Zucchini bumper crop

[jwagnerdsm]

My darling children removed the stakes that identified all my starter plants and I unwittingly planted eight zucchini plants. Now I am overrun with summer squash. (In our crime free small towns in Iowa, we only lock our cars during zuchinni season. If we don't a "good-hearted" neighbor will share their bounty with us.

I'm used my bounty to thicken stews. I've stuffed zucchini. I've made zucchini fries. I need some new ideas. no bread recipes, please.

[Basilgirl]

Ratatouille

Roasted zukes & onions, good pizza topping

I made a savory bread pudding once with zucchini. It was really good, but I don't know the recipe off the top of my head. I'm sure you could wing it.

[jwagnerdsm]

Pizza topping! Good idea and a good way to get the kids to eat it.

[Basilgirl]

You could also get sneaky and grate it up in pasta sauce. They'll never know. Well, maybe not.

[guajolote]

Pancakes

Grate the zuchinni, add a litlle salt and place in a colander.

Let the zuchinni drain for an hour. Place in a towel and squeeze dry.

Add a little flour, a couple of beaten eggs, browned onions, and pepper

Cook on a buttered griddle until both sides are brown.

[jackal10]

Compost?

By this stage of the season we are begining to look like zuchinni as we have eaten so many. I always enthusiastically pick them. They then moulder in the fridge until they are eventually thrown out. Nowdays I skip the intermediate step and throw the excess directly on the compost heap. Much easier.

Its slightly better if you just eat the flowers, and pick them when they are little finger size. They will still beat you, however.

[Basilgirl]

PS - I made a great pasta with sauteed zukes & onions tossed with grape tomatoes (this was before the local ones hit) which were marinated with EVOO, a little balsamic, garlic, capers, smoked mozzarella, little cubes of pecorino, pepper flakes. Tossed with hot pasta and threw in the zukes. Served at room temp. People went nuts. One guy even said he hated zucchini "but that was the best pasta I ever had."

I wouldn't go that far, I'm no Mario . But it was pretty damn tasty.

[fifi]

I do an oven fried eggplant that everyone loves and I have snuck in zucchini when they weren't looking. (Is "snuck" a real word?)

Whisk together 1/4 cup cooking oil with one egg. (You can multiply this as needed.)

Season some bread crumbs to your taste.

Slice the vegetable about 1/4 inch thick. I usually slice zucchini on an angle to make nice sized pieces.

Coat the pieces in the oil/egg mixture. Coat with the bread crumbs.

Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, turning once. You will have to just look and judge the time as it differs depending upon how much moisture is in the vegetable.

This stuff goes down like potato chips.

[NVNVGirl]

Nigella has a great recipe for zucchini fritters with mint and feta. Frances Mayes (IN TUSCANY) has a great recipe for zucchini with lemon pesto. Let me know if you want the recipes and I'll type them out for you.

[jackal10]

Elizabeth David's courgette souffle is very good, easy and spectacular. I migh even make it for supper.

My adaption. I omitted the bechamel.

1lb courgettes/zuchinni

4 eggs

1/2 cup grated strong cheese (Gruyere or cheddar for preference)

1 oz butter.

Wash but do not peel the zukes. Trim the ends. Slice thinly and put in a colendar, sprinkled with salt. Cover and leave for an hour to drain. Wash off the excess salt. Put in a pan with the lump of butter and stew over a gentle heat until soft (you can add herbs and eat them just as they are if you like).

Whizz them in a food processor or with a hand blender. ED sieves them, but I don't.

Let them cool a bit, and add the egg yolks, salt and pepper and the cheese. Whisk the whites fairly firm.Pre-heat the oven 350F/175C

Butter and ideally coat with grated parmesan or breadcrumbs 6 ramekins or 1 big soufle dish (1.5 pt capacity)

Blend the whites and the zuke mixture together gently - its OK to still have flecks of white. Fill the ramekins or the dish. Level the top, and run your thumb round the top edge to clean it off. Bake immediately at 350F/175C for 23 minutes for the ramekins or 40 to 45 minutes for the big souffle.

Edited August 26, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[Rachel Perlow]

Zuccini fritters freeze well (IQF) and can be reheated in the (toaster) oven in the middle of winter.

[alacarte]

Malawry's zucchini & tomato tart recipe

you'll need to scroll down a bit to get to it, it's about 3/4 way through the Vegetarian lesson.

[SobaAddict70]

As a soup:

Cream of Zucchini Soup

unsalted butter

diced onion

diced carrot

leeks, cleaned, trimmed and thinly sliced

1 potato, peeled and diced

chicken stock

roasted garlic (1 or 2 cloves)

zucchini, trimmed (whether you peel it or not is up to you. I like to leave them unpeeled)

salt

cracked black pepper

heavy cream

nutmeg

1. Saute onion until translucent in unsalted butter. Add carrot. Add leeks and cook until leeks are softened slightly. Add potato and saute for one or two minutes. Add chicken stock. Stir in or add garlic. Add zucchini. Simmer for ten to fifteen minutes or until vegetables are tender and cooked through. Take off heat and cool. Adjust seasoning.

2. Working in batches, puree soup in a blender or food processor. Return to pot and simmer on low heat. Add heavy cream and nutmeg. Adjust seasoning.

I like to garnish bowls of this with shredded, sauteed zucchini and chopped Italian parsley. (Sauteed in unsalted butter and a pinch of celery salt.)

Soba

Edited August 26, 2003 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[bloviatrix]

What about lightly sauteeing slices in an EVOO/butter combination and then adding chopped mint and basil with a bit of salt and pepper?

[torakris]

fritatta!

It is what we had last night!

katew, you can't be serious, even my kids love zucchini!

[fresco]

I made a mountain of zucchini pancakes (topped with corn salsa) for my son and several friends tonight. There was other stuff as well, but the pancakes were the big hit.

[Wendy DeBord]

I love zuc. parmasan. I saute them plus some onions and peppers (mushrooms too if you like, plus anything Italian works in it). Then use my homegrown tomato sauce. Sprinkle liberally with parm. cheese and fresh Italian herbs, bake. Before it's done I smother it in mozerella too.

If you make rattituie (sp?) put in in zuc. boats and bake that with some parm. cheese.......really good. Also the rat. freezes well, which is a plus.

Isn't there a mock apple pie that uses zuc. in place of the apples?

[Mottmott]

I like to saute zucchini and onions, then scramble eggs over them.

I've seen reference to candied zucchini, but never tried it.

Try zucchini soup, tweek it with a splash of sherry vinegar. (I'll post my recipe if you'd like it)

Anyone mention ratatouille?

Also I make a terrine of eggplant, zucchini, red peppers that have been grilled, layered with a layer or two of sauteed spinach or chard, and pressed together overnight. Serve with a red pepper vinaigrette. Very tasty.

[jwagnerdsm]

MottMott,

Explain your Red Pepper Vinigarette to me? How do you make it? I like this idea a lot.

[torakris]

and of courset here are zucchini pickles, my dad cans jars and jars of these every year.

I will happily accept any shipments of unwanted zucchini, the 2, 5 inch ones I used in my fritatta last night cost me $1 a piece!

and that was the cheapest I have seen them this year!

[Mottmott]

[Explain your Red Pepper Vinigarette to me? How do you make it? I like this idea a lot. ]

2 roasted red peppers (rough chopped)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 lemon, juiced

1 tsp honey

2 Tbs water

1 Tbs fresh thyme

Cayenne pepper

Salt

Pepper

5 oz evoo

Blend 2 roasted red peppers and a clove of garlic to a smooth puree.

Add juice of 1 lemon, a tsp honey, a couple tsp water, a dash of cayenne, a Tbs thyme leaves, and s & p to taste. Slowly pour in 4-5 oz evoo. Of course you adjust the flavor balance to suit yourself. This emulsifies nicely and keeps a few days.

The terrine itself:

marinade:

1/2 cup evoo

Juice of 2 lemons

1 Tbs soy sauce 1 Tbs honey

2 Tbs mixed fresh herbs

Salt

Pepper

1 zucchini 1 small eggplant

1 yellow squash

1 can roasted red peppers

1 lb spinach, lightly sautééed in olive oil

assorted fresh herbs, (rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, marjoram)

Balsamic vinegar

evoo

Salt

Pepper

Heat together olive oil, lemon juice and soy sauce. Whisk in the honey, herbs and seasonings. Set aside.

Very thinly slice zucchini, eggplant and squash lengthwise. Place them in the lemon-soy marinade together with the roasted red peppers, marinating them at least 45 minutes.

Grill over medium high heat in an oiled grill pan or barbecue grill. Line a pate mould with plastic wrap. Lay vegetables in alternating them; spooning over some of the remaining fresh herbs and spinach leaves between layers.

Cover the top layer with the overhanging edges of plastic wrap. Weigh down the terrine and refrigerate. Chill overnight. This has a fair amount of liquid in it. I use 2 loaf pans of the same size,putting the second one on top of the filled pan and weight it with a couple cans. I find it best to turn this upside down on a deep dish that will catch the excess fluid as it drains.

Unmould and serve with the Red Pepper Vinaigrette.

(I found this some time ago on a food show, forget which now.)

[alacarte]

has anyone mentioned ratatouille yet? [edit: whoops, Basilgirl mentioned this straight off!]

roast zucchini, carrots, and any other vegetables you please, and fold into a tortilla to make a roasted veg burrito, enchilada, etc...

grate on top of pizza and bake until the cheese and the zucchini turn golden brown.

Edited August 27, 2003 by alacarte (log)

[KateW]

At school we made an eggplant and roasted tomato terrine..very similar to the one Mottmott describes but just eggplant and tomato, and I think it might work with zucchini (I might even like it).

[fendel]

Zucchini-feta flatcakes. There was a recipe in one of the Moosewood books. I use roughly four medium-to-large zucchini--shredded, salted, and drained; 4 eggs, half a block of feta, a few chopped scallions, a quarter-cup of flour, and fry in butter... then serve with plain yogurt and apricot preserves.

Mmmm.

[JSD]

My bumper crop of zucchini crop hit the same time as my bumper crop of tomatoes. I think we picked over 25 pounds of tomatoes yesterday. One way I get rid of excess zucchini is to offer something like Brandywine tomatoes or rhubarb, but then do a variation on the bait and switch, and tell them they can't have the tomatoes unless they take a zucchini. So far it's worked.

I like zucchini fritters with feta and fresh basil, and also stir fried with mushrooms and fresh corn kernels. Both ways with zucchini that has been grated, salted and drained. I think that makes a huge difference in the flavor and texture. My mother used to cut it in chunks and bake it in foil in the oven with butter, and it was so watery and disgusting that I couldn't stand it.