ZUCCHINI WITH TOMATOES & MINT

Zucchini in abundance, I hear you say?  Need another recipe? Here’s one using nearly a kilo. It’s delicious eaten warm as accompaniment to meat, or serve as a salad with goat’s cheese strewn over the top.  If there are any left overs, chill overnight and the next day spoon over a grilled slice of sour dough. Another winning combo is to toss through al dente spaghetti mixed with ¼ cup of the pasta cooking water.  

serves 4-6

250g cherry tomatoes, halved across-ways

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tablespoons Crittendens white wine vinegar

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ bunch mint, leaves finely shredded

1 long red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped

½ cup Cape Schanck extra virgin olive oil

900g zucchini (5 medium), thinly sliced into rounds 

2 anchovy fillets chopped

freshly ground pepper

Squeeze juice and seeds from the tomato halves in to a medium bowl.  Add the tomato flesh, garlic, vinegar, salt, mint, chilli and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Stir to combine and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a large fry pan over a medium heat.  Add the sliced zucchini and cook for 10 minutes until softened and lightly golden, tossing occasionally.   Stir in the anchovies.  Cover with a lid and reduce heat to low-medium.   Cook for another 15 minutes, stirring hallway during cooking. Zucchini slices should be very soft, but still retain round shape.

Add tomato mixture and stir to combine.  Cover with lid and increase heat to medium.  Cook for 5 minutes to warm tomatoes through and soften a little. Season to taste with extra salt if required.

Transfer to serving platter.

Options: If you don’t have any mint use flat leaf parsley, or a combination of the both.  When lemons are back in season, try substituting the white wine vinegar with lemon juice and finely grated zest of half a lemon.

Recipe and styling by Fiona Hammond  © February 2019