Zucchini

[cjsmith]

OK, you guys are all going to laugh at me when I say this, but next summer I want to try growing zucchini.

I'm serious. It's great with beef, tomatoes, onion, and garlic in a stir fry. It's lovely sliced up and steamed with yellow squash with nothing more than some pepper on it. It's probably going to be scrumptious in this cream-of soup I've got in the crock pot right now. I like zucchini bread and would make some now except I shouldn't eat any. I even plan to try scraping strips off it with a peeler and serving it like pasta. (Hey. No making fun of a desperate woman. I haven't had pesto, marinara, or alfredo in months.)

Anybody have a lot of zucchini they don't know what to do with? I can help out. I'm generous that way.

Comments

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

Are you prepared to be a sex aide to a zucchini plant? With bees becoming scarce, you may have to hand pollinate your plants.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Hmm, it's probably more finicky than hand-pollinating corn. (That, I've done.)

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

Just lay in a supply of Q-tips and keep a chart.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh man, is it that bad? (weak grin)

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

Is that really true where you live? All of my squashes are a real bee festival in the mornings. Sometimes I find multiple bees in each blossom. I see multiple different species of bees, too.

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

An acquaintance of mine has been studying pollinators for years and, although the phenomenon (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-09/rpl-pmi090407.php) is not everywhere, is is widespread enough to cause alarm.

[kimatha.livejournal.com]

I love zucchini!!!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Me tooooooooooooo!

I'm kicking myself, because the other day I saw a shopping bag full of monster zucchini free for the taking -- and I forgot to grab a couple to go home with me. FORGOT. And then I got to the grocery store and saw these things about the size of a smallish flashlight, and I paid MONEY for them. GRRRR.

[nosrednayduj]

Yeah, but the baseball bats taste like cardboard and have the texture of wood. I don't really want that much cellulose in my diet. The little ones are worth money... The big ones aren't worth taking even free.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Wow, really? Maybe I haven't ever eaten a *truly* big one, then... or else I haven't had them side by side to compare. Now I feel better about purchasing the little guys, though! :-)

[badbadbookworm.livejournal.com]

Courgettes julienne actually work very well as a pasta substitute. Also WONDERFUL with carrots julienne, al dente, with a piece of salmon glazed with brown sugar and sherry. YUM.

Anyway, sorry, you don't know me. The point of this comment was that I wondered if you had a recipe for the courgette (zucchini) bread?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Is courgette the same thing as zucchini? If so, I can go look mine up... it's been a long time.

By request of CJ

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

krasota's grandma's zucchini bread. This is *so* good. US measurements, though. You cool with making the conversions?

3 eggs, beat until well dead and frothy. (very frothy)
beat in:
2 c sugar
1 c vegetable oil
1 T vanilla
beat until thick and lemon-colored and screaming in pain.
sift together:
2 c flour
2 T cinnamon
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1/4 t baking powder
add to liquid ingredients
stir in 2 c loosely packed, coarsely grated zucchini
fold in 1 c walnuts (optional)

pour the mixture into 2 oiled and floured loaf pans. bake in preheated oven at 350° for 1 hour or until done.
let cool 10 minutes. remove and let cool on rack until completely cool.

c = cup
T = tablespoon
t = teaspoon
degrees are Fahrenheit
"until done"= toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, edges begin to pull away from pan

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

I've got plenty! ;-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

WOOHOO! Lob a few northwestward! How's your pitching arm? :-)

[windsea.livejournal.com]

Zucchini is insanely easy to grow. Just make sure you get seeds for one of the dwarf bush types, or it'll ramble all over your yard. It likes lots of water and sun. Make sure you lift up the leaves when you pick or you'll have one of the baseball bats growing without your knowing. And don't, for the love of god, plant more than 6 seeds, and thin those ruthlessly to 3 or 4 plants. Or you'll be overrun.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've heard legends of being overrun.

I've got a weedy patch (translation: "California native wildflowers" aka it looks a right mess out there) that would be perfectly happy hosting zucchini instead of scraggly brown stuff.

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

If you *are* overrun, you are totally welcome to leave bags of them on my front porch in the middle of the night.

I have a *wickedly* good zucchini bread recipe (krasota's grandmother's recipe), and I love the stuff with a passion; steamed, fried, sauteed, as part of a ragu, in spaghetti sauce, baked... Yum!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ooo! Share the zucchini bread recipe with badbadbookworm above? That way I can sneak a peek at it too. ;-)

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Done :).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

You rock. Thank you; it looks scrumptious.

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

i admire your ambition. but you DO know about zucchini plants, right? that they'll take over everything in sight, and you'll go from tiny sprout to OMGmonster zukes in about 30 seconds?

and yeah, zukes in the store? pathetic.

(my favorite is long slices of zukes, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with italian seasoning, baked/broiled and then topped with shredded parmesan.)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I went back to the store today for a couple of things (forgot onions and eggs yesterday) and the zukes were much nicer. Not the big logs you'd expect from a home garden, but at least they were unapologetically zucchini!

Maybe I'll plant ONE seed. :-)

[puggy.livejournal.com]

I love zuchinni as well. Sauteed in butter, then put with stewed tomato, onion, and garlic.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ooo yes. There's something about the zuke/tomato/onion/garlic combination.

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

Don't forget that you can also pick the blossoms and cook them, too.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Really? I've never done that. How would one cook a zucchini flower?

Here are some links:

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

Frittata and a spaghetti dish:
http://www.hgtv.com/holidays-entertaining/zucchini-blossom-recipes/index.html

Cheese stuffed:
http://www.post-gazette.com/food/20030724zuche0724rfnp9.asp

Near the bottom of the page, a sauce made with zucchini blossoms and saffron:
http://orangette.blogspot.com/2006/07/pasta-no-pomodoro.html

[roseembolism.livejournal.com]

Thanks, you just reminded me I forgot to put the groceries I got from the farmer's stand away.

That's because I got a bunch of zukes and squashes there, and tomorrow I'm going to have squash medley for the first time in ages. RxM doesn't liek squash, so I never prepare it at home. But when the cat's away, the mice will buy zukes!

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

http://foodblog.schweerelos.net/2007/12/02/mince-and-feta-stuffed-courgettes/ - you can always leave out the rice :)

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

People are right about being careful...zucchinis are definitely prolific.

However, if your patch of soil hasn't previously been a garden, and if you don't quite get the soil up to snuff before you plant, your plants may not be quite as prolific as you hope. This bit me this year...so I am *not* overrun with zucchini, even though I'm growing some. So yes, be cautious, but don't plant only one seed!

I also want to second the advice about looking underneath the leaves. I make a daily check, and I kneel down on the ground and look very very carefully. It's easy to miss one until it gets huge. Also, zucchinis can grow 3/4 of an inch to an inch every day. It's easy for them to get out of hand.

As many have said, squash blossoms are edible, but be careful to only pick the male blossoms (don't worry, there will be more male blossoms than female blossoms), or else you'll be aborting squashes. You can tell the female blossoms, because they'll have a tiny proto-squash at their base. Also, when you pick the blossoms, make sure there isn't a bee inside!

And if you want squash-y spaghetti, you do know about spaghetti squash, right? :-)

Actually, depending on when your frost hits, I wonder if you could get a Fall crop in if you start now?