My friend gave me 2 zucchini from her garden. I have never dealt with zucchini. I have enjoyed it, mostly battered and fried. So what am I to do with this fresh, home grown vegetable?
Simple, please. It is only me and the dog, so, dishes that may be frozen or at least kept in the fridge for a day or two.
Zuni Café zucchini pickles:
Thanks, Zoid, but that is not simple. You must have seen my post prior to the edit.
Well my simplest preparations are
a) sliced lengthwise into slices maybe 1/8 inch wide, lightly oiled then grilled (get some decent grill lines if possible), and then dressed lightly with a decent balsamic vinegar and a good quality olive oil - light dribbles only.
b) cut into rounds or portions thereof and steamed, sometimes with dill.
c) sauteed with onions (soften them first) and cherry or chopped tomatoes. Maybe a bit of garlic and/or fresh basil. Sometimes adding some white beans.
OK this is my topic. You asked. Here goes.
The simplest, quickest most delicious vegetarian dish:
Zucchini, tomatoes and pasta with parmesan
Open and chop up in the pot one small can of whole tomatoes and start cooking, and putting spices appropriate, and some olive oil and salt.
Start cooking your water.
Fully clean your Zucchini and cut out any irregular parts (Zucchini grows on the ground and has very sensitive grit-grasping skin) Cut into 1/3 to 1/2 inch slices.
Put it in the cooking tomatoes, and start cooking spaghetti.
Watch both. Take the Zucchini off before it gets too soft.
Apply cheese to the spaghetti, and then put the cooked product over it, putting more cheese on it after.
Let me know how it goes!
I do it as zucchini, onions, and mushrooms, with garlic and Italian seasoning. Sometimes also bell peppers.
Simple. Cut up and eat. If you really want to get fancy, sprinkle some salt on it or dip in a little dressing.
Thanks everyone, perhaps I should have mentioned that i don’t like tomatoes or mushrooms. Maybe I should just fry it in my iron skillett? Ideas for that, perhaps…
As previosly stated, I live alone with my dog. I do like to cook, so to speak; I make some recipes that I can keep for a few days, but also stuff that I can just pull out of the fridge and have a meal. I am not sure that I will like raw zucchini…
I wish I could help you but I can’t. Zucchini ranks close to my least favorite vegetables. I can barely tolerate it mixed among other more palatable veggies in a soup or stew. At least I can eat around it.
Proof that battering and frying anything can not only make it edible but enjoyable. It is a true culinary miracle worker.
Slice it up and sautee it like mushrooms, white part turns transluscent when done.
The only reason for zucchini to exist, IMO.
Eat it raw or drink it raw in a smoothie
I make a big batch of cooked, partly mashed veges about twice a week. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, carrot, cauliflower, broccoli sometimes parsnip or turnip. Whatever is around. After they are mashed I add raw zucchini, onion, peppers, snow peas, cabbage and salad greens again whatever I have, None of the non root vegetables really require cooking at all. Since I started doing this with zucchini I now use it instead of cucumber for all salads. People who are sure they won’t like it raw are generally surprised. Same with asparagus. Only recently I discovered it doesn’t need even the brief cooking I usually give it.
This. But if you don’t like tomatoes, just onions, garlic and basil - maybe a little parmesan cheese or chopped bacon for the salt. Pine nuts are good with this too.
You can experiment with the cooking time - just a couple of minutes for ‘firm’, or keep going till you reach ‘squishy’. I’m a fan of squishy, myself, but nobody else in my family is.
Sautéed as above, then add to spaghetti sauce.
Per your first message and the fact that you don’t like tomatoes or mushrooms…
Slice the zucchini thinly and place in a bowl. I would also slice some bell peppers to add color and another layer of flavor and probably also some thinly sliced onions (keep everything roughly the same size). Add some bottled Italian dressing and toss it all together.
My preference would be to grill it if you have a grill pan, otherwise you can do it in a frying pan/wok/sauce pan or whatever you have.
About as simple as you can get… and good.
Olive oil, garlic, and a little salt, medium high heat so it browns. Can’t get much simpler than that.
I was also once given some zucchini out of the blue by someone who suggested I try making zucchini bread. I had never heard of zucchini bread, and I’ve never eaten zucchini that I enjoyed. But I found a recipe online and made the stuff just because. Holy crap. It kicked banana bread’s ass all over the village. There is a zing to zucchini that doesn’t come across in the slimy fried pieces you get as filler sides.
I do something similar but a bit different.
I cut the planks closer to 1/4" thick and they look exactly like the top two photos here:
http://www.savoryexperiments.com/zucchini-goat-cheese-rolls/
Then, toss with a bit of olive oil, some toasted sesame oil, salt, pepper and whatever else sounds good. I usually use oregano and often some garlic powder.
Spicehouse Greektown is ideal but, it is so good, I’m usually out.
Then, grill till they are floppy.
That’s it!
Those things grow like weeds around here. Indeed, people in New Jersey lock their doors in the summer to keep their neighbors from coming in and leaving zucchini on their table.