Grilled zucchini with goat’s cheese, raisins and pine nuts

SERVES 4 AS A SHARED DISH // PREP TIME 15 MINS // COOK 10 MINS (PLUS INFUSING)

“We let the seasons dictate. When you’ve got great produce, you don’t really need to do too much with it.”

“My dad is from Hungary. He migrated to Australia in 1969 and met my mother here – she’s Australian and from Sydney originally. My dad was a butcher for about 30 years. He always used to say he was sick of looking at meat, so when he got home, all he wanted to do was cook with vegetables.

“He built a crappy barbecue from bricks and old bits of wire in our backyard, and we would always cook with seasonal vegetables in the mix. Dad used to take me to Flemington Market, so we would do the European thing of buying heaps of fresh tomatoes and herbs, and always zucchini in summer. My dad taught me to fish as well, so some of my earliest memories were of going fishing and bringing our catch back home to cook on the barbecue. He overcooked the seafood; mediumrare was always hammered.

“We cooked outside all year round. The seasons would dictate whether we did slow-braised dishes, and which ingredients we used. Hungarians always do stuffed capsicum in the summertime, served with meat, rice and heaps of vegetables. Zucchini has always been one of my favourite vegetables because they’re so versatile. There are so many ways you can fry them, grill them; you can braise them, you can stuff them. Grilled zucchini with herbs and a really simple dressing was something Dad used to do pretty often, so I guess this dish is my ode to that. It’s a bit jazzed-up compared to what he would’ve done. I love the pine nuts and mint, and the goat’s cheese is an incredible complement to those ingredients, too.

“At Leigh Street, we work with some fantastic organic and biodynamic farmers. Our style of cooking isn’t revolutionary. It’s clichéd to say, but we let the seasons dictate. When you’ve got great produce, you don’t really need to do too much with it.”

4 large green zucchini, sliced 5mm thick lengthways on a mandoline Olive oil, for brushing

2 chamomile teabags

50 gm (⅓ cup) raisins

1 cup each (firmly packed) mint and flat-leaf parsley 1½ cups (loosely packed) purslane (see note)

75 gm roasted pine nuts, finely chopped

100 gm Meredith Dairy marinated goat’s cheese SHERRY VINAIGRETTE ¼ small garlic clove

50 ml extra-virgin olive oil 2½ tsp lemon juice

2½ tsp sherry vinegar

1 Preheat a barbecue, preferably charcoal, to high. Once coals are white, brush zucchini with oil and season to taste. Grill zucchini, in batches, until lightly charred (2 minutes each side). Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.

2 Place teabags in a small heatproof bowl and pour over 250ml boiling water.

Add raisins and set aside to infuse (15 minutes). Drain.

3 For sherry vinaigrette, pound garlic and a pinch of salt with a mortar and pestle until fine. Add oil, lemon juice and vinegar, whisk to combine and season to taste.

4 Add herbs, purslane, raisins and pine nuts to the zucchini. Add dressing and gently toss to combine. Serve with marinated goat’s cheese.

Note Purslane is available from select greengrocers. If unavailable, substitute a green leaf such as baby spinach.

“Grilled zucchini with herbs and a really simple dressing was something Dad used to do pretty often… this is my ode to that.”