In May, I began contributing my Travel-Eats articles at Honest Cooking along with “70 of the world’s most interesting food & beverage writers, bloggers, photographers and Chefs featured on Honest Cooking”. I’m proud to be considered one of the 70 and join several esteemed food bloggers that I know: Nancy at Spicie Foodie, Alisha at The Ardent Epicure, and Joan at Foodalogue and, through my reading, getting to know many others as well. Each day, I’m amazed at the depth and breadth of the articles – Honest Cooking strives to become the leading and most inspiring place for serious culinary debate, salivating recipes, interesting food news and international food-fun, I urge you to take a few minutes to visit their site and see what you think . You can see all my articles on my contributor page.
Segue to the recipe… Last week I posted Zucchini Keftedes, the first of three recipes from the Zucchini Throwdown that’s been going on in my kitchen. I think you’ll love the second, too – a versatile zucchini side dish with a south-of-the-border twist, Mexican Zucchini and Corn from Nancy (Spicie Foodie) the writer and recipe developer behind the column “Mexico On My Plate” at Honest Cooking.
With zucchini fresh from our garden and the first of this season’s corn from the farmers market, this was the perfect healthy side dish for the pulled pork sandwiches that I made on 4th of July weekend. Pulled pork is one of our family’s favorite summertime eats. Sometimes I make it all authentic with a dry rub and slow grilling the meat, but most of the time I make my pulled pork the no hassle way – in the slow cooker. In my mind, the slow cooker is highly underrated, I relied on it heavily when I was working an 8-5 (hellooo, where did 9-5 come from anyway, I’ve never had a 9-5 job!) and still use it frequently in the winter months for stews, chili, and braised meats.
Mexican Zucchini and Corn
from Spicie Foodie
Ingredients:
• 1 large zucchini, quartered and sliced
• 1 can of corn or fresh corn when in season
• 1 large tomato, roughly chopped
• 1 small white onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• salt, to taste
• ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tbsp. corn or vegetable oil
Variations: add chile poblanos or spicy green chile like Serrano or Jalapeno, top with queso fresco and/or Mexican sour cream
I used fresh corn (kernels removed from 2 ears of cooked corn) since it’s available in the markets now and substituted poblano chiles for the tomato. Also, I used red onion because that’s what I had – it added a bit of color, too.
Instructions:
1. If you have a gas range, you can char the poblanos directly over the flame. Using tongs, turn the pepper to char all sides. Place in a bag or plastic baggie to cool and loosen the skin from the flesh. Skin and remove the stem, slice lengthwise to open, remove seeds and membrane. Then coarsely chop the pepper.
2. Heat the oil, saute the onions until translucent. Next add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes stirring often. Add the zucchini and cook for 5 minutes. Next add the chopped poblano, tomato, corn, and spices. Stir to combine the ingredients. Cover, turn the heat to low and continue to cook until the zucchini has soften and tomatoes have broken apart.
3. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired. Serve warm as a side dish or as a vegan meal. If using any of the suggested toppings add them before serving.
Enjoy 🙂
Hey Priscilla!!
Love this zucchini side dish – easy, delicious and so simple!! Congrats on being a contributor to Honest Cooking – will definitely have to go and check out the articles!!
Pulled pork is one of our favorite eats too, and we have an abundance of zucchini right now. Perfect. Thank you for sharing this recipe with me. I hope you are having a blessed week, my friend. Much love!
That’s winning combination of flavours! More zucchini recipes!
@Nancy, Monet, and Angie – Thank you ladies!
oh yummy and congrats on the new opportunity
Hi Priscilla! I’ve never combined zucchini and corn like this and this looks very refreshing and delicious! I love the pulled pork too… sounds like very summery meal. SF today is raining and cold like winter again! >_<
Hi Priscilla! This looks and sounds amazing. Maybe I can get my picky family to eat Zucchini with this recipe. Thanks for sharing it and I definitely buzzed it!!
@Rebecca – Thank you 🙂
@Nami – My family loves it. I heard you all were having gloomy weather – at least the sun is shining here 🙂
@Janet – Thank you! Most kids like corn so adding it to other veggies helps, and I appreciate the buzz 🙂
Delicious! Pulled is so delicious! Glad you didn’t pair it with fries. I can eat the zucchini (we call it courgettes around here) and corn all on its own. Again I say, delicious!
Delicious! Pulled pork is so delicious! Glad you didn’t pair it with fries. I can eat the zucchini (we call it courgettes around here) and corn all on its own. Again I say, delicious!
You guys rock over there (at Honest Cooking) Go girls!
The pulled pork sounds great and i love the juicy meat. The zucchini and corn looks delicious!
This side dish sounds delish! I love the combo of corn and zucchini! I need to go check out honest cooking!
Wow, I just ate and thought I was so full I wouldn’t be able to eat for days, but if that was in front of me right now oh, the damage I could do! The corn looks beautiful, the pork is making me drool and that hint of slaw… oh goodness. This would make my non-squash eating BF smile!
I am really wishing that I had some corn in my fridge, since I have all the other ingredients for your recipe!! This looks very healthy and delcious, my kind of dish!! =]
Priscilla – this salad looks super delish. I bet it would be wonderful with a bit of cilantro added to it. I am obsessed with corn, especially since it is in peak season. Hope your week is going well! 🙂
That looks so good! So summery and refreshing! I feel like this would be great paired with so many different things. Thank you very much for sharing it!
Yum! I love pulled pork and I’m also a HUGE fan of the crockpot! I love that thing! Zucchinis are in season right now so it’s always great to see new recipes to use them!
I have a funny story about charring poblanos! I can’t repeat it here, but I will say never attempt anything with hot peppers in your underwear… GREG
@Greg – First laugh of the day, thank you 🙂
@Quyen – We love many of the same things – hope to see you soon!
This zucchini recipe looks fantastic — love the flavors in there! This time of year I’m always happy to find another yummy way to use zucchini! 🙂
Priscilla I love what you’ve said about Honest Cooking. It is an honor to be in such great company and part of a wonderful project. I am loving your articles. Thank you for the mention and for trying out my recipe. I love that you added the poblanos 🙂 Your pulled pork is inspiring me to make some this week. Hope you are having a beautiful Summer. (P.S. I’m so glad I can leave you comments again.)
Nice zucchini side dish (and your pulled pork sandwich doesn’t look bad either!). I don’t own a slow-cooker, but it’s probably the ONLY kitchen appliance I don’t have, haha. I’ve never worked a 9-5 either, used to work 12 hour or longer days when I was working in TV, haha, crazy times. When I was in LA I had these zucchini “shreds” as a side dish to breakfast and I will have to recreate it this summer as my dad’s garden explodes with zucchini, haha.
Look at those gorgeous roasted poblanos! I love this zucchini based side, and pulled pork is a fav with the guys 🙂 Fantastic summer meal, and slow cookers are the greatest any time of year! Yes 9-5, where did that come from???
Honest cooking is a fantastic food magazine and so happy to be there and in such amazing company 🙂 Thanks for the mention…
Hugs