then sprinkle the vegetables with black pepper. Stir all together. Cook for about 30 seconds until the basil slightly wilts. Add the tomatoes back to the skillet with the rest of the vegetables.
- Remove from the skillet place in a serving bowl. Sprinkle a bit of fresh Parmesan cheese over the vegetables. Serve at once. Enjoy!
