Roll lemons on work surface. Wash and set to the side with a grater or microplane.
Prepare zucchini: Rinse zucchini under cool water. Pat dry then trim away ends. Divide in half lengthwise then cut on an angle into 1-inch chunks.
Cook zucchini: Heat a large cast-iron skillet on gas burner or stovetop. When the pan is hot, add a small drizzle of oil. Add pistachios, moving them about in the hot oil to toast. Once browned, remove from pan, cool and roughly chop. Add more oil to pan then add pieces of zucchini, cut side down, with room in between. Cook for about 2 minutes, then turn and cook another side. Repeat until all of the cut edges are browned. Transfer cooked pieces to an attractive platter or plate.
Garnish: Sprinkle the platter with crumbled feta. Zest the two lemons over the zucchini. Cut 1 lemon in half and squeeze the juice from both halves over the dish. Sprinkle with herbs and chopped pistachios plus finely diced pepper, if using. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes. Serve immediately.
Seared Zucchini Side Dish
Ingredients
4-6 medium zucchini, yellow and green
3 tablespoons neutral oil with a high smoke point
2 lemons
½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
½ cup fresh chopped herbs
¼ cup raw, shelled pistachios
1 bird’s eye pepper, seeded and finely minced
sprinkle sea salt flakes
Directions
Roll lemons on work surface. Wash and set to the side with a grater or microplane.
Prepare zucchini: Rinse zucchini under cool water. Pat dry then trim away ends. Divide in half lengthwise then cut on an angle into 1-inch chunks.
Cook zucchini: Heat a large cast-iron skillet on gas burner or stovetop. When the pan is hot, add a small drizzle of oil. Add pistachios, moving them about in the hot oil to toast. Once browned, remove from pan, cool and roughly chop. Add more oil to pan then add pieces of zucchini, cut side down, with room in between. Cook for about 2 minutes, then turn and cook another side. Repeat until all of the cut edges are browned. Transfer cooked pieces to an attractive platter or plate.
Garnish: Sprinkle the platter with crumbled feta. Zest the two lemons over the zucchini. Cut 1 lemon in half and squeeze the juice from both halves over the dish. Sprinkle with herbs and chopped pistachios plus finely diced pepper, if using. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes. Serve immediately.
Seared Zucchini Side Dish
5 / 5. 4
Sliced zucchini seared in a hot skillet topped with a squeeze of lemon juice, crumbled feta, lemon zest and chopped fresh herbs…
Love zucchini? Our SEARED ZUCCHINI SIDE DISH takes the flavours to a whole new level!
Years ago, I learned the zen of accepting friends’ help with meals at the cottage. Some say, “Can we bring such and such?” while others call an entire meal, “We’re gonna do dinner!”. But some suggest we cook a meal together. That’s my favourite option because I can take on the role of assistant or sous chef while they lead the preparation. Case in point: a few weeks back, my dear friend Heather Lynn walked us through this delicious SEARED ZUCCHINI SIDE DISH, and everyone who enjoyed it that night was like, “recipe, please!”. So, here it is!
Before sharing the details, I also want to share other recipes made with zucchini. For those needing a quick salad idea, this SHAVED ZUCCHINI salad recipe with white truffle oil and pecorino is divine. Need a side dish to serve a hungry crowd? Make our famous BAKED ZUCCHINI CASSEROLE loaded with zucchini, tomatoes, onion and baked with a garlic and Parmesan breadcrumb topping. Last couple of entries in the zucchini recipe category, our kid-approved TUNA-FILLED ZUCCHINI BOATS, and two oven entries with this CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI LOAF and our SPICED ZUCCHINI BREAD, made with a secret spice. Who knew curry would work so perfectly with zucchini?
Let’s continue with this SEARED ZUCCHINI SIDE DISH:
INGREDIENTS
The ingredients for this vegetarian side dish all echo the approach to making it: easy. Thankfully, we’re not sending you out to track down unusual or difficult-to-find ingredients. Instead, a trip to your local grocery store or farmer’s market should do the trick. Think fresh veggies, a bit of feta and fresh herbs. One thing to mention here, though, this recipe was crafted to serve four guests. Feel free to add an additional zucchini or two into the mix if you’re serving more. The quantities for the rest of the ingredients can stay the same. The toppings can stretch without diminishing flavour.
ZUCCHINI
If zucchini is a vegetable you’re not familiar with, or perhaps you just don’t make it as often as you like, here’s the deal: you’ve got to start. Check out these nutrition facts. Zucchini is a member of the courgette, or summer squash, family. Distant relations include melons, yellow squash, spaghetti squash, and cucumbers. Here’s the really good part: zucchinis are low-calorie, low-fat, and low-sugar veggies packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. More details, you ask? How about vitamin A, manganese, vitamin C, potassium, folate, copper, magnesium and vitamin K? The thing we really appreciate is the way they help with digestion and may help lower blood sugar levels and improve eyesight. I see eating zucchini is good for us!
Preparing the zucchini for this recipe is easy. Whether you’re using a small or large variety, we suggest giving them a rinse under cool water and then trimming away the cap and very end. During the testing of this recipe, we did a round using just green zucchini, but the combination of yellow zucchini with the green is more interesting. Make sure to watch the VIDEO attached to this post, where we show you how to divide the zucchini down the middle lengthwise before cutting it on an angle into 1-inch chunks. Larger pieces sear and cook better, regardless of whether it’s on the griddle, in a frying pan or a skillet. Just don’t use a deep pot or soup pot, though; too tough to turn the slices as they cook.
TOOLS
We wanted to include this image of the tools you’ll need to make this easy vegetable side dish. Hopefully, you already have these in your arsenal of culinary equipment. We found that a heavy, cast-iron skillet is the best pan to use for this recipe. We like the way heat is distributed so evenly across the bottom. This allows us to cook numerous chunks of zucchini in a uniform manner. After that, you’ll need a pair of tongs to turn the zucchini and a slotted spoon to scoop up the pistachios after toasting. Oh, and how about that avocado oil? It’s there to remind you to have a cooking oil with a high smoke point at the ready. More about that further down.
HOW TO PAN-SEAR ZUCCHINI
There are a few important things we learned about searing zucchini in a hot pan that we’d like to share. First, the skillet needs to be hot before you begin, preheated to medium-high heat. Although we prepared this recipe outdoors on the side burner of a gas barbecue, the recipe also works indoors on stovetop. Once the pan is hot, add a drizzle of oil, then place the zucchini slices down into the pan, piece by piece. Don’t overcrowd the large skillet; leave room between each piece. Fry the pieces for about two minutes, then lift one to check for doneness.
Once the pieces are a pleasing golden brown, turn and cook the other side. One thing to note, and this goes back to the way the zucchini was cut, there is an additional raw, cut side that can be browned too. Standing each half moon up in the pan gets each segment perfectly browned. Take your time, there’s no need to rush.
OIL AND LEMON
A quick mention about the oil and lemon used in this vegetable side dish recipe. The lemon delivers a pleasing tang and bright flavouring to the seared zucchini. Don’t forget to roll and wash your lemons as instructed. We sprinkle the dish with aromatic lemon zest while the lemon juice acts as a vinegar, so we really want to maximize the hit of juice released from both halves. Regarding the oil, a neutral-flavoured oil with a high smoke point is the only way to go. We’ve tried the recipe now using avocado oil, olive oil and canola oil, which all browned the zucchini perfectly. Additional oil options include grapeseed oil and coconut oil. Ghee, a clarified butter, will work too.
TOPPINGS
Here is the photo of the various toppings that take the flavours of this recipe from simple to amazing. For best results, we like to have these add-ons ready to go before searing the zucchini. So, crumble the feta cheese, have the lemons and a microplane at the ready and chop up your herbs. You’ll also need some raw, shelled pistachios, about ¼-cup’s worth; pecans, walnuts, pine nuts and slivered almonds work too. One optional add-on is the inclusion of a finely diced bird’s eye pepper to increase the spiciness of this dish. You can swap it with a jalapeño pepper or red pepper flakes for a lighter level of spiciness. Don’t feel like spicy? Omit the bird’s eye pepper. Up to you.
FRESH HERBS
This entire SEARED ZUCCHINI SIDE DISH practically screams fresh, and much of that comes from the addition of chopped fresh herbs. For all the gardeners out there, clip some dill, chervil, marjoram, fenugreek, oregano, cilantro, basil, chives or thyme for this dish. We used fresh dill, fenugreek, and curry leaves for this post, but again, select your faves. You simply can’t go wrong with fresh herbs.
SERVE
In a perfect world, you would sear, sprinkle and serve this dish in short order. There’s something so captivating about the fresh flavours it delivers. Once all of the zucchini is seared, transfer it to a beautiful platter or wide, low bowl.
Then add the crumbled feta cheese, followed by the lemon zest and lemon juice. The final steps are also easy, where we sprinkle the dish with the fresh herbs, chopped pistachios and spicy red pepper, if using. We also liked adding a sprinkle of crunchy sea salt flakes as well. Nice flavours to finish an amazing dish!
PIN IT!
This delicious vegetable side dish idea is so tasty and amazing, we suggest you PIN the recipe to a favourite side dish or gluten-free board on PINTEREST or BOOKMARK this tab for easy access. SHARE it with friends so they can make it too. We’d also appreciate seeing pics of all the delicious dishes you’re making these days. Use #weekendatthecottage when you post those pics on Facebook and Instagram. Thanks!
This is the easiest, tastiest SEARED ZUCCHINI SIDE DISH. Enjoy!
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Ingredients
4-6 medium zucchini, yellow and green
3 tablespoons neutral oil with a high smoke point
2 lemons
½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
½ cup fresh chopped herbs
¼ cup raw, shelled pistachios
1 bird’s eye pepper, seeded and finely minced
sprinkle sea salt flakes
Directions
Roll lemons on work surface. Wash and set to the side with a grater or microplane.
Prepare zucchini: Rinse zucchini under cool water. Pat dry then trim away ends. Divide in half lengthwise then cut on an angle into 1-inch chunks.
Cook zucchini: Heat a large cast-iron skillet on gas burner or stovetop. When the pan is hot, add a small drizzle of oil. Add pistachios, moving them about in the hot oil to toast. Once browned, remove from pan, cool and roughly chop. Add more oil to pan then add pieces of zucchini, cut side down, with room in between. Cook for about 2 minutes, then turn and cook another side. Repeat until all of the cut edges are browned. Transfer cooked pieces to an attractive platter or plate.
Garnish: Sprinkle the platter with crumbled feta. Zest the two lemons over the zucchini. Cut 1 lemon in half and squeeze the juice from both halves over the dish. Sprinkle with herbs and chopped pistachios plus finely diced pepper, if using. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes. Serve immediately.
Until Cottage Season
