Calabacitas, Our Go-to Squash and Zucchini Dish

Do you love to garden and love fresh veggies from the garden during the summer as we do? We also grow some winter squash and of course yellow squash and zucchini. And like every good gardener we have yellow squash and zucchini running out of our ears most days!

A childhood favorite from Arturo

So, Arturo pulled out one of his childhood favorites, “Calabacitas” and of course changed it up a little by grilling all the veggies instead of sautéing them on the stove top as his mom does! Calabacitas translates to squash in English, now the translation is boring I know, but the dish is anything but! It is such a great side dish with lots of flavors and goes with anything! We hope you enjoy them as much as we do and gives you an idea of something different to do with all that squash and zucchini you have coming out of your ears too!

Our Garden

Arturo and I grew our first little garden in the backyard of our little house in town many years ago! Our backyard was a little shaded so the garden struggled, but we kept at it and since moving to our old farmhouse we have a perfect spot for our garden. We like to grow tomatoes, herbs, okra, cucumbers, green beans, purple hull peas, jalapeno peppers, and green chilies.

Calabacitas

1 yellow squash
1 zucchini
1 onion, sliced in ½ inch rounds
2 ears of corn, shucked
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon chopped green chili (or one fresh green chili roasted on the grill and pealed)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Start the grill to preheat while you prepare the Calabacitas. Begin by shucking the corn, then cut your zucchini and squash in half. Also, slice your onion and skewer with toothpicks, so the slices don’t fall apart on the grill. Once you have all your veggies ready to go, place in a bowl or on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

If your using charcoal move all the coals to one side of the grill so you have a 2-zone fire, just in case you need a cooler side to move to. When the fire is ready to place all the veggies on the grill over the coals and close the lid grilling for 2 minutes. At 2 minutes rotate the corn to a side that wasn’t directly facing the coals and check the rest of the veggies to see how their doing on the first side. Once 2 more minutes have passed rotate the corn again to a side that hasn’t seen the fire yet. Again, check all the other veggies and if they have enough chare on both sides but still aren’t quite done in the center, move them to the cooler side of the grill. Keep rotating the corn to a side that hasn’t seen the fire, every 2 minutes until evenly charred and the kernels are tender. Usually, everything takes about 8 minutes total to cook through. We prefer the squash and zucchini cooked through and the onions soft but by all means, if you want them a little crisper cook them to your preferred doneness.

Once your veggies are done, dice the squash, zucchini, and onion up into half inch pieces. Cut the corn off the cob and place in a bowl with the onion, squash, and zucchini add the minced garlic and green chili. Season to taste with salt and pepper and mix to combine. We enjoy Calabacitas with fajitas, or a burger usually, but really, they rock alongside any protein off the grill. We hope you enjoy them the next time you grill!