Summer Squash and Zucchini with Basil

It’s official. I have too much basil. It won’t stop growing. I keep cropping it and cropping it, and it keeps coming back at me like some unstoppable rebel force. It’s getting hard to come up with ways to use it up. You can only cram so many leaves of basil onto a sandwich before it gets absurd.

And pretty soon this little back-patio-rectangle-of-dirt-turned-ridiculously-fruitful-garden will be out of control with cucumbers and tomatoes too. They’re starting to form and I’m terrified of the upcoming onslaught of produce. I’m preparing for battle. This garden is going to come at me with everything it’s got.

Well, I’ll eat cucumber and basil cereal for breakfast if I have to (move over Organic Flax Plus Multibran!). And, let’s face it, basil can go with pretty much any summer vegetable. So I decided to make some seared summer squash and zucchini with, you guessed it, basil!

I love squash and zucchini (what the heck is the difference, by the way??). I find that it tastes best seared in a pan over a high heat, and then heavily seasoned with sea salt and pepper afterwards. Alternatively, you could char-grill the slices, if you like… but I didn’t feel like firing up the coals.

Basically, slice the squash and zucchini into ¼ inch rounds and heat a frying pan on a medium to high heat. Pour in a small dash of canola or grapeseed oil to coat the bottom of the pan, and add your vegetable slices in one layer (do them in batches). Let them sear up and brown on one side, then flip them to cook the other. When both sides are brown (each side takes 2-3 minutes… if it is taking less time, your heat is too high), remove from heat and season each slice with Maldon sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve with plenty of fresh basil and squeeze of lemon juice.

Recipe:

• Summer squash, sliced into ¼ inch rounds
• Zucchini, sliced into ¼ inch rounds
• Maldon sea salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• Basil
• Lemon juice