Description

Use your abundance of zucchini to make a zucchini salsa you can use for dipping or mixing into a charred corn bean salad. No avocados required!

Ingredients

Scale

Salad Base

2 ears of yellow corn, shucked
8 oz shishito peppers, stems removed and chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 tsp avocado oil
1, 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1, 15 oz cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
4 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
1/3 cup cilantro leaves, divided
Kosher salt

Zucchini Salsa

3 tbsp avocado oil
1 small zucchini, roughly chopped (~200g)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 shallot, roughly chopped
1 jalapeño, stem removed and roughly chopped (add extra heat by including a serrano pepper)
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 bouillon vegetable bouillon cube or 1/2 tsp Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Paste
1/4 cup cilantro leaves

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Instructions

Heat a dry medium cast-iron pan or skillet over medium heat. When hot, place the ears of corn directly on the pan and grill for about 10-12 minutes, turning the corn with tongs occasionally until the corn is evenly charred on all sides. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. When safe to handle, cut the kernels off the cob.
Return the pan back to the burner and add in the shishito peppers. Spread them out to cover the bottom of the pan then cook undisturbed for 2 minutes or until some of the peppers start to char and blister. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and drizzle with about 1 tsp of oil. Give them a toss to coat, then remove from heat.
To a large mixing bowl, add the chickpeas, cannellini beans, corn, shishito peppers, artichoke hearts, and 1/3 cup cilantro.
For the sauce, add 3 tbsp of oil to a medium saucepan and place on the stove over medium-low heat. When hot, add the zucchini and cook undisturbed in the oil for 5 minutes, or until the bottoms look golden and lightly brown. Give the zucchini a toss and cook for another 2 minutes. Add in the shallot, jalapeño, garlic, and a pinch of salt, then cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are nice and golden.
Transfer the cooked zucchini, shallot, jalapeño, garlic, and oil from the pan to a blender cup. Add the vinegar, vegetable bouillon, and 1/3 cup cilantro, then blend on high until smooth and creamy. Taste the salsa to see if you need to add additional salt.
Pour half the salsa on top of the bean mix then toss together. Stir in more salsa as needed until everything is evenly coated, then enjoy! You can reserve any of leftover salsa to use however you like. See notes below for serving suggestions.

Notes

Make the dressing ahead of time. Cook and blend up the dressing ingredients then store in the fridge for up to 7 days.

Adjust for spice. Some, not all shishito peppers might be spicy. If you are sensitive to spice, consider swapping the shishito peppers for mini sweet peppers and the jalapeño with 1/4 of a green bell pepper.

Adjust creaminess. The dressing is meant to be thick, but if it’s too thick to blend, add 1-2 tbsp of water at a time until the dressing is at your desired consistency.

Use a saucepan to cook the dressing ingredients. Zucchini has a lot of water to it, so when cooked in oil, it can pop. Make sure to cook over medium low heat in a saucepan with tall sides to avoid oil splatter on your stovetop.

If you have a grill or griddle, you are lucky! Use it to cook all your veggies all at once to save time.