Toast for fall

This October I find myself cooking a lot with zucchini, almost to the point where you’d think I grew them in my own garden. Maybe you’re growing them yourself and are trying to find good use for the overwhelming yield this sturdy little plant produces, or maybe, like me, you just brought home a whole bunch for the price of almost nothing. Either way, these zucchini toast with fresh herbs are a wonderful way to make the most of this very reasonably priced, yet very delicious vegetable.

As the days are getting shorter (way too fast!), and there’s no way of ignoring that fall is here, I really like cooking something simple, not too time-consuming, while of course still really tasty. Why settle for less? With this recipe you really can have your cake and eat it too: be lazy and cook this really simple but oh so tasty little thing.

It’s almost too simple it seems…or, maybe we’re doing tapas?

The first time I made these zucchini toast was because I wanted to make a really easy dinner and I happened to have a few zucchini in the fridge. They became part of an improvised ‘tapas’ dinner that mainly comprised of leftovers from the fridge arranged nicely on platters and thus elevated to the status of ‘tapas’. As it happens, we ended up consuming all the zucchini toast while the ‘tapas’ (leftover) paté and slices of ham sat looking at us from their nice plates like wallflowers. Honestly, there was no point in dragging them out of the fridge only to humiliate them by ignoring them in favor of the new zucchini ‘kid’ in town. My point is, it might look almost too simple, but really, you need nothing more than the toast and you’ve got dinner down.

Of course the zucchini toast will also make the perfect little appetizer in a more elaborate dinner menu, and feel free to experiment with the topping. For example crumbled feta cheese and/or chopped black olives would be great substitutes or variations for the Parmesan shavings. Even a bit of Parma ham or Prosciutto could be added, if you happen to have or like so.

Toast with zucchini and fresh herbs (serves 4 as an appetizer, 2 as dinner)

Ingredients

2 small zucchini (I prefer to use 1 green, 1 golden/yellow)

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Small handful of fresh herbs (basil, parsley, oregano as you like)

Parmesan shavings

4 tbsp canola (rapeseed) oil + extra for toasting the bread

Salt and pepper

Slices of rustic bread or baguette

Directions

1. First, slice the zucchini into thin (not paper thin) slices using either a mandolin slicer or a sharp knife. Heat up the canola oil in a pan at high heat. Once the oil is hot throw in the sliced garlic and immediately turn down the heat to medium to make sure the garlic doesn’t burn or brown. Fry the garlic for a minute and then add all the zucchini slices.

2. Now stir and fry the zucchini slices for about 7-8 minutes until they go soft but without going mushy. While they fry, coarsely chop the fresh herbs. Season the zucchini well with salt and pepper and stir in the fresh herbs. Take the zucchini of the heat and let rest for a couple of minutes.

3. Toast the slices of bread or baguette gently in canola oil in a pan and then arrange on a nice serving platter. Ideally, use thongs to place a generous amount of the zucchini on each piece of toast. Finally, garnish with Parmesan shavings.

Enjoy!

Try out some of our other easy dinners or appetizers: