Blackened Summer Squash Salad with Pine Nuts, Basil, and Mint

Veggies + nuts + herbs = undeniably healthy, hearty, and able to ROCK YOUR TASTE BUDS! Fo reals! This recipe was a simple conglomeration of things we had on hand, mostly from the garden, and honestly needed to use. We still have zucchini coming out of our ears, and the patty pans are ready for harvesting now, too! So. Much. Squash. Much of what we harvest goes into the freezer, blanched, but it's still hard to keep up with! And, eating fresh vegetables is living the dream so... let's eat 'em up!

In the making of this recipe I can guarantee that no leprechauns or unicorns were hurt; however, I did set off the smoke alarm about five times in the course of ten minutes while charring the squash. Oopsies! To be fair, the kitchen and fire alarm in this house seem to be working in cahoots, because it seems that 95% of my "oops I set off the fire alarm" moments have happened in this house, which has only existed for five years. So... I SMELL A SCANDAL. {Tangent: Do any of you watch Scandal? Olivia Pope? Anyone? Maybe it's my PolySci background, but I cannot get enough of DC dramas these days! It's a good thing I finally finished HIMYM right in time for fall shows! If by "good thing" I mean "terrible for productivity" — yes.}

Don't let that whole fire alarm thing scare you away. Your kitchen might be able to handle the heat! I just cranked my stove up pretty high and pan fried the half-moons in batched until they were all a bit charred and blackened. As they blackened, I took them off the pan (their insides were still not very cooked at this point), and put them in a separate bowl. Once all the pieces were blackened, I added them all back to the pan to cook over a lower heat and finish all the way through — as well as add the rest of the ingredients. I preferred this dish hot, but you certainly could eat it cold!

I warned you guys a few weeks ago that you should brace yourself for a serious overdose of fresh herbs. Vietnam instilled in me a PUT ALL HERBS ON ALL THE THINGS mentality, and I'm loving it. I'm not sure my eaters always agree, but they'll get used to it! What a loving chef, right? Right. Also: not a chef. Just a cook. A very loving cook. Do I sound desperate yet? Moving back to the herbs: this particular salad has an overdose of both mint and basil — a combination I'd never really tried until Vietnam. I didn't want to actually make a pesto, so I just pulsed the two together in the food processor so they were finely chopped. Then, I added half to the cooking squash and half after it was finished — of course it quickly wilted from the heat of the veggies, but wasn't totally annihilated like the bunch I actually cooked.

Finally, let's just take a second to talk about roasted pine nuts. OMG ROASTED PINE NUTS! I'll admit, I'm not actually the biggest fan of pine nuts normally — they're okay, but I'm not crazy about them — but once you toast them up a little bit, turn their smooth pale skin into a golden nutty brown: I can't resist them. That little bit of toasting, which I do in a dry saute pan, creates the most invigorating and mesmerizing perfume. Add that into a salad {of ANYTHING} and you practically guarantee a win. Then I added cheese {duh}, so ... guaranteed win, fo sho! Enjoy!

Blackened Summer Squash Salad

• Author: by Mary
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 4-6 1x

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 ¼ cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves
• ½ cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves
• ⅔ cup pine nuts
• 4 large summer squash {zucchini or yellow}, cut into ½" half moons
• olive oil
• 2 green onions, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• salt & pepper
• ½ cup shredded parmesan

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Instructions

1. Finely chop and combine the basil and mint {I did this in a food processor}. Set aside.
2. In a dry saute pan over medium heat, cook the pine nuts. Shake the pan frequently, and stir if needed, to see when the nuts are browning. Cook until the outsides are a dark golden brown. Remove from heat, and set aside.
3. In a large pan over medium-high heat, cook the squash in batches. Depending on your pan, add oil. Your goal is to blacken each side, not to cook the squash all the way through. Leave space between each piece (do not over crowd!), and flip when blackened. As each piece is done, remove to a bowl and continue with the rest of the squash.
4. When all of the squash is cooked, add 1 teaspoon olive oil to the pan along with the green onions and charred squash. Cook for a few minutes before adding the garlic clove and half of the basil/mint mixture. Cook for two more minutes, or until the squash is cooked through, before removing from the heat.
5. Mix together the lemon juice, honey, and olive oil before adding it — along with the rest of the basil/mint mixture, to the cooked squash. Toss well. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Top with the parmesan, and serve hot or cold.

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