This meal hits the spot as a side dish or a vegetarian meal. It showcases my three favorite summer vegetables: zucchini, corn, and tomatoes. With the additions of fresh basil, feta cheese, and Mexican crema, this dish is also elevated enough to wow.
My inspiration for this meal was social media — a viral Instagram reel making the rounds based on one of Thomas Kellar’s recipes. The seared zucchini recipe I saw had taken this recipe and put a Mediterranean spin on it with feta cheese, kalamata olives, and such. I saw it and thought: redo the recipe with summer veggies and basil. But, keep the feta. Oh, it turned out so good!
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This is one of those recipes that takes a few steps, but it’s really not hard to pull off.
And it’s impressive. I felt fancy even eating the leftovers!
This recipe is enough for two people for a meal or four for a side. I encourage you to try it — it’s fun to make, and you’ll feel pretty accomplished at the end!
As per usual for my recipes, the ingredients were delivered in less than two hours using Kroger’s Boost Membership program, and I earned 2x fuel points! Kroger sponsors our recipes and they make it easy!
Here is a step-by-step photo how-to.
PinPreheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then, cut two zucchinis in half vertically; you’ll have four pieces. Score the zucchini crosswise and heavily salt the zucchini to make it sweat. Place zucchini on top of some paper towels for 20 minutes to absorb the drawn water. Then, add avocado oil to a skillet (a skillet that can go into the oven) over high heat. Once hot, sear the zucchini for about 3 minutes (do not turn it over; keep it face down).
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PinAdd the corn cut from one cob, uncooked, and about 20 grape tomatoes to the skillet, then place it in the 400-degree oven with the zucchini. Bake for 7 minutes. Remove.PinPlace one cup of Mexican crema (available at Kroger) and 4 oz of feta cheese in a food processor or blender with 10 large basil leaves and 1/2 tsp of salt. Blend for a few seconds until mixed. Pour onto a plate, then place the seared zucchini, corn, and tomatoes on top.
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PinTop the summer vegetables with one ounce of feta and more fresh basil. Sprinkle salt and pepper across the top. From here, you can serve it just like this or cut the zucchini into one-inch pieces and serve! This can be two main meals or four sides.PinHalf the zucchini is cut (on the left), and the two pieces on the right were left uncut.
Cut two zucchini in half vertically. You'll have four pieces.
Score the zucchini crosswise and back again to make a diagonal grid across the cut side of the zucchini.
Heavily salt the zucchini to make it sweat (maybe 1 tsp of salt per zucchini). Place the zucchini face down on paper towels for about 20 minutes to absorb all the water that will be drawn out.
While waiting on the zucchini, cut the corn off of one ear of fresh corn. Set aside.
Take one cup of Mexican crema or Greek yogurt, and add to a processor or blender with 4 oz of feta, preferably soft (from a block) and 12 leaves of basil, chopped. Also add 1/2 tsp of salt. Blend until thoroughly mixed (10-15 seconds).
Add the avocado oil to a skillet (a skillet that can go into the oven) over high heat. Once hot, sear the zucchini for about 3 minutes (do not turn it over; keep it face down).
Then add the corn and tomatoes to the skillet and then place the skillet in the oven (note: you can flip the zucchini before you add the corn and tomatoes. But, I have left them face down with success. If you have really large zucchini, I would definitely flip them before adding them to the oven.)
Place skillet in oven for 7 minutes.
Take the crema-feta-basil mixture and pour onto a large plate.
Remove skillet from oven.
Place zucchini, tomatoes, and corn atop the crema-feta-basil mixture.
Salt and pepper for taste.
Add remaining ounce of feta and fresh basil.
From here, you can serve as a side (4 servings) or as a main meal (2 servings). Enjoy!
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