I saw a table at the market the other night groaning under the weight of a mountain of summer squash. Squash that looked like it wanted to avalanche its way into my basket. I took pity, grabbed a bunch, and made my way home. I ended up using a couple in a favorite nothing-to-it sautéed zucchini recipe. It's pictured here served over a simple plate of spaghetti.

The sautéed zucchini? It's a single-skillet kind of thing. Coins of zucchini are browned in a pan, but what makes it special is the toasted golden slivers of garlic combined with lots of fresh dill. Throw in a sprinkling of almonds for crunch, and you're all good. Prep takes five minutes, if that, and you can treat this as a side dish, or use it as a component of something else...

Variations

I often cook up a pan of the zucchini like this, and then use it to top off a frittata. Or toss it with a platter of pasta. Over farro with some harissa-spiked vinaigrette? Not bad. Baked as a hand-pie in a simple pastry with a smudge of goat cheese? Even better. Anyhow, it's really adaptable. And for those of you who don't use much dill in your cooking...let me just say, dill is under-rated and under-utilized. The more I cook with it, the more I love it - fingers crossed you like this spin as much as I do.

Different Types of Zucchini

You can sauté just about any kind of zucchini! Or a blend of zucchini / summer squash, as pictured here. A pro tip - attempt to slice it all the same 1/4-inch thickness. As far as shape goes - you can slice full coins, or half coins. You can slice zucchini straight across, or angle it, and slice on a bias. Feel free to experiment!