It has been a while (Thanksgiving, actually) since I have posted a veggie side dish. I need to rectify that because sometimes it’s the sides that make the meal absolutely delicious. It’s the sides that tie the meal together. Also, in many instances, what to serve as the sides is the hardest thing to figure out.

This is a pretty simple side dish that goes well with a lot of dishes. Many people looking at this may think this is simply calabacitas, a Mexican squash dish. It is and it’s not. Calabacitas literally translates to little squash. In culinary practice, it refers to a variety of summer squashes with thin, edible skins, including zucchini, yellow crookneck, Mexican straight-neck and sunburst squashes. Calabacitas also refers to a classic dish claimed by New Mexicans but dating back to Mexico consisting of a mélange of the squashes, often in combination with cheese (typically queso fresco) and other summer vegetables, like corn, tomatoes and green chile. While similar to calabacitas this dish does not have tomatoes, yellow squash or queso fresco. I also didn’t roast the chiles because I wanted that fresh bite of jalapeno instead of the round, roasted earthiness you get from the roasted chiles. Your tastes may differ and, if so, use roasted chiles instead. If you like, add the tomatoes as they do add a nice touch but it makes the dish a little watery from the juice in the tomato.

You can serve this side dish with roast chicken, steak, roasted pork, barbecue, even eggs, not to mention Mexican food of all varieties. You can even serve this with tortillas for a vegetarian taco, if that’s your thing. It really is that versatile. It’s also that good. We like it as a side dish and made it for dinner one night when I was playing with the sous vide technique cooking some chicken breasts with Mojo de Ajo (garlic salsa). If you haven’t tried mojo de ajo, you need to do so. If you do, this is a great side dish to go with it. It truly brought the whole meal together. We hope you give this a try.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups zucchini, 1/4 inch dice
• 1/2 cup white onion, diced
• 1 cup corn, removed from cobb
• 1/3 cup jalapeños, seeded and sliced
• 1 Tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp oregano
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Instruction

Pour oil into a skillet over medium heat and add onions.

Now add jalapeños

Sauté until onions become translucent, roughly 3 minutes. Now add the seasonings and garlic

Sauté and additional 1 – 2 minutes and add zucchini

Sauté until zucchini becomes tender, roughly 4 minutes, and add the corn.

Sauté an additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve & enjoy!