One of my favorite winter salad recipes is Tunisian and comes from Paula Wolfert’s Mediterranean Cooking. It is called “houriya “ and is made with partially cooked carrots and ground caraway seeds. I adapted the recipe to zucchini, abundant in my garden all summer. It is currently my favorite way to prepare zucchini. I prefer cooking the zucchini in the microwave, so no extra water is absorbed, but you could also steam the zucchini and garlic together on the stovetop.
2 lbs. small to medium zucchini, scrubbed but not peeled (save huge ones for another use)
3 large unpeeled garlic cloves
salt to taste
2 tsp. caraway seeds
harissa or cayenne pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
2 or 3 Tbsp. olive oil
about 2 dozen pitted kalamata olives
4 oz. feta, crumbled
Cut the zucchini into about ½” chunks. Combine with garlic cloves and a pinch of salt in a covered microwave-safe dish and cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini are crisp-tender. Drain off and reserve any accumulated liquid. Coarsely crush the zucchini with a potato masher or fork. Grind the caraway seeds on high speed in a clean, dry blender container. Slip the garlic cloves out of their skins and place in the blender with the ground caraway seeds, cider vinegar and 2 Tbsp. olive oil, Purée, (Blenders all work differently; if yours does not sufficiently purée such a small amount, add up to 1 Tbsp. of the reserved zucchini cooking liquid. You could also add a small amount of the crushed zucchini if needed.)
Stir the blender mixture into the crushed zucchini. Reserve a few whole olives and about 2 Tbsp. of feta for garnish. Coarsely chop or slice the remaining olives and stir them and the remaining feta into the zucchini mixture. Add salt to taste if needed (depends on the saltiness of the feta you use). If the salad is too tart or dry, add a little more olive oil. Transfer to serving dish and garnish with reserved whole olives and feta.
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