Sweet and Sour Zucchini

The book I always rely on when I want a recipe from the Italian kitchen is The Silver Spoon (De Zilveren Lepel in Dutch) my favorite Italian book! I received the book about one year ago, and have made a lot of recipes. All turned out great, and that's a big hurray, because that doesn't happen often (too bad).
This book reveils to you all the secrets of the Italian kitchen, and it's great for beginners but also for more experienced home cooks.The book contains more than 2000 recipes, so I'll be busy for a while!!

Last week I had an overload on zucchini's, yellow and green, and wanted to make a new dish. Sweet and Sour Zucchini, does that sounds good to you?? Well it certainly did to me!

Grab your knife and chopping board, and chop with me through this easy recipe:

The Ingredients:
0,5 cup raisins
5 anchovies fillets (from a jar)
1/4 cup pine nuts, roasted
olive oil
3 zucchini, chopped
1 clove of garlic,
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
salt

In a bowl with hot water, soak the raisins. Chop the anchovies in little pieces.

Heat the oil in  a large pan and add the zucchini. On medium heat, and don't forget to stir. After 10 minutes, add the garlic (use a garlic press). Stir and add the raisins (not the water!), the pine nuts, vinegar and sugar and some salt.

Give it a good stir and bring it to a boil, let it simmer for a few minutes and then add the anchovies. Let this simmer for 10 minutes. Taste if you need to add more sugar or vinegar. It should have a, of course, sweet and sour well balanced taste.
And that's it!

I served it with chicken breasts (grilled, cast iron), spaghetti with olive oil and parmesan cheese, and a simple green salad with tomatoes.

And then, the wine. Difficult because of all the different tastes. You could serve a white wine but I was in the mood for red and choose a Zinfandel from the US. Okay I know, it should have been an Italian red one maybe, but the Zinfandel was a great match too!!

Enjoy!