Defend Zucchini! August 7, 2008

(thanks squidoo and alex gee for the photo)

Although zucchini has been bad-mouthed in the past, possibly even here, I do love it. Here are some other people who love it too. But I still feel that it is my duty to warn you that Friday is Sneak Some Zucchini onto your Neighbor’s Porch Night. Here are some more details about this important holiday.

 

Should you find an unexpected gift on your porch tomorrow morning, here is Cara’s yummy Zucchini Pasta recipe.

 

Peel the skin off the zucchini and discard. With the vegetable peeler, peel the flesh into long strips. Discard the hard center. Place the strips in a bowl and toss with salt. Let sit for 20 minutes so the zucchini absorbs the salt, which seems to bring out its flavor.
 
Meanwhile, cook up a pot of orecchiette pasta (it’s ear-shaped; orecchiette means “ear” in Italian).
 
Saute some minced garlic in olive oil for 30–60 seconds and then add the zucchini and cook for a few minutes. Combine pasta and zucchini mixture, top with a lot of freshly grated parmesan or pecorino. I think I may have added fresh parsley, too, at the end.
 
Enjoy!

 

-goldlentil (and cara)

The Zucchini Wars July 17, 2008

Back when I lived with roommates in JP, we split our local CSA three ways. Usually this worked out very well: when we got only two tomatoes, one roommate would use hers in dahl and the other  would use hers in a sandwich, they kindly saved me the bulk of the arugula (my love for arugula knows no bounds). However, in mid July we sometimes fought over zucchini. We got a lot of zucchini and there are only so many ways three women can eat zucchini. We began to keep track. Tempers ran high.
      “I used two last week, it’s your turn!” said one roommate out of frustration one day.
      “Don’t look at me” I said “I put zucchini in my stir fry yesterday.”

 

(thanks, vegetarianceliac.blogspot.com)

When you start quantifying zucchini consumption, you know you have problems. I made spaghetti sauce with some one week and felt virtuous, but there were still five left in the refrigerator drawer. One roommate made chilled curried zucchini soup. She used three zucchinis, but none of us loved the recipe. I sliced a fourth one very thin for sandwiches (fresh mozzarella, herbs, vinaigrette, and thinly sliced zucchini is surprisingly good). That lasted all week. One zucchini to go and then it was Saturday when we picked up our CSA share and got six more zucchinis. Our household survived zucchini season intact, but after it was over, none of us voluntarily brought zucchini into the house until late February.

 

Zucchini grows well on the North Shore too. My neighbor just gave me a zucchini the size of my arm. What will I do with it? Zucchini fritters? Stuffed zucchini? I’ll let you know.

 

-goldlentil

Eating Local on the Road July 15, 2008

photo by no egrets

I just want to give a quick shout out to the Mass Pike farmers’ market program. I’ve been on the road a lot recently, eating lots of local food from barbeque to bagels, and Sunday night I was speeding toward the North Shore, looking forward to being home, but also thinking about my empty refrigerator, knowing I was way too tired (and cranky) to deal with the Big Chain Republican Grocery Store near my house. However, at the Lee service plaza, I found a farmers’ market and was able to buy fresh corn, tomatoes, zucchini, and squash. I came home across the river and made a beautiful Massachusetts-grown tomato sauce with zucchini, adding rosemary and thyme from my (very happy) garden.

 

-goldlentil