saute veggies | Wendy's Food Blog

Do you sometimes wonder what to do with the produce in your fridge and and all sorts of things in your freezer? While I am presenting this as a recipe as I made it, I encourage you to use the basic technique (saute onion and any sausage (or any uncooked meat) to build a flavor base, add greens and other veggies, then legumes and canned or fresh tomato, cook and then serve over rice or pasta. Or put the rice or pasta in it and for a stew, add some more liquid. As to seasonings? That it up to you!

But, here is what I did when videoing the cooking demo that you can see by clicking HERE.

1-2 tablespoons olive or as needed
1/2 a medium onion (3.5-4 ounces) chopped
2 cloves garlic, or more to taste, minced
1/3 pound (5-6 ounces) fresh chorizo sausage, slice think and quartered
1/4 pound or so thinly sliced Hakurei turnip
1/4-1/4 pound (I used 6 ounces) chopped kousa squash
1 Bishop’s Crown pepper, de-seed and chopped (but I wish I had used at least three!)
1/4 pound (3.5-4 ounces) rinsed and chopped turnip greens
10 ounces (3/4 pound or a bit under) cooked chick peas/garbanzo beans
1 cup corn kernels, fresh, frozen, cooked or raw
1 cup chicken broth
1 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes or 3-4 fresh tomatoes, chopped small/diced small.
salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste

I will add the instructions later, but for now, watch the video by clicking HERE. And, please consider subscribing to my blog via the link to the top right and subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thanks! 🙂

My friend Elizabeth just left two of the most gorgeous zucchini squashes on my porch. Between the two they weigh in at close to 7 pounds. The ruler is there for scale. Elizabeth did send me a picture in which she used her glasses to give an idea as to the size of these babies, but WOW. These are some big zucchinis! And, I can report that their flavor is just as big. Yum, even just chomping a raw slice. Thank you, Elizabeth!

So, now what? My first step was to do some online research to see if one can successfully freeze spiraled zucchini since I recently acquired that magic machine and love it. The good news is, yes! Click HERE for a link to a page giving instructions for such. I will be doing this will at least a pound or two of these suckers. 🙂 Disclaimer: I have not tried this technique yet and other websites claim that zuke noodles don’t reheat well, but I am willing to give it a try.

But, in the meantime, I have all this zucchini and it is so hot out today (over 90 F) that I don’t want to cook. Tomorrow I will do one of my favorite easy ways to prepare any type of summer squash: Slice and sprinkle with with Penzeys Italian Herb Mix before steaming until just soft. My husband, Mr. tons of butter and salt man, loves it like this WITHOUT adding any butter or salt!!!!

But, I digress. I said “grate” in the title and I found two recipes that use grated zuke that look fabulous, and also found a number of sites that say freezing grated zuke works just fine. So, I grated enough zuke to make this recipe by Julia Child and then prepped and froze it. I am also going to try THIS recipe that also uses shredded zucchini in the next few days since I have plenty of zucchini. 🙂

So, here is what I did based on what a few different sites suggested: I weighed out 2 pounds of zucchini, cut it into food processor-sized pieces for grating, and grated away.

I then spread the results out over two cookie sheets, sprinkled and tossed a bit with 1/2 tsp or so of salt over both trays, let it sit for a few minutes, and then, in 4 batches, put the shredded zuke onto a clean kitchen towel, pulled it closed, and squeeze out the liquid.

I ended up with two 12 ounce bags to pop in the freezer. I’ll find out how it works when defrosted for use in one or both of the above recipes calling for grated zucchini. And, if I try either or both with freshly grated zucchini in the meantime, I’ll keep you updated. It will be great!