Calabacitas Picadas con Jitomate (Chopped zucchini and tomato)

• 3 to 4 Tbsp. peanut or safflower oil
• 1 1/2 pounds zucchini squash
• 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 whole chiles serranos
• 1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan or fireproof serving dish until it just begins to smoke. Let it cool off a little while you prepare the vegetables.
2. Peel, seed, and roughly chop the tomatoes, straining the juice from the tomato seeds.
3. Add the squash, tomatoes, juice, and the rest of the ingredients to the pan.
4. Cover the pan, and cook the vegetables over a medium flame for 10 minutes, then uncover and cook until the squash is tender — about 40 minutes in all. Scrape the bottom of the pan and stir the mixture well from time to time so that it does not stick.
5. Serve hot.

Serves 6.

• DK: When the squash is cooked, there should not be any liquid in the pan.
• DK: This is probably the simples way of cooking zucchini in Mexico. It is a very versatile dish, going admirably with poultry, meat, or fish. It can be prepared well ahead of time ans is even better reheated the following day.
• DK: The same recipe can be use for cooking verdolagas (purslane), acelgas (Swiss chard), quelites (wild greens, Chenopodium mexicanum), and espinacas (spinach)
• Steve and Nancy: We use it for chard about as often as for zucchini. Easy and yummy for both. Haven’t tried the other suggestions.
• Steve and Nancy: If we don’t have serranos, we use jalapenos.