Matt Preston's top zucchini food pairs

ZUCCHINI is the most Aussie of veg - green on the outside and gold on the inside.

matt preston zucchini taste jan 28

ZUCCHINI is the most Aussie of veg - green on the outside and gold on the inside.

It's also fittingly among the most popular veg at this time of year when we celebrate Australia's quartet of national pastimes: cricket, the beach, the barbecue and teasing Richmond Tigers' supporters about their fervent belief that this year is the year their football team has a real hope of winning a premiership.

PERFECT MATCH 1: EGGPLANT AND CAPSICUM

FOR ME, zucchini are always associated with ratatouille -  that delicious stew of Mediterranean veg such as eggplant, capsicums and zucchini sauteed (ideally separately) with onions and garlic, and then doused with a rich tomato sauce fragrant with thyme, basil and a little fennel seed (if you like).

My mum used to turn this into a meal for us ravenous kids by then baking it in the oven or firing it under the grill, with eggs cracked into it. Delicious - assuming you cook the eggs so the yolks are still runny and the white poached firm by the hot tomatoey sauce.

PERFECT MATCH 2: EGG

ZUCCHINI loves eggs, whether the zucchini is grated, drained and then mixed into a frittata of whisked eggs and parmesan or feta, thinly cut into ribbon and curled through the soft savoury custard filling of a quiche or as fritters.

You can play with the flavours, but I like a classic Greek combination for those fritters. Grate four zucchini, sprinkle with a little salt and then after five minutes put them in a clean new Chux or muslin and squeeze out as much liquid as you can.

Beat two eggs, add the zucchini with 100g of finely crumbled feta cheese and a handful of fresh mint leaves. Add 100g of flour or so to bind the mixture, then season with salt and pepper to taste.

Fry flattened tablespoons of the mixture in hot olive oil and cook over a medium heat until golden brown and cooked through - about four minutes a side roughly. Serve with wedges of lemon. 

PERFECT MATCH #3: SEAFOOD

ZUCCHINI loves seafood. No, I don't know why, as there seems no logical answer for this other than the subtlety of both allows each to state their intent clearly. Toss strands of fresh grilled or pan-tossed squid with similar size strands of pan-wilted zucchini and then serve it dressed with lemon, juice, olive oil and pepper.

A little chilli is nice whether as fried flakes or a fine dice of fresh long red chilli flesh.

Or put some pasta - chunky pasta - such as short penne or farfalle - on to boil in

well-salted water and, while that is doing its business, flash fry cubes of zucchini in a good glug of hot olive oil with nuggets of prawn tail and a couple of cloves of garlic.

Finish off this combo by cranking up the heat at the end of cooking - when the prawns are still springy and juicing and throwing in half a glass of wine to bubble away and cook out its winey-ness.

Drain the pasta -  remembering to reserve the last couple of tablespoons of the pasta water -  and throw the pasta into the pan with the prawns and zucchini.

Add a little splash of the pasta water and toss the pan away from you with a rolling motion, so the oil emulsifies with the water and juices to make a sauce to lightly coat the warm pasta.

Serve dressed with a handful of chopped mint and a little of your really good olive oil. 

PERFECT MATCH #4: BASIL

ZUCCHINI love basil too. Try frying rounds with finely diced onions in a little butter and olive oil. Once softened, pour in one cup of chicken stock for every cup of zucchini.

When cooked through, blitz into a soup with basil leaves - about a handful of basil leaves for every four cups of zucchini is my ratio, but let your palate decide - so add the leaves bit by bit, tasting as you go.

To add some salty favour to your soup, stir in one cup of finely grated parmesan before serving. Alternatively make a beefed-up zucchini soup by frying equal quantities of chopped broccoli with the zucchini. Blitz when cooked and then stir in most of a 200g block of blue cheese - reserve some for garnishing.

You can also continue zucchini's love affair with basil by adding long, golden-fried batons of zucchini to cooked spaghetti and then dressing both in pesto. This is a great way to bulk up your pesto pasta without the carbs - and get some vegies into any pesto-mad kids. 

PERFECT MATCH #5: BACON

AS WITH any seafood dish, and with any zucchini dish as well for that matter, the dish described above is great with some diced bacon added with the prawns to give some tasty, porky saltiness. Zucchini loves anything bacony whether it's rashers of grilled middle or thin strips of prosciutto. 

PERFECT MATCH #6: OIL

ZUCCHINI and oil go together so well. Whether in a fry pan or on a barbecue, very hot olive oil is the best friend of zucchini.

It needs to be hot to stop the oil soaking into the porous, and sometimes spongey, flesh of the zucchini.

Try tossing zucchini in seasoned plain flour and then shallow frying in very hot olive oil. Add finely chopped garlic just before you take it out of the pan so the garlic colours slightly and sticks to the zucchini, imparting its sweet headiness without it burning and turning bitter.

Drain on paper towel and eat straight away, tossed with salt and a little chilli - freshly diced or flakes.

When barbecuing, just rub the zucchini in a little oil and throw on thick slices to bar up with grill marks while still remaining juicy in the middle.

Stack up the hot zucchini with thin strips of mozzarella you've already sliced, and season with flake salt. Serve in warm, flat bread. The aim is to get the cheese on the hot zucchini so it goes all melty and gooey.

Yes, you can add herbs of your choice, a rasher of bacon from the barbecue or any other barbecue vegie - whether it's eggplant, tomato or even mushroom, but work fast and beware of making one of those dreaded vegie stacks.

Far cooler, in my humble opinion, is to keep the competing flavours to a minimum so the zucchini's flavour can shine through.