Quick sauteed zucchini and mushrooms

A mix of zucchini and mushrooms with the perfect blend of spices thrown in for a quick sauté makes for a delicious summer side dish. With garlic, olive oil, oregano, and a dash of Parmesan cheese for a finish, eating your veggies has never been so savory.

I am not so sure how it  got to be midsummer so quickly!  On the backstretch of July, slipping into the dog days of August, I can almost imagine the cooler nights coming down the road a piece.

Wait. That happened already. Polar vortex in summer? Get out!

We are enjoying the unseasonably pleasant weather though, but even if it isn’t a potboiler outside, the garden is still in action. And right in the middle of the garden is Mt. Everest? Actually, no. Mount Everest isn’t green and doesn’t have squash blossoms. But look at how huge they have grown!

And back in late spring, when these future behemoths were being planted, I can imagine gardeners everywhere thinking they had room for three or four plants. But little did they know that it would probably take three or four villages to consume all the zucchini that would pop up faster than weeds.

So I beg the weatherman to differ. It is not the summer polar vortex that confounds us. It is the zucchinipocalypse. I’ll take pleasant weather anytime. But the zucchini, somebody take them please!

But anyway, one of my favorite recipes for zucchini during the summer is the quick sauté. There are a  great many ways to go about that, but I like this one the best.  I love mushrooms, that’s no big secret. And any time I start to cook onions in the skillet my husband inquires what smells so good! But perhaps best of all, it is easy to chop up, throw in a skillet and have ready in a few short minutes, especially if your hands are full with other things.

So enjoy the pleasant weather before Mother Nature changes her mind and inundates us with relentless heat. It’s a good time to go fetch those zukes from the garden before they grow bigger than your house. And bon appétit!

Servings: 4
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: easy

Ingredients: 

1 pound zucchini, oblique cut
6 ounces white mushrooms, chopped
1 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 cup roasted garlic gloves (peeled)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and black pepper
generous pinch red pepper flakes
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Sauté all ingredients (except cheese) until onions are tender.

2. Pull skillet from heat and sprinkle the cheese on. It will melt as it sits a few minutes.

Related post on A Palatable Pastime: Colorful Bean Salad