I would use tarragon, but not with thyme. A blend with tarragon is fines herbes. Something less expected, like savory, would be good. Frankly, most herbs would be good, though better singly or in a T&T combo like fines herbes, so the herbs don't take over.

Epazote might be yummy, and might pair well with a little smoked paprika.

Interesting. I appreciate your comments

I don't really like the sound of that combination. For me the taste of the two vegetables is so contrasting I don't see how it would work. The sweetness wouldn't go with the zucchini imo. But I'd be interested to hear how it turns out.

I'm with Flora. Courgettes are light and wet, sweet potatoes are heavy and stodgy. I associate courgettes with summer and sweet potatoes with winter so different flavours..... just my odd way of eating, perhaps.

I'd do a courgette starter - there are so many lovely recipes on line with filo or brick.... and sweet potato fries with a lovely spice rub served with a little chicken. It's not at all what you asked for...... Sorry...

I would like Aleppo pepper with both but not both sweet potato and zucchini together.

Got nothing to lose. Could be fun. A bit of heat, a bit of sweet... Might be the perfect bite?

I'm not the only one with the combo in mind ;)

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/zucchini-sweet-potato-fritters/#commentform

Not an odd combination at all. I make a shallot, corn, zucchini, potato/and or sweet potato fritter or cake. And made a colcannon with cabbage, greens, potato and sweet potato. (not zucchini season at the time).

I like thyme and summer savory together or each alone. Doesn't need much herb. Maybe a pinch of cayenne or paprika.

I find the flavour of sweet potato so strong and sweet that I don't see it as a stand in for potato at all. Zucchini and potato fritters, yes. But zucchini and sweet potato I can't imagine. Can you taste the zucchini at all?

I wonder if this is another time when the basic vegetables are the same but the actual flavor, etc. is a bit different, in different countries? Or if it's just a difference in tasters?

That's a poser that I surely can't answer plllog!

Plllog, I don't think so. A sweet potato is sweet! The texture isn't the same as a potato textures. I understand courgette and potato but not sweet tatoe unless you tell me differently.

The difference could be in the tasters rather than the taste, as you suggest, Pillog. Sweet potato is sweet and courgettes are not. I wouldn't cook zucchini with sugar so I wouldn't cook it with sweet potato either.

Hm... I tend to think of zucchini as sweet. Not sugary, but sweet. A bigger if for me is that the squash are wet and sweet potatoes aren't so much, but I assumed Rob had a plan worked out. And I thought herbs would do a lot to pull them together. OTOH, I don't see why sweet and not-sweet can't go together. Maybe your sweet potatoes are sweeter? Maybe it's a cultural difference of what goes? Carrots are sweet and radishes are sharp, and they go together...

I would season sweet potatoes and zucchini with some warm (but not sweet) spices in addition to thyme

Smoked paprika, maybe coriander and fennel or cumin.

Ras el hanout is not my very favorite but I think it would work (nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, mace, cinnamon,allspice, turmeric ).

What about garlic and rosemary, with black pepper?

I did notice how sweet commercial bread tasted in the US. To me it tasted like cake. If you're not used to sweetened foods you really notice it. I even notice it between British and French chocolate biscuits for example. British BN are more sickly than the French version. And Oreos I found horrible. Islay have you noticed how much nicer French Callipos are compared with British ones?

I've never understood adding sugar to sweet potatoes. You're right, it seems to be a very American thing.

I love sweet potatoes, much more so than white. Baked and served with a dollop of butter, roasted in fry shapes seasoned with olive oil and chipotle powder, fries if I'm in a restaurant that makes good ones, a bisque made with andouille, and always chipotle scalloped sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving.

Re bread, white-whole-wheat flour is less bitter than red, and bleached-white flour, which is used in cakes and a lot of commercial bread (usually as ”enriched bread” with nutrients added back by law in most cases), is sweeter than unbleached. To me, wheat flour tastes sweet in general. A lot of bakers here add honey to red-whole-wheat which tends to be bitter. “Honey Wheat” is a traditional loaf. If you mill the wheat right before baking, however, it's more ”complex” than obnoxiously bitter, and doesn't need sweetening. Middle ground is adding some malt, which helps with the rise and condition, and is also a bit sweet without being sugary.

Sourdough—actually sour, not just made with starter—is very popular in my circles, and the only white (no bran) bread commonly eaten. The sourdough in sandwich shops and casual restaaurants, however, tastes like bleached white bread. Delis sometimes have better bread, and better restaurants often have their own bakeries (where I live), but a lot of the bread at catering supply stores, and cheap chain groceries is really bad. You say they're sweet, and I can't doubt you, and agree that if it's not challah or brioche or similar it shouldn't be sweetened, but they're also full of weird chemicals and I avoid them.

We have some really good bread in the USA, but also really awful, designed for cheap price and longevity, rather than food value and pleasure. Ugh!

I'm sure there is great bread. But comparing white sliced commercial supermarket loaves the US bread was definitely sugar sweet. I don't buy the UK commercial bread either. But I've eaten it and I know it is not sweet.

Floral, I was fascinated since you said you meant white bread. When I was tiny, we had pillowy white bread for sandwiches, but the grownups ate good sourdough, rye or whole wheat. Other than an occasional deli sandwich (on better bread), I haven't eaten commercial white bread since. I hear a lot about how we have such bad bread, but the speaker chose that low quality chemical stew (the pillowy white bread we ate wasn't sweet and had normal ingredients). So I found a list of dozens of popular white breads, clickable for the nutrition info. Every one I checked had some form of sugar! What the heck? You can feed flour to prove yeast, especially white flour. No wonder it all tasted sweet! I do put sugar in challah—using your best, luxurious ingredients is part of the ritual—but ick for the white bread!

If there's anything I learned in health class, at University, if you remove fat you have to add sugar or vice versa. Or people will not buy it. If it's being sold to an American. But that was just class. I do know I read labels and I found that to be true. That's back when everything was low fat stuff. As though it was somehow better? 🙄 I knew it wasn't. It was Snackwells that was used as example. But trust me, there are loads of other labels that still do it.

I'm depressed reading how long ago that was...

https://www.neatorama.com/2019/04/05/SnackWell-s-Low-Fat-Cookie-Craze/

Rob, I think it was started by some kind of speaker on TV who was waging a war on fat--the SnackWell cookies had marshmallow instead of fat ot keep otherwise disgustingly dry cookies palatable. Cookies have fat! Limit the number and size of the cookies and you lower your fat intake! Getting rid of **unnecessary** fat, like the butter Julia added to a quiche which already had butter, heavy cream and cheese, isn't a bad idea. But there's no fat in white bread! Or most bread, really. Flour, water, yeast. Most, other than Tuscan, have salt, but it's not technically necessary. Cake ingredients, like milk, eggs and sugar, go into fancy breads like challah specifically to be fancy and isn't for every day.. I substitute vegetables for water often, or add chopped herbs, or dried onions, or spices, or whatnot for flavor and fun, but I don't even put sugar in pie crust (it's not missed) and actual sugar in white bread is just weird to me.

I know what you're saying. I agree

Rob, do you mean that these are the only two things in your hash? If so, I cant envision these two vegetables being that compatible like that. Is there also meat involved in your hash?

I could see, maybe, onions and sweet potatoes. But zucchini just seems as if ti would not hold up well like that. I dont think it has enough presence for flavor and it has a lot of water in it. Zucchini is a basic bulk vegetable with only a slight and delicate taste. It has little to add other than that.

We do buy lots of summer squash from the local farm and it seems at its best cooked lightly and seasoned. I most often saute it in oilive oil and that is it.

I also cut slices and bread them and use it just like breaded eggplant. It is a bit more wet than eggplant, though. I dont pre salt either squash or eggplant when I do it this way. I do it in the oven and it seems to eliminate some of the unwanted moisture.

I have acquired a second job to keep busy (my biggest "playmate" was my mom and she died two years ago. My child moved away last September. Everyone else wants to spend money and go loud places. I have tried and tried, and this seems to be the best solution. Book club helped and church helped, but I don't like other stuff) and haven't made this yet. But yes, there will aromatics and a protein in it. I was thinking of adding the zucchini at a different time, and I like the idea of adding it roasted. I can see this in my mind and I'll get to it. Tomorrow, maybe. I'm off from the job then.

I can't make it pretty but it is good!

Browned two strips of bacon

Added onion and garlic

Added diced red peppers

Added sweet potatoes and seasoning

Smoked paprika, thyme, ancho Chile, cumin, salt

Added the roasted zucchini that had been seasoned with thyme and smoked paprika