Zucchini with Pesto

Aromatic sauteed zucchini with pesto, an easy to make, healthy zucchini side dish or light meal.

Another summer, another glut of zucchini. And these zucchini with pesto are such a wonderful recipes for using many of those zucchini.

SAUTEED ZUCCHINI WITH PESTO

I didn’t even like zucchini that much in my childhood and youth – the only recipe I really liked then was this one for pan fried zucchini in batter – but I do love them now.

When confronted with so many zucchini every summer, one has to learn to cook them properly and once you have a few good zucchini recipes, you learn to love them and then there is no stopping: a simple zucchini soup, elegant sauteed zucchini with onions, no-noodle zucchini lasagna, this amazing zucchini pie and so on.

So many zucchini recipes and I love each one of them. Oh, and I almost forgot about the many cakes, breads or zucchini chocolate brownies you could make.

ZUCCHINI SIDE DISH

Today’s recipe is a simple zucchini side dish recipe, simply sauteed zucchini with pesto and a few sun-dried tomatoes in oil. A recipe reminiscent of hot summer days in Italy, a recipe for times when it is just too hot to be spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

And although these zucchini with pesto are meant to be a side dish, or at least this is the way we had them most of the times, they can definitely become a nice and delicious summer lunch with just a piece of crusty bread on the side.

Or some creamy polenta, you should try that version as well, it’s great. And, of course, stirring the sauteed zucchini with some pasta would be easy and delicious as well.

If you serve this as a zucchini side dish the quantities indicated will serve four people. If you decide to go super healthy today and have the zucchini with pesto as a main meal with some bread, pasta or polenta on the side, this recipe will only serve two persons.

If you wish to increase the quantities, I recommend using two large pans or pan frying the zucchini with pesto in two batches. Otherwise, it will become difficult, the zucchini slice will be too much for just one pan and they will not fry properly either.

INGREDIENTS FOR SAUTEED ZUCCHINI WITH PESTO

Zucchini:

• Choose medium zucchini. When buying zucchini, you should not have the problem of them being too large, supermarket zucchini are more or less the same size.
• Thicker and larger zucchini are fine as well, but in this case, please remove the seeds. The seeds are not nice to eat when there are too many of them, they are rather tasteless and will make the zucchini soggy.
• Overgrown zucchini are an issue when you grow zucchini yourself. In this case, halve the zucchini, remove the seeds with a spoon, quarter the zucchini, if necessary, and slice the quarters.
• And here is THE thing to do when you have a huge zucchini: Zucchini pickles, sweet sour.

Pesto:

• Use homemade pesto of any kind to make these zucchini with pesto, I almost always use wild garlic pesto because I make and freeze it every spring. But mint pesto, basil pesto or any other kind of pesto you like is great.
• If buying pesto, choose a good quality brand, don’t go for the cheapest version, you will definitely notice it…

Sun dried tomatoes in oil:

• I used the last sun dried tomatoes in oil that I bought at the market in Venice last year. Super pricey but super good!
• However, as Italian sun dried tomatoes in oil are a rare luxury, I usually go for a more common brand that I can buy in German supermarkets. Again, don’t go for the cheapest jar, when cooking a dish with so few ingredients, you depend on the ingredients of being of good quality.
• I used julienne sun dried tomatoes in oil. If you only have halves, you will need about 4-5 halves, depending on their size. Chop the tomatoes in both cases.

HOW TO PAN FRY ZUCCHINI WITH PESTO

• Halve and slice the zucchini. If using very large zucchini, halve them, remove the seeds with a spoon, quarter and slice them.
• If doubling the recipe, saute the zucchini in two batches or using two large pans.
• Heat one tablespoon olive oil.
• Pan fry the zucchini for 5-6 minutes, shaking the pan often.
• In the meantime, remove the excess oil from the tomatoes by patting them lightly with kitchen paper.
• Chop the sun dried tomatoes in oil.
• Chop the herbs.
• Give the pesto and the chopped tomatoes to the zucchini.
• Stir well but carefully for 1 minute.
• Adjust the taste with salt and pepper and add the fresh chopped herbs.

WHAT GOES WELL WITH ZUCCHINI WITH PESTO

Zucchini with pesto as main dish:

• Crusty fresh bread on the side.
• A bed of creamy polenta topped with sauteed zucchini with pesto.
• Pasta mixed with the sauteed zucchini.
• Rice, bulgur or couscous topped with the pan fried zucchini with pesto.

Zucchini as side dish for:

• Skillet chicken breast
• Prosciutto wrapped chicken breast
• Crispy panko chicken breast
• Tunisian tajine
• Trout with onions and tomatoes

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Zucchini with Pesto

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 7 minutes

Total Time: 17 minutes

Aromatic sauteed zucchini with pesto, an easy to make, healthy zucchini side dish or light meal.

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Ingredients

• 2 medium zucchini (a total of about 450 g/ 1 lbs)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons pesto
• 2 tablespoons sun dried tomatoes in oil (or about 4-5 sun dried tomatoes in oil halves)
• a few sprigs of thyme
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

1. If doubling the recipe, saute the zucchini in two batches or using two large pans.
2. Halve and slice the zucchini. If using very large zucchini, halve them, remove the seeds with a spoon, quarter and slice them.
3. Heat one tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet or non-stick pan. Pan fry the zucchini for 5-6 minutes, shaking the pan every minute or so to make sure that the zucchini slices get fried on both sides.
4. In the meantime, remove the excess oil from the tomatoes by patting them lightly with kitchen paper. Chop them.
5. Chop the herbs and set aside.
6. Give the pesto and the chopped tomatoes to the zucchini. Stir well but carefully for about 1 minute.
7. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper and add the fresh chopped herbs.
8. Serve immediately as suggested above.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1/4 of the dish
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 96Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 318mgCarbohydrates: 5gFiber: 2gSugar: 2gProtein: 2g

Nutritional information is not always accurate.