Zucchini Nation

We are pleased to once again offer farm to table vegetables from Pete's Greens in Juniper's Restaurant this week. I'd like to take this opportunity to acquaint you with a hallmark of the summer, the great zucchini invasion.


They say that August is the only month you need to lock your car around here. If you don’t, you might find it filled with zucchini. Everyone who’s planted it has more than enough, and they’d be thrilled to give you their extras, with or without your consent.

We’ve had an exceptionally warm summer in the Northeast Kingdom this year, with the perfect amount of rain to send gardens into overdrive. Overnight, innocent little zucchini become monster two-foot-long zukes. My kitchen table holds a growing pile of giant zucchini that I don’t quite know what to do with, the prodigy of only two plants. With my pile of zucchini as inspiration, the Northeast Kingdom Farm to Table blog post this week is about this incredible edible vegetable and how to use it up.

Know Your Zucchini

A bit of zucchini history from Wikipedia:

“The zucchini or courgette is a small summer squash. Along with some other squashes, it belongs to the species Cucurbita pepo. They can be yellow, green or light green, and generally have a similar shape to a ridged cucumber, though a few cultivars are available that produce round or bottle-shaped fruit.

Zucchini, like all summer squash, has its ancestry in the Americas; however, the varieties of squash typically called "zucchini" were developed in Italy, many generations after their introduction from the "New World". The first records of zucchini in the United States date to the early 1920s. It was almost certainly brought over by Italian immigrants and probably was first cultivated in the United States in California.”

Eat Your Zucchini

Some recipes:

Zucchini Frittata, from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

Yields 4 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup minced onion
¾ teaspoon salt
pinch dried oregano
pinch dried thyme
8-10 mushrooms, sliced,
about 1 cup diced zucchini
½ cup minced bell pepper
1 small clove garlic, minced
2 handfuls chopped spinach and/or arugula
freshly ground black pepper
a few leaves of fresh basil
4 or 5 eggs (okay to delete a yolk or two)
¼ lb. fontina cheese, grated or sliced (optional

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Heat the oil on the stovetop in a 9 or 10 inch cast-iron skillet. Add the onion and half the salt, and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the dried herbs, mushrooms, zucchini, bell pepper, and garlic, and cook, stirring, over medium-high heat for another 5 minutes – or until the vegetables are just tender.
4. Turn the heat up, and add the spinach or arugula with remaining salt and black pepper to taste. Stir and coook for just a minute or two – until some of the liquid evaporates. Stir in the basil.
5. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, then pouthem into the vegetables. Sprinkle in some cheese, if desired. Place the pan in the preheated oven for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the frittata is solid when you shake the pan. (If you so desire, you can ad some extra cheese to the top midway through the baking).
6. Serve cut into sedges – hot, warm or room temperature. This will even tast good cold in a sandwich on lightly toasted bread, with a little mayonnaise, and sliced, very ripe tomatoes.

*top with fresh tomatoes and sliced green peppers, add basil for garnish

Sweet Zucchini Bread, from the Joy of Cooking

Makes one 9 x 5 inch loaf

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Whisk together:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Blend well in a large bowl:
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
½ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
Stir in the dry ingredients. Blend in with a few swift strokes:
2 cups grated zucchini, squeezed of excess moisture
1 ½ cups ground pecans or walnuts
Scrape the batter into the greased pan. Bake until the bread pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 45 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely on the rack.

* I added 2 tablespoons cocoa and some dried cranberries for a variation on this recipe.

Zucchini Blossoms

This is my favorite way to involve zucchini in a meal, though it doesn’t make the zucchini pile any smaller. Use the unopened male flowers (they are longer and thinner, and lack a round ovary at the base) of zucchini or any other squash plant and remove the stamens (center spike inside the flower) for cooking. Make a stuffing out of soft cheese (ricotta, chevre, etc.), herbs, and anything else you want to add - I made some out of herbed chevre, bleu and mozzarella cheeses, sautéed mushrooms, tomatoes, minced garlic, and fresh basil. Stuff the blossom carefully, trying to not rip the petals. Dip it into a beaten egg and lightly coat it with flour, then pan fry in oil or butter until golden brown, turning the blossom to cook each side.

Take heart friends, the zucchini flood will soon recede. In the meantime, I hope this gives you some ideas!