Yay! More zucchini! Believe it or not, the zucchini is still coming out of our garden at a pretty quick pace. That means finding new and creative ways to eat it, like stir-fry! One of the things that I have found to be smart is shredding extra zucchini to store in the freezer and take out when you need it for baking. Our zucchini patch produced a monster of a zucchini the other day, and because the bigger ones are less flavorful, I decided to shred it all. I felt like I was shredding for forever, but finally, I came to the end of it and now we have a ton of zucchini to use in baking. I haven't made zucchini bread yet, but that will come soon!
This recipe for Stir Fried Zucchini calls for making a spicy peanut sauce to go along with it. As someone who is not a huge fan of spice, I left out the chili sauce, and was left with a delicious and mild creamy peanut sauce to coat the zucchini spears in. When my dad first proposed we make this recipe, I was a bit skeptical, what was stir-fried zucchini? But, the recipe came from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Black Dog Cookbook, so I thought I'give it a go. A while ago, I made Sweet Corn Pepper Salsa from the same cookbook and it was so yummy; I had no doubt that the zucchini stir fry would be any less tasty.
Ingredients ~
Cooking Sauce
3 T tahini, well blended
3 T hot water
3 T tamari
3 T vegetable oil
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
Stir Fry Ingredients
2 T vegetable oil
2 tsp dark (toasted) sesame oil
½ cup shelled raw peanuts
2 T chili paste
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
6 small to medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise, then cut into 2-inch spears
3 T dry Sherry
5 scallions, sliced, for garnish
Instructions ~
1. To prepare the cooking sauce, whisk together the tahini and hot water in a small bowl. Add the tamari and remaining cooking sauce ingredients one at a time, blending the mixture until smooth after each one. Set aside.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or heavy skillet until smoking hot. Add the dark sesame oil Quickly add the peanuts and stir them continually to brown without burning. Next add the chili paste and garlic and stir briefly to heat through.
3. Add the zucchini spears and stir-fry for a minute or two to heat through. Add the sherry and continue cooking as the sherry reduces. This should take about a minute.
4. Add the cooking sauce and lower the heat to medium. Cook for another minute or so.
5. Serve family style, garnished with the sliced scallions.
Recipe From: The Black Dog Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook
*link to an online recipe similar to one in book
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