Spanish Poor Man's Zucchini Recipe with Garlic and Mint

Bienvenidos and welcome to another episode of Spain on a Fork today we're going to grab the beautiful zucchini also known as a courgette or as we call in Spain calabacin truly one of the best fruits available to us even though we treat it like a vegetable and create a very simple yet delicious recipe we're talking Spanish poor man's zucchini this is known as Calabacín a lo Pobre and let me tell you this dish is filled with so many amazing textures and flavors It's easy to make where there's no tricky techniques or weird equipment needed and the best part it's all done in a little over 20 minutes folks serve this zucchini as a tapas appetizer

or even as a side dish either way it's the kind of food that with each bite it's going to fill you with so much goodness really quick before we begin a shout out to a couple of my patreons Jim Schallert and Barbara Eastman again guys thank you so much for being patreons of Spain on a Fork you know how much I appreciate you alright let's just jump right into this I'm going to grab two medium-sized zucchinis that have already been washed and patted dry length of the zucchinis are 8 inches which is 20 cm each and cut them into rounds that

are 1 cm thick which is a little over a 1/4 inch and as you can see I'm leaving the skin on them as it adds more nutrients and flavors If you prefer you can peel the zucchini then we'll add the sliced zucchini into a colander with a bowl underneath and we'll season it with sea salt and let it sit there for 10 minutes by taking this step that salt's going to extract the water out of the zucchini that way once we cook it it's not mushy and it absorbs all the flavors in the pan In the meantime let's get the rest of our ingredients ready I'm going to remove the skins from eight cloves of garlic and as you know I like to give the cloves a quick twist as the skin is easily removed

and we'll also grab a handful of fresh mint and finely chop it you want to end up with three tablespoons which is about 5 grams for the next step I'm going to heat a large fry pan with a medium heat and add 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil which is 45 ml of course you can use any oil you like here it's just extra virgin is whats typically used in Spain as it gives dishes like this a beautiful lift of flavors link where you can get the Spanish one I'm using in the description box below and we'll immediately add in the cloves of garlic and we're going to saute the garlic between 4 to 5 minutes or until it's lightly browned

in the meantime let's move back to the slices of zucchini after letting sit there for 10 minutes and that salt has extracted the water we'll add them over some paper towels all in a single layer and pat them completely dry and if you see there's too much salt in your zucchini just wipe some of it off alright let's move back to the fry pan after about 5 minutes and the cloves of garlic are lightly browned and that olive oil is beautifully infused we'll remove them from the pan and set them aside now using the same pan with the same heat we'll add in the sliced zucchini. and we'll mix it around that way it's all coated in the olive oil and you don't have to mix this

around continuously but do get in there every 1 to 2 minutes that way all the zucchini evenly sautes after 8 to 10 minutes and the zucchini is lightly browned you don't want to brown it too much we'll add the cloves of garlic back into the pan we'll also add in 2 tbsp of white wine vinegar which is 30 ml you can also use rice wine vinegar here or even apple cider vinegar and season with freshly cracked black pepper no need to add salt here as that zucchini is already seasoned and we'll give

it a mix until it's well mixed together and then simmer it between 1 to 2 minutes after 1 to 2 minutes and the vinegar has reduced in half we'll turn off the heat then we'll add in the chopped mint and give it one final gentle mix until it's well mixed together and you can serve this directly out of the pan or transfer into a serving dish either way check it out our Spanish poor man's zucchini is done easy to make simple ingredients

and all done in a little over 20 minutes let's give this a try and see how it turned out once again folks Calabacín a lo Pobre and I tell you it smells so good in the kitchen today I am so excited to try this here we go this is absolutely delicious but most importantly that right there is truly what honest home cooking is all aboutas we got simple ingredients and we got so many flavors out of this

the zucchini is beautifully sauteed with absolutely no mush in it and the rest of the ingredients that beautiful lift of flavors with the white wine vinegar the garlic and that mint really shining through easy to make heart healthy give it a try at home once again as a tapas appetizer or even as a side dish either way it's the kind of food that with each bite is going to fill your body with so much goodness if you enjoyed today's video hit that like button leave me a comment below and if you're not subscribed don't forget to smash that subscribe button and click on the bell icon that way you can get notified every time I release new content and to become a part of the Spain on a Fork family till the next time

hasta luego!