Abobrinha Refogada

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 30-cm skillet or sauté pan
• •Wooden spoon or flexible spatula
• •Clean kitchen towel for drying the zucchini

Instructions

1. 1

   Cut and dry

   Cut the zucchini into half-moons about 1/2 inch thick, then pat them dry with a clean towel. Keep the pieces close in size so they finish together. Wet zucchini hits the pan and drops the heat, and then you're steaming it before you even started.

2. 2

   Start the onion

   Warm the oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, then cook, stirring often, until it softens and turns shiny at the edges, about 2 minutes. The onion needs a head start because zucchini cooks fast, and raw onion hiding in cooked zucchini is nobody's dream.

3. 3

   Move the garlic

   Add the garlic and stir for 30 to 45 seconds, just until you smell it. Keep it moving. Garlic gives you sweetness when it warms through, but it turns bitter when it browns too hard, and bitterness is very clingy.

4. 4

   Refogar the zucchini

   Add the zucchini and spread it out in the widest layer you can manage. Let it sit for one minute before stirring, then cook for 4 to 5 minutes, tossing every now and then, until the cut sides look glossy and a few edges take on pale golden spots. A crowded pan traps water, so if your skillet is small, cook in two batches and save yourself the mush.

5. 5

   Season and finish

   Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and the black pepper, then cook for 1 more minute. Taste a piece. It should be tender but still have a little bite in the center. Pull it now, because zucchini keeps softening from its own heat after it leaves the pan.

6. 6

   Add cheiro-verde

   Turn off the heat and stir in the parsley or cheiro-verde. Add the lime juice only if the zucchini tastes flat, not because every vegetable needs a little ceremony. Serve right away beside rice and beans, or cool it for marmita before it overcooks in the container.

Chef Tips

• •Buy zucchini that feels firm and heavy, with tight, smooth skin. If it's bendy or wrinkled, cook something else today. A tired vegetable makes a tired refogado, and that's not your fault.
• •Use a wide pan. This is the difference between refogar and boiling vegetables in their own water. If the pan looks crowded, cook the zucchini in two rounds.
• •Salt near the end. Salt pulls water out of zucchini, which is useful in some recipes and a nuisance here. We want glossy and tender, not a puddle.
• •The honest Tuesday shortcut is pre-cut zucchini from the market. It saves knife time, but it dries out and cooks unevenly faster, so check the pieces and cut the big ones down. Frozen zucchini is not for this refogado. Use it in soup.
• •Skip seasoning powder. Onion, garlic, oil, salt, and heat are enough when you let them do their job. That's comida de verdade, not a label pretending to cook for you.

Advance Preparation

• •Wash and dry the zucchini up to 1 day ahead, but cut it close to cooking so the pieces don't weep water in the fridge.
• •Cooked abobrinha refogada keeps for up to 3 days in the fridge. For marmita, pull it a little firmer than you want, because reheating softens it.
• •Do not freeze this one if you want refogado texture. Frozen cooked zucchini comes back watery, and a gente has better things to do than pretend otherwise.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 165g)