Zucchini Five Ways

Zucchini season has sprung. We have received zucchini for the last three weeks from Fair Shares and I am working hard to find ways to eat it. The first week I made zucchini bread using a recipe my best friend, Vicki gave me over 20 years ago. I have to admit making this recipe brought back many fun memories. Vicki wrote the recipe on the back of the invitation to her wedding reception. I smile every time I turn over the card and am reminded of the dinner reception at Flaming Pit all those years ago. Vicki gave me many recipes she inherited from her mother, and I treasure them all.

Vicki's Spiced Zucchini Bread

1 c sugar

1/2 c butter

2 eggs

1 3/4 c flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t nutmeg

1 c finely grated unpeeled zucchini

1 t vanilla

1/2 c chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 5 X 3 inch loaf pan.

Cream sugar and better, Beat in eggs.

Combine flour, salt, baking soda and nutmeg.

Stir 1/2 of the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Stir in zucchini (batter may look curdled) Stir in remaining dry ingredients, then walnuts and vanilla.

Bake 50-60 mins. Turn out on to a rack to cool.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Second I made Zucchini Chocolate Chip cookies, using the recipe I picked up from Heifer International. I think next time I'm going to use more butter and less baking soda. They ended up a little too cake-like to me.

And today I made Zucchini three ways for lunch -- Fried, sauteed, and zucchini latkes.

Fried

I dipped slices in milk, then beaten eggs, then a mixture of flour and corn meal, the fried in olive oil.

Sauteed

I sauteed some garlic in olive oil, then added the zucchini, some balsamic vinegar and some fresh oregeno and basil that I have growing by my back door. (I think I sliced the zucchini too thin, but it had a nice flavor.)

Zucchini Latkes

from The Farm Market Cookbook, by Judith Oleary (I think, I can't read the photocopy I made of the recipe) I saved this recipe from a local newspaper from about 15 years ago. I don't know which paper, and I can't read the cookbook authors name.

3/4 pound tender zucchini

2 heaping t grated onion

1 large red bell pepper, roasted, skinned, seeded and divided

1 egg beaten

1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 c milk

2 t minced fresh basil

1/4 t hot pepper sauce

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 t baking powder

Olive oil for frying

1/3 cup sour cream

Grate zucchini through medium-fine blade (the recipe says to salt and let sit for an hour to get rid of some of the water, but I don't always do this)

Mix in onion and 2 T diced red pepper

In another bowl, stir together egg, cheese, milk, basil, 1/4 t salt, hot pepper sauce and pepper.

Mix together, add the flour and baking powder and stir well until mixed.

Fry by ladle full in olive oil over medium heat. Fry on both sides until browned.

To make sauce, puree the remaining diced pepper with sour cream. Serve with latkes.

(I also used this sauce with the fried slices)

Yield about 7 servings.

I've made this recipe for years and love it.

Please share how you are using zucchini this season. I'm always looking for new ways to use this bountiful vegetable.

Summer Cold Picnic

Last night I went to the Muny with my family and 10,ooo of my closest friends to see Disney's Beauty and the Beast. If you're not from St. Louis I probably need to explain. The Muny, is on outdoor theater that opened in 1917 and has been a St. Louis tradition ever since. Seating 11,000 people, is the nation's oldest and largest outdoor theaters.

Part of the tradition is arriving early and picnicking in the area. There are a few picnic tables just outside the theater, but many of us choose to picnic beside the fountains and ponds in Forest Park, taking the time to relax before the show starts. (It also helps with finding parking that is within an easy walking distance.)

The 2010 season opened this week with Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As usual for this time of year, the temps were hanging close to 100 degrees -- a typical Muny evening. We let each of our daughter's invite a friend to go with us, as well as my mother, which meant I needed to create a picnic dinner for seven people that could be enjoyed in extreme heat. One of the friends is also a vegetarian.

Black-Bean and Tomato Quinoa fit the bill. It has a light, refreshing lime dressing that really hits the spot on a hot evening, and it is a family favorite. If you're not familiar with quinoa, you should be. It is considered a super food -- providing protein, iron and calcium. The recipe I use calls for a pretty involved method of cooking, but I just rinse and cook like rice in our rice cooker. The only local foods I used in the recipe were butter, cilantro, and my homegrown cherry tomatoes. I can't get locally grown quinoa or limes.

Accompanying the quinoa I made deviled eggs, using eggs from the River Hills poultry alliance, and a fennel and kohlrabi salad, using locally grown fennel and kohlrabi.

Fennel and Kohlrabi salad

We received Biver Farms fennel last week, and kohlrabi this week, and I had never cooked with either one before. Everything I read about fennel talked about a licorice flavor, which didn't appeal to me, but, boy was I wrong. It does have a licorice flavor, but it has a freshness that makes it very different than licorice candy. It is a refreshing flavor that enhances food.

The kholrabi comes in a bulb shape. It is very hard, kind of like a hard potatoe. I sliced it very thin with my food processor and did eat a slice or two before making the salad. It too, had a refreshing taste. Together I knew it would make a great salad.

I used a recipe I found on line that said to make a dressing out of lemon juice and canola oil. It was much too tart for my family, so I added some sugar, salt and pepper. Everyone liked it. We finished it off at lunch today.

Overall I was pleased to create a cold picnic dinner I could take to the Muny that was primarily locally grown. I look forward to seeing what I come up each week as new items come into season.

My first harvest of the season!

Last night we returned from yet, another weekend out of town to find some tomatoes had started to ripen. Here is my first harvest of the season. These are small cherry tomatoes, and very welcome at our home.

It is a welcome sign of things to come.

Blueberries and Cauliflower

For Father's Day I wanted to make something special for Scott and use some of our Fair Shares produce. In particular I wanted to make Indian flavored cauliflower. He'd been wanting it for a couple of months, but cauliflower hasn't been in season until now. I also wanted to use some blueberries, but without making a desert or baked good. After a little internet searching I came up with hamburgers with blueberries. While it seemed like a strange combination, I also know fruit can be great complement to meat. It seemed worth a try.The recipe called for 1/3 cup of blueberries to be pureed with balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard and worchester, which was then mixed into the 12 oz of hamburger. You can see the blue flecks in the patties above.


The cauliflower was browned for five minutes then I tossed in cayenne, tumeric and fresh ginger. I left it covered on low for about 30 minutes for the cauliflower to cook until soft, then threw in handful of chopped cilantro (from fair shares a few weeks ago.) I think I could have cooked it longer, but the flavor was really nice. Next time I think I'll add some onion.



The burgers were surprisingly moist and had a really nice flavor. I put cheddar cheese on top of mine. Our girls missed the meal because they were at the pool with friends, but I think they would have liked it, too.

Trip to Heifer International -- part 1 Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Cookies

I just came back from a week at the Heifer Ranch, hear Perryville, Arkansas. I was accompanying a group of mid-high youth from our church on a mission trip, where they both provided great work, but also learned a lot about sustainable living. The Hiefer Ranch is ran by Heifer International, a humanitarian organization working to end world hunger and poverty.

I have so much to say about the trip I am going to do it in a number of posts. Most will have to do with what we learned, but a few will just be about the experience, which was a blend of educational opportunities and mission work.

In a class called "Caring for the Earth" the youth looked at recycling and various power sources. To help understand the strength of solar power, the class made zucchini-chocolate chip cookies. While I don't think we will be buying a solar oven any time soon, I did like the idea of finding another way to use zucchini.

We all know zucchini has a reputation for being prolific when it is in season. My cousin, who lives in on a farm in rural Missouri, says even people who normally don't lock their doors start to when zucchini hits, "they don't like coming home to find the vegetable piled on their kitchen counters, left by generous neighbors."

I love to make zucchini bread and zucchini latkes, but now I have another use. All the kids loved the cookies, and I think it was a great experience for them to see a solar oven in use. Maybe one of them will invent a way to make solar energy easier to use at home in the near future.

Berkshire Bacon and egg casserole

I bought some berkshire bacon with my share last week from Salume Beddu. (I hope that is right. I threw away the package last night.) According to the Fair Shares newsletter, "Berkshire is a certified Heritage breed pig, prized for its flavor and texture, rather than for the amount of meat per dollar it produces. " I have to admit the flavor was wonderful. The bacon is thick cut and seasoned to perfection. We had some last night with an egg casserole. We live within walking distance of a Companion cafe and my family loves the egg casseroles. But the price is a bit much for a regular breakfast. ($5.95 a serving) Luckily Companion shares their recipes online. I adapted it a little bit, using local eggs from River Hills Poultry Alliance and Pilgrims Acres, skim milk rather than cream and whole milk, Legacy cheese and Methusala cheese from Heartland Creamery, and I left out the potatoes.

It was a wonderful dinner for our household right now -- three of the four of us are battling viruses, stomach flu, flu and bronchitis. The light egg meal sat well on the stomachs and was a great comfort food that we all enjoy. It was also nice to eat locally again.

Eating local is hard on vacation

Eating locally sourced food was difficult over the weekend since we headed to Springfield, Il to see friends. While we didn't find resaurants that used local producers, we did find a way to support local vendors. Our first night was dinner at Cozy Dog Drive In. Local lore is that it is one of the oldest corn dog stands in America, having opened in 1946. None of us are corn dog fans be we did try one. For what it was, it was OK. We ended up with a bowl of chili, a bar b q beef sandwich, that tasted just like ones my husband's aunt makes, a chili dog and a cheese burger. We hadn't had decadent junk food meal in awhile, and it was fun. The diner was full of route 66 memorabilia. My daughter even had a route 66 root beer. According to the website it is made in Lebanon, MO.

I had fun telling my friends about our new eating habits and they asked me to send them some recipes. One in particular was for our homemade granola. (We ate breakfast at Panera on two mornings, having the granola strawberry parfait. You know you aren't home when there isn't St. Louis Bread Company.)