Grilled Zucchini with Shiso and Sunflower Seed Pesto

The leaves are starting to change, the PSL is back and I am just clinging on to summer produce. Zucchini, especially, I plan to use until the bitter end.

My love for zucchini can be traced back to my mother, who lets zucchini take over her garden and tosses zucchini into basically every meal during the summer months. In this recipe, I’m keeping it simple to let these summer beauts shine. 

This recipe also includes an herb called shiso that is traditionally used in Japanese cooking. I planted this mint-y, anise-y, basil-y guy in my garden without much forethought about how to eat it. Turns out, it makes a dang good pesto, especially when paired with some sunflower seeds. 

Let me know how you like your zucchs in the comments and don’t forget to follow the sustainability tips below!

Ingredients

• 1 large clove garlic

• 1/3 cup parmesan or 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast

• 1/3 cup almonds

• ¼ cup sunflower seeds

• ½ cup olive oil

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

• ½ tsp salt, or more to taste

• Pepper to taste

• 2 packed cups shiso

• Zucchini (about 1 per person if serving as an entrée)

Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 425 F. Top and tail your zucchinis and split them in half lengthwise (hotdog style).

2. Heat a lightly oiled grill pan over high heat. Place your zucchinis cut side down on the pan (diagonally if you want supes aesthetic grill marks) and don’t touch them for 2-3 minutes. At this point, they should have some sick charring. If you don't have a grill pan, simply move on to the next step and leave your zucchinis in the oven for a little longer.

3. Transfer your zucchinis to an oiled baking sheet* and bake for about 15 minutes, or until easily pierced with a fork. If your zucchinis are larger, this could take up to 25 minutes.

4. While your zucchs are cooking, chuck all your pesto ingredients except the shiso into a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Add your shiso and blend again. This will help the shiso keep its color and keep the flavor a bit more distinct.

5. Plate up your zucchinis and dollop them with pesto. Garnish with ripped up shiso leaves and sunflower seeds. Dig in.

Sustainability tips

• Garlic, shiso and zucchini: Locally source your ingredients or grow them yourself. Don’t make this if these ingredients aren’t in season! If you can’t find shiso, feel free to sub with basil.

• Sunflower seeds: Try to find sunflower seeds that were grown in your area (bonus points if they were grown in your own backyard!). For us in the U.S., this isn’t very hard since a lot of sunflower seeds are grown in our very own Midwest.

• Olive oil: If you can find fair trade olive oil, that's amazing! If not, organic is the way to go. Read all about it in my sustainable oils post! (P.S. Go for a dipping olive oil rather than a cooking olive oil to make the flavor even more bomb.)

• Baking sheet: Ditch your foil and ditch your parchment! These puppies might leave light marks on your baking sheet, but that's nothing a little elbow grease can’t handle. This way, you can cut down on waste.