Zucchini 101: Or 101 Ways to use 101 Zucchinis

When you are lucky enough to plant a zucchini seed in the spring, you will be rewarded with thousands and thousands of squashes later in the summer. I planted 6 zucchini seeds and 6 yellow (summer) squashes. Meaning:

Thus, we have been trying interesting ways to slice, dice, shred, bake, saute, puree, broil, and grill (and give away!) these summery vegetables before they wither away and stink up the fridge.

#1. Soup!!!

When the weather is 90º+, you wouldn't immediately think of enjoying a steaming hot bowl of soup. But in the last few weeks we have made two spectacular squash soups that are both easy and refreshing. We 'winged' these soups with stuff we had, so these aren't exact recipes.

Variation A: Curry soup

We added some garam masala and curry powder to the bottom of a pot over medium heat with a teaspoon of oil, and stirred until fragrant. Then we chopped up a quarter of a red onion and sauteed it in some oil with the spice mixture until the onions were brown and caramelized. With about 30 seconds left, we smashed up some garlic and added a small bit of minced ginger and added them, stirring until fragrant. I chopped up 2 medium squash into about 1" pieces and threw them in the pot. We tossed until coated and cooked down for about a minute before adding enough low-sodium (you always want to be able to control the seasoning to your liking!) chicken broth to cover the squash pieces. We let everything cook down for 25-30 minutes until the zucchini were soft enough for a fork to pass right through. We threw the mixture in the blender until smooth, then added salt and pepper and a sprig of fresh cilantro. I would leave out the cilantro next time, but man was this tasty!

Variation B: Spicy Velvet Vegetable

Much like last time, we caramelized about a quarter of a red onion for 10 minutes in the bottom of a pot. Meanwhile, I diced up 1 russet potato, 1.5 medium carrots, and 2 medium zucchini (seeded and peeled) into about 1/2" chunks. We roasted some small poblano peppers under the broiler until the skin was charred, and toasted some cumin and coriander seeds in a small pan over medium heat. I let the peppers steam for a few minutes after coming out of the broiler, then peeled off the skins and removed (most) of the seeds. When the onions were brown and soft, we added some garlic and cooked until fragrant. Then we added the potato, pepper, carrot and squash and covered with LS chicken broth. About 10 minutes into the cooking, I ground the cumin and coriander in an old coffee grinder and added them to the soup. It cooked for another 10-15 minutes until the potatoes and squash were tender. Blended until smooth and seasoned to taste. This was a fantastic variation of the soup, with some mouth-heat coming from the roasted peppers, but the potatoes really provided a velvety creaminess that made it seem like we had used a splash of cream.

#2. Zucchini pancakes

Much like latkes, these delicious vegetable pancakes go well with sour cream or applesauce. We made these a while ago so I don't remember exactly which recipe we used, but this one looks similar:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/08/the-crisper-whisperer-zucchini-pancakes-recipe.html

Just fry them up and enjoy!

#3. Zucchini grinders

We tried this recipe last year and liked it so much we used some frozen squash last winter to make these.

Preheat oven to 350º

1 medium squash, sliced long-wise

1 cup (estimate) marinara sauce

Hoagie rolls

Foil

Mozzarella

Cook squash in medium pan with some olive oil over medium heat until translucent, adding salt, pepper, red pepper flake, and oregano to taste. Add sauce to pan until warm. Meanwhile, spray two squares of foil with cooking oil. When mixture is ready, add to almost-split hoagie rolls (we've tried pre-toasting and it doesn't make a difference), top with mozzarella and roll up in foil to make a sandwich log. Put in oven for 10-15 minutes to melt cheese and warm roll. Open pouch of deliciousness and enjoy! Warning: May be messy!

#4. Breakfast burritos

Luckily, squash doesn't have a really strong flavor. So, we shredded some up with some potatoes and added to some scrambled eggs, sausage and cheese for some delicious breakfast burritos!

#5. Pasta Primavera

This was pretty simple: We cooked up some chunks of zucchini, carrots, and peas in a small amount of olive oil until tender, boiled some bowtie pasta, and simmered a few garlic cloves in some olive oil, tossed together with some halved cherry tomatoes (also home grown!), parmesan cheese, and a little of the pasta water (for the starch) and topped with some browned chicken (for me) and pan fried shrimp (for Ryan). Quick and easy!

#6. Zucchini, tomato and cheese skillet

This is an old family favorite summer side dish. Slice a medium zucchini into coins, add to large skillet with a tablespoon of oil and season with salt, pepper and oregano. Cook zucchini (don't forget to turn them over!) until translucent. Add diced tomatoes (or halved cherry tomatoes) and cheese (your choice, although cheddar is pretty darn good) until melted. Yum!

#7. Zucchini Bread

Old favorite. There are many recipes for this, but my family likes to add chopped walnuts and chocolate chips!

Ok, so I only made it through 7 dishes, but we have made a pretty good dent in our stash of zucchini so far. The plants are slowing down a bit thanks to an outbreak of powdery mildew...:( but maybe this will give me a chance to catch up and process the back log of squash that we have (I shred with the food processor, or dice into 1" cubes or slice into coins and freeze).

How do you enjoy your summer squash bounty?