A simple-simple skillet sauté, an answer to the summer vegetables that pile up from the garden-grocery and appear in mounds in the corner-grocery. It's just barely cooked summer squash (for color, both green-skinned zucchini and sunny-colored yellow squash) with a pile of garlic and a little tomato. Low Carb. Very Weight Watchers Friendly. Not just vegan, Vegan Done Real. Naturally Gluten Free. Whole30 Friendly.
Holding out on you? Not intentionally! Way back in 2013, I concluded that this quick, summery vegetable sauté was just "too simple" for A Veggie Venture. But I kept making it, one summer after another. And five years later? I t-h-r-i-v-e on simple recipes! Maybe readers do too?
Call me a recipe minimalist: a funny description for someone who's been collecting and sharing recipes since she was about 10 years old, an unlikely orientation for someone who's called herself a food writer / food blogger since 2002.
Quick Summer Squash Sauté definitely qualifies on all measures. Since 2013, I've made one skilletful after another, some times as a simple side for dinner but more often as bed for breakfast eggs. Once, on a warm, late-summer evening? I nestled smoked chops in the vegetables: so pretty, so seasonal, so wonderful.
I suppose you could call it a barely-cooked, one-skillet Ratatouille, minus the eggplant. It's especially pretty when made with two different kinds of summer squash, I'm partial to green-skinned zucchini and yellow-skinned yellow squash and the tiny red and yellow tomatoes our garden spits out from now until early fall, so sweet, I call them garden candy. If you have just-harvested garlic, all the better.
Chop all the vegetables (except maybe the tomatoes) before beginning to cook, this will cook quick-quick!
Heat the oil until shimmery on medium high in a large skillet, cast iron works, so does non-stick. Stir in the garlic and let cook, just barely for lots of garlic flavor, until golden for something warmer and more "cooked". Stir in the zucchini and yellow squash, coating with oil, and let cook, stirring occasionally just until barely cooked. Stir in the tomatoes, stir occasionally just until they begin to throw off their juices. Season generously with salt and pepper. Stir in fresh herbs, let cook just a minute or two, until the herbs are warm but not really "cooked".
PUT AN EGG ON TOP Fry some eggs (you can even use the same skillet, just move the veggies to a serving bowl or serving plate first) or poach some eggs (I use the Cook's Illustrated technique, How to Poach a Perfect Egg) or our recent favorite is soft-cooked eggs (recipe coming soon). Or! Use the back of a spoon to create shallow depressions in the vegetables and plop the eggs right in. Then bake in the oven at 350F/180C for 10 - 15 minutes.
DRIZZLE SOMETHING MILKY ON TOP I've used several sauces, the Yogurt-Mint Sauce from Afghan Eggplant & Tomato Casserole (Borani Banjan) and the Buttermilk-Yogurt Sauce from Roasted Eggplant with Pomegranate and even this back-in-my-repertoire Buttermilk Garlic Salad Dressing, it's my "ranch" dressing and I make it over and over in one variation after another.
VEGGIE HASH For something more akin to hash, cut the summer squash into small cubes. Small pieces are also the way to stretttttch vegetables among more people.
HAPPY ADDITIONS & SUBSTITUTIONS Slivered onion or minced jalapeño or minced/cubed poblano (cook these by themselves, briefly, before adding the garlic). Okra and bell pepper (cut the same size as the summer squash, cook along with the summer squash). Olives (quartered, add near the end.) When summer tomatoes finally come in, cut up a whole tomato instead of the small tomatoes.
NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Serving: 61 Calories; 4g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 8mg Sodium; 7g Carb; 2g Fiber; 2g Sugar; 2g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS WW Old Points 1, WW PointsPlus 2, WW SmartPoints 2, WW Freestyle 1 CALORIE COUNTERS 100-calorie serving = 1=2/3 serving (3g protein).