pan fried zucchini and squash.

Last week, I had dinner at a local restaurant that specializes in locally grown, in season, fresh food. While they do have some things that are always on the menu (like their brick-oven pizzas), a lot of things on their menu changes with the seasons.

I ordered a braised brisket that was served with caramelized onions, smashed potatoes and "veg du jour". Because I know that the restaurant prides themselves on offering fresh, in-season ingredients, I knew that the vegetables would be great.

I ended up loving the entire dish. I don't like onions. If given the choice, I always order everything with no onions. Why don't I like onions? I don't know. It's actually pretty irrational. So for once, I didn't order it without the onions. And they were good! They were cooked down so much that they were actually sweet.

The brisket was tender and flavorful, and the smashed potatoes had little bits of red potato skin and were perfectly seasoned. But would you believe me if I told you that my favorite part was the vegetables? If you knew me you would. It was summer squash, zucchini, and eggplant all cooked until perfectly tender and delicious. 

And they weren't bland at all. I feel like the vegetable at most restaurants is an afterthought. Like a little bowl of mixed peas and carrots that came from the freezer. And they can only be ingested with an entire salt shaker full of salt. Not these. 

So they inspired me. The next day after the gym, I went to the store and bought two squash, a zucchini, and an eggplant. I want to do more things with them (I still have a lot of the squash and zucchini left, plus the whole eggplant), but I thought this was a good starting point. They were tender, buttery, seasoned well, and a great side dish to the baked breaded haddock that I made for dinner. 

While I'm quite aware that this hardly constitutes a "recipe", they were just too good not to share. Promise I'll have a real recipe tomorrow. Until then, invisible friends.

Pan Fried Zucchini and Squash

1 small-medium squash

1 small-medium zucchini

2-3 tbs olive oil

2 tbs butter

salt

pepper

Wash the squash and zucchini. Pat dry. Slice the ends off and cut into about 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces. The thinner they are, the quicker they will cook, but you might want them a little meatier for substance. In a large pan, heat olive oil and butter over medium heat until butter is melted. Add the squash and zucchini to form one layer on the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as desired. 

Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Keeping cover on pan whenever you aren't working with the vegetables, continue cooking/flipping/moving the squash and zucchini around the pan until they are nice and soft. Once done, transfer vegetables to a paper-towel covered plate to get the oil off. 

If you need to do another batch (you ran out of room in the first pan to cook all the vegetables), simple add a little more olive oil and butter to pan if necessary (you may have enough leftover). Cover the already cooked vegetables with a microwave cover or put in microwave to keep hot. Repeat process for next batch. Serve hot!

You can obviously use only 1 squash or only 1 zucchini or even 3 of each. It just depends on how much you want to make!