My mom just gave me one of the last zucchinis from her garden to make with dinner tonight. I sliced it up and sautéed it in a pan with some olive oil and added pepper and seasoning salt, trying to keep it as “normal” as possible for Joey. He always claims that I under season things, so I added the pepper and seasoning salt liberally. Half way through cooking the zucchini I realized a had one lonely carrot left in the crisper, so I shredded it into the pan with the zucchini. At that point, my spice rack caught my eye and I couldn’t help but notice that I had only a tiny bit of Berbere spice left from an Ethiopian chicken stew I had made (Berbere is a blend of ground red pepper, black pepper, ginger, cinnamon and cloves). Although I was planning on keeping this dish as mainstream as possible, that Berbere spice kept calling to me. I knew its cinnamon-spice flavor would compliment the carrot's sweetness and add just enough of a kick to keep the dish interesting. So, in it went – sorry Joey!
The berbere spice was a great addition. This side-dish would've been fantastic, except, believe it or not, I added too much seasoning salt. Joey was shocked that I had actually over seasoned something. We ate it all anyways. With big glasses of water.