When I was a little girl, one of my cousins was vegetarian. The whole concept was very foreign to me… meat and potatoes were pretty standard fare in our household. Once, we were all eating dinner at my grandmother’s house. Most of use were eating, you guessed it, meat and potatoes, but my grandmother had prepared a special vegetarian dish for my cousin. It was a zucchini pie made with a Crescent roll crust brushed with just a hint of mustard.*
Twenty-some years later, it’s like I can still taste it. Suddenly, being a vegetarian didn’t seem so bad or weird. And that’s coming from a girl who didn’t really like vegetables until well into her tween or teen years.
Well, I can’t eat Crescent Rolls anymore and my cousin is no longer vegetarian. But I’m pretty sure that this dish of sauteed zucchini, corn and roasted green peppers could similarly convince somebody that vegetarian food can still rock the house.
* If anybody is interested in the recipe for the zucchini pie that changed my life, the closest thing I found online was on Allrecipes.
Sauteed Zucchini with Corn and Roasted Peppers
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
* about 1 pound zucchini, cut into small, 1/2-inch cubes
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 Tablespoon butter
* 1 Tablespoon olive oil, plus extra if needed
* 1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
* 1 cup frozen corn, defrosted
* 1 poblano or green bell pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded and cut into thin strips*
* 2/3 cup Mexican-style sour cream**
* salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Place the zucchini in a colander and mix with the salt. Let stand over a plate or the sink for about 1/2 hour to draw out any bitter liquid. Rinse and pat dry or drain for several minutes in the colander.
Heat the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring often, until the zucchini has browned and is just tender. Remove the zucchini to a bowl with tongs or a slotted spoon, attempting to keep as much of the butter and oil mixture in the pan as possible.
Add the onions and cook, stirring until translucent. Add the corn and the pepper strips and continue to cook until the onion begins to brown. Stir in the sour cream and zucchini and cook until the sour cream has reduced to a thick glaze. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
* Need pepper roasting instructions? I use this technique.
** If you cannot find Mexican-style sour cream, you can substitute heavy cream or regular sour cream.