I Tried the Recipe for Thomas Keller’s Viral Zucchini, and It’s the Perfect Side Dish (2024)

FAQs

What to pair with Thomas Keller zucchini? ›

Keller pairs his roasted zucchini with a flavorful, French Vierge Sauce, a fresh condiment made with diced tomatoes, herbs, olive oil and white wine vinegar that comes together in minutes.

Salting and draining ensures the zucchini doesn't turn into a soggy mess while frying. This method also works for roasted zucchini, grilled zucchini, or baked zucchini if you're looking to remove as much water as possible.

Zucchini gets soggy when it's overcooked. Zucchini contains a lot of water, which is trapped in little cells within its flesh.

Zucchini has a mild taste that verges on sweet, but mostly takes on the flavor of whatever it's cooked with. This is why it's such a great candidate as a low-carb pasta substitute in the form of zoodles—it takes on the flavor of whatever sauce it's cooked with!

The salt draws the moisture from the flesh which helps ensure that the vegetable stays firm during roasting. This moisture (and excess salt) is patted off with a paper towel before cooking. Added benefit: the salt works its way into the scores of the flesh and seasons the zucchini all the way to the center.

By sprinkling the cut vegetable with salt and letting it stand in a colander over the sink, water will drip out, leaving behind a firmer vegetable. The zucchini can then be more easily sauteed or roasted to bring out its natural sugars and, hence, flavor.

How to Sweat Zucchini. Lay your zucchini slices over a double layer of paper towels and sprinkle both sides with salt. Allow the zucchini to rest for about 10 minutes. The salt will draw out the excess water and you'll see beads of moisture on the surface.

Slice and salt zucchini in advance of cooking to draw out some of the vegetable's excess moisture (while also seasoning it more thoroughly). To do this, cut up a pound of zucchini and toss it with ½ teaspoon of table salt. Let it drain in a colander for about 30 minutes before patting it dry and cooking it.

Mold - Maybe the most obvious sign that fresh produce has gone bad. If you see mold on your zucchini, it's time to toss it out. Soft spots - When inspecting whole zucchini, if you find any soft spots that easily indent or feel squishy, this is a sign that it has begun to rot inside.

Is it okay to eat mushy zucchini? ›

Things You Should Know

If you see mold, black spots, browning, yellowing, shriveling, or wrinkling on the skin of your zucchini, it has likely gone bad. A soft, mushy, or slimy texture also indicates spoilage.

Cucumbers and pumpkins should not be planted next to zucchinis as they belong to the same family (Cucurbitaceae) and therefore attract similar pests and diseases. These can spread more easily when related plants are planted close together. Lovage and Jerusalem artichokes are also unfavorable neighbors for zucchini.

Here's how to grate a zucchini: Cut off the ends of the zucchini and rub it against the shredder side of a box grater to make a pile of squash that's perfectly sized for baking zucchini bread. You can also use the shredder blade in your food processor to quickly shred zucchini.

While it's commonly served cooked, many people enjoy eating zucchini raw too, as it works great in salads, with dips, as a wrap, or even spiralized to make low-carb noodles.

We put it on white beans, hot dogs, in tuna salad, chicken salad, ham salad, and sometimes have it as a side dish.