random stuff to do with zucchini

As anyone who has ever planted them or joined a farm share knows, the bounty of summer squash and zucchini never seems to end. Luckily, my csa seems to have moved on this season, but there was a month or two there where it was pretty dicey. Laura made a LOT of zucchini bread, but for some reason I stuck with more of the typical veggie side dish type thing.

ratatouille

I love the movie Ratatouille. When it first came out, I hadn't ever eaten the title dish, but I've since made it two times, with this dinner being my third. Last summer, Nathan smartly suggested I made it to use up some of my summer food co-op vegetables. Despite having seen the movie, I didn't even know much about the ingredient list, but it ended up matching up quite perfectly with a mid-summer's CSA share. Peppers, zucchini, yellow summer squash, eggplant, tomato, onions, tomatoes, garlic, basil, parsley... All farm fresh and organic from the farm. With ingredients that good, you can't miss.


ratatouille, fresh from the farm

The second time, I made ratatouille for a cooking class I was teaching for my roommate Laura, who runs a Saturday club program for girls in middle school. It was still tasty, but not nearly as good with winter grocery store vegetables. This is a meal that really sings in the summer, when everything is at the peak of ripeness. I'm not one to strictly adhere to seasonal eating, but in some cases there is just no arguing against it.

My last food co-op share before I broke my jaw, I had to marvel over just how closely the vegetables we were given matched the ratatouille ingredient list. The only things it was lacking was parsley, which I had already gotten at the grocery store, and tomatoes, which I picked up at Harlem's new Mt. Morris Park Farmers' Market, a scant 13 blocks from my house. Armed with my first local tomatoes of the summer, I was ready to go. Almost.

Even though I'd made the dish twice fairly recently, I found myself without a recipe, and unable to find the one that had served me so well last year. From what I could remember, my recipe was fairly straightforward. The vegetables were all cooked together in the same pot, added one at a time. When I tried to find a recipe, most involved cooking each component separately, and for salting, draining and pressing the zucchini and eggplant. This was more work than I cared to do, and more than was actually unnecessary, if my last year's ratatouille wasn't just a wonderful fluke.

I wound up perusing a Chowhound thread on the subject, and while I didn't find a recipe exactly like the one I was looking for, I did read through enough of them to feel comfortable trying to recreate the one pot method I had found last summer, although I did decide alter it slightly by cooking the tomatoes separately.

I started with the onions, sauteing them in olive oil with salt and pepper. I also threw in some of the beautiful herbs of provence that Nathan's mom Tenli gave me for Christmas for a real French feeling. In a second pot I sauteed some garlic in olive oil, and then added one and half large chopped tomatoes. I let this sauce simmer while I took care of the rest of the veggies in pot number one.

I let the onions cook for awhile, and then I added in succession one green pepper, one yellow squash and zucchini and one medium eggplant, each cut into small chunks. I cooked each vegetable for five minutes or so before adding the next one. I added the eggplant last because I was worried about it soaking up too much of the oil. (That's why so many of the other recipes suggested salting and pressing it.) I'm happy to report that it worked out just fine. Once the eggplant had softened, I added the tomato sauce and a decent amount of chopped basil and parsley.

Ultimately, I was a bit worried that it would wind up bland, so I loaded up on freshly cracked pepper and added some dried oregano. I let that cook for maybe five minutes more, and then took it off the heat. When my mom tried it a few days later, she commented that there was too much oregano, so I may have been a bit over zealous there. Personally, I thought it was deliciously fresh and herbaceous; a perfect celebration of summer!


rustic ratatouille

Unlike the dish Remy the rat makes in the movie, my ratatouille is not particularly beautiful or elegant. It's a simple, rustic dish. Though it's not much to look at, it more than makes up for its humble appearance with its bold taste. If you're looking for something a bit more visually impressive, you can actually make the dish as seen in the movie, a fancier variation of ratatouille called confit byaldi. The official recipe comes from renowned chef Thomas Keller. Julia Child also makes a fancier layered version. For me, easier was better, what with the heat we were experiencing for most of July, but I'd definitely love to try a more high end version of the dish some day. Regardless of appearance, I'm sure it's hard to make a ratatouille that's anything but delicious, especially this time of year. It's just the thing to make with your summer vegetables!

as promised, zucchini soup/balsamic glazed green beans and the perfect ear of corn

In my last entry, I made orzo with summer squash in pesto sauce. This was because Nathan does not have a blender, and I couldn't make what I had initially planned, which was this gorgeous zucchini basil soup.


zucchini soup with basil

Originally from Gourmet, (surprise!), this soup is a snap, and totally delicious. I used two zucchini, and two yellow summer squash, plus half of one large, fresh, food co-op onion and vibrant green basil. I chopped the squash into fairly thick rounds. Then I realized I was supposed to have peeled the zucchini and julienned the skin, so I had to peel each round individually. That was a pain, so I only did the zucchini and not the summer squash. (I also figured that the green skin would be more visually striking than the yellow.)

I put the zucchini skin strips in a small colander with a spoonful of salt and let that sit while I made the soup. This is supposed to make sure the skin doesn't turn to mush when you use it to garnish the soup. It didn't, so I guess it worked.

To make the soup, I sauteed the sliced onion in olive onion until soft, and then I added the chopped squash and a teaspoon of salt. I let that cook for five minutes and then I added three cups of water and simmered for 15 minutes. Finally, I added a third a cup basil and went to town with my immersion blender. To serve I blanched the thinly sliced skin in boiling water for one minute. I added plenty of black pepper to the soup and topped it with my julienned zucchini. It was so great. The basil really added a delicious kick to what was already a delicately creamy delight. What a great summer treat! The perfect way to use up that bounty of zucchini!

I also made some green beans because I got a huge bag of them from the food co-op. I sauteed the other half of my onion, (possibly in butter or oil, but I think it was a spoonful of bacon grease), and then I added my green beans, ends trimmed and chopped in half. I stirred it all around for maybe five minutes or so, and then I added a healthy splash of balsamic vinegar. Maybe three tablespoons or so. I let that cook down for maybe ten to fifteen minutes, until it boiled away into a nice syrupy glaze and the beans were cooked through. Seasoned with salt and pepper, this was a pretty tasty side dish. Nothing I would jump at the chance to make again, but definitely not a dud either.


balsamic glazed green beans with onions, and the perfect ear of corn

I rounded the meal out with a perfect ear of summer corn. Where last time I tried to do too much with it, this time around I decided to let the corn stand alone, and boy did the flavor sing. I simply shucked it and dropped it into a pot of salted boiling for like 8 minutes or so. I didn't even butter it. It was so good. I hope you get to have corn this good this summer. One of us should, seeing as I can't. What a waste I am now. Never break your jaw kids.

happier times and fried zucchini

So last Monday, bursting with excitement for summer vegetables and an apartment suited for dinner guests, I cooked a summer supper for Marc, Grace and Nathan. I served the previously discussed minestrone soup, maple carrots and turnips, and a salad, but the part of the meal I was most excited about was my late grandmother's fried zucchini.


my Nona's fried zucchini

Without fail, Nona would make this every time I would visit her in San Diego. My Uncle Ed and I would fight over each and every piece, and it would never make it to the dinner table. It's simple but incredibly delicious, and I did my best to recreate it. Actually, I got a lot of help from Marc and Grace, who were excellent sous chefs for our dinner. Marc peeled carrot and Grace chopped greens for the minestrone, made a salad, and sliced zucchini into long, thin strips. Together the two of them dipped the thin zucchini slices in egg, dredged them in flour, and then passed them off to me to fry in hot vegetable oil. We made a great team, and I couldn't have gotten dinner on the table so quickly without all their help. Thanks guys!

The zucchini turned out great, although Nona's would have obviously been better. The woman could do no wrong in the kitchen, and I miss her terribly. I hope she's out there somewhere, smiling to see the joy that her peerless cooking continues to give people.


fried zucchini, a salad and maple syrup glazed carrots and turnips

To round out our meal Marc brought a couple of bottles of wine, and Grace picked up some beautiful little desserts that I forgot to photograph. Their wonderful contributions really made for a festive evening. Considering the meal was almost entirely vegetarian save for chicken stock in the soup, we were all quite satiated and satisfied. This sort of thing will really be missed now that I can't eat real food or drink alcohol. :(


Marc and his sparking red wine made for two welcome guests

brown sugar and sesame zucchini and summer squash

Food co-op members, consider this entry my small part in our ongoing fight to consume all our summer squash and zucchini. A small but powerful weapon against excess zucchini!


sesame oil and brown sugar glazed zucchini and summer squash

My dad came up with this dish last summer when we were trying to get rid of a squash surplus. I'm facing the same mass quantities of zucchini this year, so when I remembered this dish, I had to make it. I had tried once before, but ended up switching gears midway through and wound up with an overly salty stir fry of sorts. This time, I committed to the brown sugar and sesame, and was much more satisfied.

There really isn't much to this dish. Slice the zucchini and squash into thin rounds, drizzle with sesame oil and brown sugar, season with salt and pepper, and bake until soft. You can also add a little butter, but I forgot to and did not miss it. This may be simple, but it's a nice tasty side dish, and it's certainly a bit out of the ordinary. I make mine in the toaster oven to avoid heating up my whole kitchen, but it would obviously work in the real deal as well.

I don't really have much to add, except to say that this might be even better if you tossed the squash and other ingredients in a bowl to get full and even coverage. Sesame oil is very strong, so a little goes a long way, but you have to spread it around. One small drop is all each round needs to give the dish a pleasant sesame taste.

asian style tat soi and zucchini stir fry

food co-op stir fry

This dish was really simple, so it was sad that I screwed it up. I started off by trying to recreate a baked zucchini dish my dad and I invented last summer. I had sliced zucchini and summer squash sitting in the fridge, so I simply rubbed them with brown sugar and sesame oil laid them flat on a tray and baked them in the toaster oven. Looking back, I think my dad and I also used butter and salt and pepper. These want a significant amount brown sugar, and I think I skimped on it.

While these were the toaster, I chopped up some tat soi, leaves and stalks both, and sauteed them in hot vegetable oil with minced garlic and ginger. Since I had already used the sesame oil and ginger, I started to feel like my veggies were asian inspired, and decided to add some soy sauce. Usually, I only use soy to make fried rice, which can absorb a lot of soy flavor. The tat soi was overwhelmed by what I thought was a small glug of soy, and the dish became overpoweringly salty. To try and spread the soy around, I threw the zucchini and squash into the pan. Not only did this not particularly help, it also meant that I completely lost the brown sugar and sesame flavors. It was sad. Not terrible tasting, but disappointing nevertheless.


zucchini and tat soi with soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger

You might expect that I paired these veggies with some sticky rice, and if I had planned ahead, that's probably what I would have done. However, this wasn't so much a planned ahead dish as much as a "oh shit, these zucchini and summer squash slices have been sitting around since Sunday! and I need to use that tat soi!," so I ate it with leftover mac and cheese. The two made relatively strange bedfellows, but I was eating by myself and I wasn't too bothered by it.

It was my first time eating tat soi, and I liked it. I just wish I hadn't killed it with so much soy sauce. If the food co-op gives us more I may try this simple blanched and sauteed version. I also plan on trying my sesame brown sugar zucchini again, since it didn't work out so well this time. I think I just lost sight of the goal. Oops.

dry rubbed ribs/zucchini and yellow squash with tomato sauce

dry rub barbecue

So couple of weeks ago I went home and my dad and I made dinner. My parents had ribs in the fridge, but we decided to try something new and try a dry rub recipe.

This turned out to be really easy. We used a lot of brown sugar mixed with cracked black pepper, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, nutmeg, mace and savory mix. Dad massaged the spice rub into the meat, let it sit in the fridge for an hour or two and then slowly grilled it to perfection.


that's the rub

Sweet, savory, spicy and delicious. No barbecue sauce required. I'm a girl who often hates ribs slathered in gloppy sticky sweet sauce, so these really were right up my alley.


zucchini in tomato sauce is a Cascone family favorite

We also made zucchini and summer sauce in tomato sauce. This is something my family has been making for years, and it's easy and delicious. Simply slice the zucchini and squash into centimeter thick rounds and simmer in your favorite tomato sauce. Serve with extra black pepper and grated romano cheese.


ribs, coleslaw, potato salad and slightly out of place zucchini in tomato sauce

Here's the whole dinner plate. As you can see we also had leftover coleslaw. You can also catch a glimpse of the potato salad with homemade mayo that I'll be talking about in my next post. I know that Nathan hasn't posted anything this month, but you'll all be stuck with me for at least two weeks longer. Boyfriend is off exploring Italy for the next two weeks, and I'm holding down the fort up in Harlem. Hopefully, this oppressive heat won't prevent me from keeping busy in the kitchen while he's gone!