Zucchini Confit with Charred Lemon and Chilli.

Last year was our first year without a child in school and therefore tied to school holiday periods for holidays. With dear friends and treasured traveling companions our little late summer holiday tradition began. Touring rural roads stopping at farm gates for supplies our camp cook ups are often driven by seasonal produce. Last year while camped on a north Tasmanian beach with a haul of local goodies I pulled together an idea that became the seed of today’s recipe. You can read about it here. As with many at this time of year gardens are overflowing with a glut of late season summer veg. At a recent farmers market my favourite market gardener threw handfuls of zucchini into my basket all but begging me to take them off his hands. I was tempted to try Stanley Tucci’s much lauded zucchini pasta recipe but instead was drawn to rework my olive oil braised zucchini recipe and gosh am I a happy zucc lover.

Ingredients:

¼ c extra virgin olive oil

3 (500gm) zucchinis halved lengthwise and sliced on the diagonal about 1cm thick.

1 garlic clove peeled and thinly sliced

2 french shallots peeled and thinly sliced

Red chilli thinly sliced to taste. I like to deseed to control the heat and have used one whole long chilli here but you do you.

1 tb butter

Half a whole lemon

Method:

In a heavy based fry pan large enough to hold all the zucchini gently warm the olive oil over a low heat. Add the shallots and cook gently stirring frequently until translucent and soft, around 5 minutes. Avoid allowing the shallot to colour as we’ll caramelise it later and don’t want to do that now or it will burn later. Add garlic and chilli and cook for three minutes to soften again avoiding colour.

Add zucchini and stir frequently cooking for 5 minutes stirring often to keep the shallots and garlic moving. Once the edges of the zucchini start to colour and caramelise add the halved lemon flesh side down to the centre of the pan and increase heat to medium. We’re trying to caramelise the lemon flesh to release the tang and gently flavour the dish without a harsh sharp citrus flavour. Keep the zucchini moving around the lemon for 3-5 mins. Once the lemon flesh has began to brown add the butter and still constantly to incorporate everything keeping that lemon flesh side down (now I’m sounding like a nag but stay with me). At this point the zucchini will have softened and taken on a darker almost translucent colour, the shallots will have caramelised almost crisping up slightly. Cook for a further few minutes to gently begin to brown the butter and finish the dish nicely.

Notes and suggestions:

* Sprinkle lightly toasted pine nuts over the finished dish for some crunch.

* I served this alongside my White Bean Dip. It will sit happily on a bed of humus, yoghurt or labne. Goats cheese is also delicious dotted on top.

* You could stir through pasta for a lovely vegetarian dinner.

* While this is a very versatile dish it’s a particularly lovely accompaniment to Lamb Shoulder.

White Bean Dip

Combine the following in a blender and blend to your preferred consistency. Mine is a little textured here but sometimes I go a little further and make it much smoother. You may need to stop blending a couple times and scrape down.

1 lightly drained can of white beans, (any kind of white beans will be fine)

1 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp sesame seeds

1 Tb lemon juice

Finely grated rind of a lemon

2-3 Tbs water (this will help loosen it and help it move through the blender more efficiently)

1 garlic clove peeled

1 tsp cumin

¼ tsp salt flakes

½ tsp tahini

* Sprinkle lightly toasted pine nuts over the finished dish for some crunch.

* I served this alongside my White Bean Dip. It will sit happily on a bed of humus, yoghurt or labne. Goats cheese is also delicious dotted on top.

* You could stir through pasta for a lovely vegetarian dinner.

* While this is a very versatile dish it’s a particularly lovely accompaniment to Lamb Shoulder.