Fried Zucchini with Raisins and Mint

Name: Fried Zucchini with Raisins and Mint, Italian Style
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Zucchini 1; Olive oil 3 tbsp; Seedless raisins 2 tbsp (21 g); Fresh mint 2-3 sprigs; White wine vinegar 1 tbsp; Pine nuts 1 tbsp (11 g); Garlic 1 clove; Salt, black pepper, sugar to taste

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1 h 20 mins

I started making fried zucchini and got thinking… What could be simpler than frying zucchini? A famous basketball player once said, “I don’t just need to score, I need to score beautifully!” So plain fried zucchini is anything but trivial.

If you haven’t been starving for a week, cooking zucchini should be like playing the violin: sensual and inspired. The degree of browning, the spices and seasonings, the presentation and so on. The true masters of zucchini dishes are the Italians.

The hallmark of Italian cuisine is the abundance of fresh vegetables that grow in the Mediterranean. Eggplants, zucchini and courgettes, all kinds of green salads, peppers, artichokes and many other vegetables, familiar and exotic. Seasonal vegetables have a special place in Italian cooking, and the same dish can change a lot depending on the time of year.

Young zucchini, by the way, were first eaten by the Italians after the discovery of the New World, while the Mexican Indians ate only the seeds.

The colorful fruits of zucchini make it possible to cook quite beautiful and tasty dishes. Importantly, zucchini can be eaten raw, so heat treatment should be minimal.

The low calorie content of zucchini makes it an ideal food for exhausting diets. As an acquaintance of mine says, lots of food, few calories. 1 kg of zucchini has as many calories as a slice of bread.

There are several Italian recipes for fried zucchini, and they are very simple. And zucchini cooked these ways turns out unusually tasty.

I remember trying fried zucchini with raisins somewhere, lightly marinated. I recalled the recipe, then decided to make my own version of fried zucchini after all.

8 ingredientsTo the recipe

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Ingredients

2 servings

Zucchini 1
Olive oil 3 tbsp
Seedless raisins 2 tbsp
(21 g)
Fresh mint 2-3 sprigs
White wine vinegar 1 tbsp
Pine nuts 1 tbsp
(11 g)
Garlic 1 clove
Salt, black pepper, sugar to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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For our compatriots, zucchini is first of all for zucchini caviar. A folk product for all times. It is easy to make, healthy and nourishing. You can also buy it in a shop, like in childhood: a jar of zucchini caviar and a piece of fresh bread. Few people would refuse. But there is a catch here too: I read somewhere that many people manage to make zucchini caviar from pumpkin or from frozen zucchini. So it is probably better to make the caviar yourself.
But fried zucchini is much tastier, especially if you cook it with some imagination. Today we fry zucchini and lightly marinate it as it cools, with nuts, mint and raisins. In Italy this way of cooking is called “Zucchini alla veneziana”. The original recipe differs, first of all, in the number of ingredients.
First, prepare the marinade. Pick all the leaves off the fresh mint sprigs, discarding any damaged parts. Set aside half of the small leaves for garnish. Chop the other half with a knife.
In a small bowl or cup, put 2 tbsp of light seedless raisins (21 g) (sultanas). Darker raisins will work too. What matters is that the raisins are seedless and not too hard. Add the chopped fresh mint.
Peel a garlic clove and chop it finely, but don’t grate it. Chop it, exactly. Add it to the raisins and mint. Season lightly with freshly ground black pepper to taste. Add 0.5 tsp of sugar (2 g). Add 1 tbsp of natural wine vinegar, red or white, it doesn’t matter. Stir everything and let it stand while the zucchini fries.
Frying zucchini is easy. The recipe for fried zucchini is simple and clear. You just need to slice the zucchini and fry it.
Cut the zucchini crosswise into rounds 5-6 mm thick. Don’t slice them too thick.
In a saucepan, heat 3 tbsp of your best olive oil. Let the oil heat up until white smoke appears and it gives off a distinctive smell. I think it won’t hurt to fry a crushed garlic clove in the oil and then throw it away. It slightly flavors the oil. But that’s up to you.
Fry the zucchini rounds in the oil over medium heat until light golden. Never overcook them! As soon as the zucchini starts turning light brown, that’s enough. Fry on both sides and transfer to a bowl. Zucchini usually fries in a few minutes, so just judge it by eye.
Drain off any remaining oil from the fried zucchini. Ideally, put the zucchini in a colander so the oil drips off. There isn’t much oil anyway, mostly it’s liquid from the zucchini itself. Salt the zucchini a little, just barely.
Pour the marinade of wine vinegar, mint and raisins over the still-hot fried zucchini. Stir gently so you don’t damage the tender zucchini.
Let the zucchini cool in the marinade for up to 1 hour at room temperature. In other words, let it cool down. That said, after half an hour the fried zucchini is already good to eat, especially if you can’t wait.
Put the cooled zucchini on a platter or plate. Sprinkle the fried zucchini with small fresh mint leaves and pine nuts.
Serve the fried zucchini as an appetizer or as a dish on its own. By the way, you can chill the fried zucchini in the fridge overnight, and it will be even tastier. You can add cornbread and guacamole to the dish.