Sunday, July 29, 2007

One Veggie Star

Snowed under. Swamped. Buried. So describes my work situation at the moment. If you will give me a “Get Out of the Kitchen Free” card, then I will give you the recipe for a very simple Moroccan salad.

Moroccans are masters at concocting salads in which one solitary vegetable is the headlining act. Radishes, green peppers, and tomatoes, for example, can all get the star treatment. The recipe below features zucchini, and is one of the many dishes I learned from the cook who introduced me to Moroccan cuisine. Lemon-tart and garlic-tinged, this salad tastes even better the next day.

Warm Zucchini Salad
Serves 4 as a salad

3¼ cups / 500 grams zucchini (a.k.a. courgette, baby marrow), very thinly sliced
1½ teaspoons / 7.5 milliliters ground cumin
2 teaspoons / 10 milliliters sweet paprika
Pinch of cayenne
¼ teaspoon / 1¼ milliliters salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoons / 15 milliliters olive oil
2½ tablespoons / 37.5 milliliters fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons / 30 milliliters vegetable broth (you can use water)
Handful minced fresh parsley, plus more for garnish

Steam the zucchini until it is tender. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, whisk together the ground cumin, paprika, cayenne, salt, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, vegetable broth and parsley. Add the steamed zucchini and place over medium heat. Cook for five minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: You can also boil your zucchini with a pinch of salt until tender, and use reserved cooking water in place of the vegetable broth.

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7 comments:

Carolyn T said...

Yum - the combination sounds so good. I love zucchini and love all the Moroccan herbs too. Will have to make it soon.

Suzanne said...

yum yum -- I'm going to make this one. Thx!

Jeanne said...

Oh, this sounds like a keeper! I love zucchini anyway and am intrigued by the Moroccan flavours. Yum.

Carolyn said...

Carolyn, Suzanne and Jeanne,

Hope you do try the dish! This is one of those really simple recipes that is great to have on hand when a bounty of zucchini comes your way!

Anonymous said...

Ah, yum! And such a great way to use the season's always most abundant ingredient!

Joe said...

This sounds so simple and clean - perfect for a weeknight dish!

neroli said...

Carolyn, thank you for all your beautiful work.
I wish to pass the "thoughtful blogger" award to you---please find it here at:
http://neroli108.blogspot.com/2007/08/dear-reader-as-you-might-have-guessed.html