I've come to that fulfilling landmark in vegetable growing where I am faced with overgrown zucchinis. Sadly a glut seems unlikely (maybe next year?) but I still have a good amount of home-grown zucchini that I would be sad to see go to waste. Giant zucchinis lack the tenderness of their little siblings, but there are still plenty of uses for them in the kitchen. Here are four fates of my giant zucchinis.
1. Cryopreserved, aka frozen
Meet Mr Plump (1.5 kg) and Mr Tall (40 cm and 750g). My Magimix grater attachment quickly turned them into 10 ziplock bags of summer essence to be added to winter soups or casseroles. New address: deep freeze, next to the aliquots of pesto.
2. Reduced
I've been keen to get into the Animal Vegetable Miracle recipes in good conscience with my own harvest, and the "Disappearing Zucchini Pasta" (I used shells rather than the recommended orzo) seemed like a good starting point. It's essentially a cooked zucchini pesto- and the "disappearing" could refer either to the reduction in volume of the zucchini or the rapidity with which the pasta is consumed- in our case, both were noteworthy!
3. Disguised
At this stage of parenting, I don't really go in for the "my kids will eat healthy food if they don't know it's there" strategy: I'd prefer to work on the optimistic assumption that my boys will enjoy tasty, well presented food, whatever the contents. Optimistic, yes, but after my zucchini triumph, I think it's well founded. At least for now!
Despite this, I was keen to give Animal Vegetable Miracle's zucchini choc chip cookies a go, more for the novelty than anything else. Big Bro did most of the stirring, so the inclusion of a cup of shredded zucchini was certainly no secret from him! I also had the brainwave of making the most of a fine day and doing the mixing outside, where the mess is easier to deal with!
The cookies came out slightly cake-like (a bit like a North American "scone"), but quite moist and edible, though the inclusion of chocolate is, to my mind, the wrong direction for the batter. Next time I'll add a few more spices and replace the choc chips with sultanas.
4. Celebrated
Looking at one giant zucchini I thought, "it's about the diameter of an eggplant", turning on the mental light bulb over "eggplant dishes". Consuming Passions' moussaka won (without the bechamel): alternating layers of thin zucchini slices (pre-baked with a light coating of olive oil) and meat-tomato sauce, topped with cheesy breadcrumbs. Even B, the last standout of the "I don't really like zucchini" brigade, had to admit it was pretty yum!
This post was rewound at the Fibro.
It's been hot and sticky for a few days here, so I am really hoping Pocket Weather's forecast of six days of rain is right!
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