Grilled Zucchini

The Basics

WHAT: Recipe for a Grilled Zucchini with Red, Green, and Yellow Pepper Sauce

SOURCE: Recipe from Joanna Cichuta (INNER FIRE Co-Founder & Well-being Practitioner)

GREAT FOR: Vegan, Vegetarian, Alcaline Diet, Healthy Eating

About

Zucchini comes from the gourd family, originated in Central America. Botanically it is a fruit (the darker the fruits the higher nutrition value) but in cooking Zucchini is mostly used as a vegetable.

Zucchini is fat-free, high in fiber, rich in vitamins B6, riboflavin, folate, C, and K, and minerals, like potassium and manganese. It also contains antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phytonutrients. It can help with water intake because it is also rich in water.

Ingredients

Zucchini

• 6 firm medium zucchini, sliced diagonally into thin rounds
• 1/4 tsp Atlantic sea salt
• 1/4 tsp Ground black pepper
• 2 Tbsp Unrefined canola oil

Sauce

• 2 Tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp Fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup Unsweetened white rice vinegar
• Pinch Atlantic sea salt
• Pinch Ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp Unsweetened date honey
• 1 Small clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 Medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp Chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 Medium yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 1/2 Medium red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 1/2 Medium green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch cubes

Preparation

Prepare zucchini

1. Place zucchini rounds in a medium bowl, mix with salt and pepper, and toss with oil to coat.
2. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches, roast zucchini rounds for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until dark lines appear. Transfer to a large bowl.

Prepare sauce

3. In a small bowl, mix together olive oil, lemon juice, and vinegar until combined.
4. Add salt, pepper, and date honey, and mix until combined.
5. Add garlic, onion, and parsley, and mix well.
6. Add peppers and mix again.

Finish dish

7. Pour pepper mixture over zucchinis, and let sit for about 30 minutes, to allow flavors to blend.
8. Serve at room temperature.

Tip: The zucchini leaves and flowers of young zucchini plants are also edible. As long as you pick the leaves from a young plant — older plants provide bitter leaves — you can cook the tender leaves in multiple ways, specially when zucchini leaves turning yellow.