She's Cookin'

Pulled Pork with Mexican Zucchini and Corn

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 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

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