The first day of summer is just one week away and today we just harvested our first zucchini from our organic garden. I have been looking forward to this day since last year. Last summer, at the end of the summer unfortunately, we discovered this wonderful way to eat zucchini. This method is a great way to eat up the zucchini that were overlooked in the garden and grew to giant sized before they were discovered. Because we knew how delicious grilled zucchini is, we purposely left our first zucchini of this year in the garden for a couple of more days, so it could grow nice and big. The smaller zucchini are delicious in stir-fry or on veggie pizza but the large ones are wonderful grilled! Oh and we can’t forget about zucchini bread and zucchini chocolate cake! So many delicious things to make, I can’t wait until the zucchini really start pouring in so I can make all these wonderful dishes. And from the looks of our plants, we’ll have plenty of zucchini to enjoy!
Grilled Zucchini
1 large zucchini, about 12 inches
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. coarse kosher salt
ground black pepper
Wash off the outside of the zucchini. Slice into large circles, about 3/4 inch pieces. Drizzle on some olive oil and use your fingers to rub it all over both sides of the zucchini circles. Sprinkle on the salt and pepper.Cook on a medium-high skillet or grill at 400°F. Turn the zucchini half way through grilling. Grill the zucchini until both sides are browned and the zucchini is softened, about 8-10 minutes. Serve hot.
Makes 4 servings for a side dish or 2 servings for a main course.
Nutritional information per side dish serving:
73 Calories
7 g. fat
1 g. saturated fat
0 mg. cholesterol
303 mg. sodium
3 g. carbohydrates
1 g. fiber
1.5 g. sugar
1 g. protein