Zucchini “Burnt Ends” with herb butter and lemon

Side Dishes

Zucchini “Burnt Ends” with herb butter and lemon

With everyone’s garden yielding scads of zucchini, Steven Raichlen’s Zucchini “Burnt Ends” with herb butter and lemon is a no-brainer. Thin zucchini ribbons are woven onto skewers, with a hefty dousing of herbed butter, and are grilled to perfection — this recipe transforms the somewhat boring veggie into a hard-to-resist side dish.

Makes

8 kebabs

Total Time

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Ingredients

Test Kitchen Tip

The mandoline is your friend here. The flat slicer with its razor sharp blade makes slicing the zucchini paper-thin a breeze.

Instructions

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, lemon zest, 3 Tbsp. chopped dill, and pepper flakes. Cook butter until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Let cool; discard garlic.

Cut off and discard ends of zucchini. Using a mandoline, thinly slice one zucchini lengthwise. (The slices should be the thickness of a quarter.)

Lay zucchini slices flat on a rimmed baking sheet. Lightly brush zucchini slices with lemon herb butter on both sides and season with salt and pepper.

Fold a zucchini slice into an accordion shape (like multiple w's) and thread it onto a flat skewer. Don't worry if a few of the slices break — skewer the pieces back to back. Continue threading until all the slices from a single zucchini are on skewer. The green skin should be on the top and bottom. (If using round bamboo skewers, insert a second skewer parallel to the first. This keeps the zucchini slices from spinning.) Repeat slicing, buttering, seasoning, and skewering with remaining zucchini. You should wind up with 8 kebabs. It's best to skewer the zucchini right before grilling.

Preheat grill for direct grilling and heat to high. Brush or scrape grill grate clean and oil it well.

Arrange zucchini kebabs, skin side down, on grate and grill until darkly browned, even singed, at the edges, 34 minutes. Turn kebabs and grill the other side, skin side down the same way, 68 minutes in all. Baste kebabs with lemon herb butter as they grill. Transfer kebabs to a platter or plates for serving and spoon any remaining butter over them. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Facts

Nutritional Facts

Per skewer

Calories: 124

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 12g 18%

Saturated Fat 7g 35%

Cholesterol 31mg 10%

Sodium 11mg 0%

Carbs 4g 1%

Protein 2g

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

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