Pirate Queen Zucchini

This is my very favorite kind of recipe. This is for two reasons:

1. It's delicious.
2. It's what I call a "template recipe" -- easy, infinitely variable, no cookbook required. If I ever lose interest in continuing to develop as a cook, recipes like this will still keep me fed.

I originally got it from my friend Kelly, who blogs at Diabetesaliciousness, and is the person for whom I named it. (Why is Kelly the "Pirate Queen"? That's not really my story to tell. But Kelly's amazing: smart, funny, courageous, demanding, and compassionate. They world needs Kellys much more than it needs Kardashians. Just sayin'.)

I've rung so many changes on this recipe, I no longer remember exactly what Kelly taught me. But I think this is the core of it:

• zucchini, diced
• lots of garlic, minced
• lots of grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper
• a little cooking oil

Heat the oil in the pan. Throw in the zucchini and the garlic and cook, stirring periodically, until the zucchini is tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Put the cooked zucchini in your serving bowl with LOTS of cheese -- seriously, folks, the cheese in this recipe is an INGREDIENT, not a seasoning.

Stir until the cheese is melty, resisting the urge to bury your face in it. Serve.

I've done all sorts of veggies in this dish, either with or instead of the zucchini: summer squash, chayote squash, eggplant, onion, tomato. I think you'd want to use a vegetable soft enough to produce a bit of liquid as it cooks so the garlic won't burn, but that's an amateur's guess.

A note on zucchini: it's said that zucchini loses flavor as it matures, and that the baseball bats people haul out of their gardens have no flavor at all. I don't like to buy them much bigger than a Polish sausage.

Go cook it, ye swabs. Aaarr!