It’s been a good year for squash, if you like zucchini and yellow summer squash that is. As it happens I do so I planted several seeds and they all germinated. I should have thinned down to one per hill but I couldn’t bring my self to kill my babies so now I have a lot of squash, some that got away, so well hidden under the giant leaves they were.
I like to ride my bike to the community garden where I grow most of my veggies–I have two 4 X 8 beds. I wasn’t expecting much of a haul that day so I didn’t have my backpack with me. I discovered a HUGE zucchini that weighed a ton and was so big around I could barely manage to walk my bike and carry the zuke, both. So I knew I could ride home and I didn’t want to walk all the way home. So I walked the short distance up the road to a 4-way stop and flagged down the first driver whoo came along and waved the zucchini at her, pointing at it and smiling encouragingly.
She rolled down her window, paused her not-hands-free cell phone conversation (no comment) and I said, “Would you like this zucchini?” she said yes with out missing a beat. I handed her the giant thing and she sped off.
You may also have a few more than you can easily work into three meals a day every day like I do so here are some ways to use up you bounty:
Medium-sized ones can be gutted and filled with somethining yummy, covered with buttered bread crumbs and baked.
Spiralize the thing (if you have a spiralizer) and use it instead of pasta with cheese and EVOO or a bolognese sauce.
Make zucchini refrigerator pickles. Just google it. So easy! and a nice hostess gift as we start to get together again for a week or so before we go back into covid lockdown as the delta variant overwhelms us. (Please no!) The key here is you gotta give the pickles away because if you don’t you have a lot of pickles to consume. They are no longer good after a few weeks.
Zucchini bread. We all have the recipe so I won’t belabor this one. (Have you ever thought about how many words in English attache the prefix be-to a noun and it becomes a verb? Interesting, no?) But again, you gotta give it way! I got a good recipe off NYT Cooking that has less sugar and 100% EVOO and it’s my current fave.
Zucchini frittata. So easy, just sauté some thinly sliced zucchini and then pour over your seasoned eggs and top with goat or feta cheese. Put it under the broiler for a few seconds and voila! Serve with a good sourdough whole ancient grain artisan bread. My favorite breakfast.
Zucchini brownies! I like brownies made with rye flour. Why not add some grated zucchini?
Of course there is zucchini and tomato with pasta, too. The point is to enjoy the bounty and share it with all your friends and neighbors. It’s a gift to be able to grow something so easily and so versatile and so shareable.