Zillions of Zucchini

Written by Tara Leonard

Food

 “Are your neighbors friendly?”

“It depends on how much you like zucchini.”

Stuffed zucchini, grilled zucchini, zucchini quiche, pancakes and pesto. Though kids are heading back to school and the tourists have all gone home, Santa Cruz zucchini plants continue to produce at such a prolific rate that you can hear cries of “What? Zucchini again?!” at dinner tables across the county. If you’re sneaking zucchini onto a neighbor’s porch under the cover of darkness or feeding leftover zucchini casserole to the dog, it’s time to get help. You’ve come to the right place.

In the name of journalistic diligence, I called Jeff Larkey, owner of Route 1 Farms, and asked him if zucchini deserves its reputation as a pesky over-producer. (Never mind the fact that my gardening friends all burst into laughter when I asked them this question.)

“There are very few things that produce as much per square foot,” Larkey confirmed. “The weird spring weather delayed the beginning of the harvest, but hot weather lately has bunched a lot of it up so now we have the usual overabundance. There’s definitely a lot of zucchini around!”

So you’re not crazy. Your zucchini plants really are out to conquer the yard, if not the world. How can you thwart the invasion?

“Pick them when they’re young,” advises Andrea Chesman, co-author of The Classic Zucchini Cookbook: 225 Recipes for All Kinds of Squash (Storey Publishing, 2002). “They’re generally more flavorful when they’re small anyway.”

Of course, many of us have come home from vacation to find zucchini the size of baseball bats – wonderful fodder for both family photos and jokes about vegetable Viagra. Chesman has a unique solution for this zucchini overload.

“I have a son who is allergic to apples,” she explains. “I make a sort of apple pie with zucchini. He loves it. You have to use an overgrown zucchini because there’s a slight bitterness to the young ones. It’s something to pull out when you’ve gone on vacation and come back to some monsters.” (See recipe below.)

Caprice Potter, Lifelab Science Director at Gateway School offered me a botanist’s appreciation of zucchini. “One of my very first memories of working with my mother in the garden is planting zucchini,” Potter recalled. “She would send me out in the morning to pick the male flowers to use in pancakes. She gave me my first botany lesson, which is to see the difference between the male and female flowers. Then I would clip the male flowers and she would dip them in pancake batter. It’s delicious with fresh applesauce.”

Other suggestions from Potter include grilling zucchini with the flower still on for a beautiful presentation; carving the big ones like a pumpkin; or scratching designs into a zucchini when they’re young. It will scar over as the plant grows, giving a child their own personalized zucchini.

Over on Front Street, the chefs at Café La Vie use raw zucchini instead of noodles in their vegan and vegetarian cuisine. “You can send an unpeeled zucchini through a mandolin [a vegetable slicer] to get a thick noodle like a fettuccine,” explains Assistant Kitchen Manger, Stacy. “Zucchini doesn’t have a very strong flavor when it’s raw, which is convenient, because it doesn’t add extra vegginess to the dish. We also shave off sheets of zucchini lengthwise to use as a cooked lasagna noodle.”

Stacy also recommends zucchini as a great base for dips or hummus because it’s smooth and blends well with other flavors.

As these locals have realized, you might as well be creative and enjoy the zucchini invasion while it lasts.

“Zucchini is a blank palette,” Chesman concludes. “It’s amenable to all the seasonings you can give it. You can go Italian, French, Chinese. It’s easy to work with and always ready.”

Plus, if worse comes to worse, you can always sneak some onto your neighbor’s porch.

Top Tens Signs That You Have Too Much Zucchini

10. Your neighbor finds them every morning in his mailbox.

9.   You’re eating it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner -- snacks too!

8.   You have a flute made out of a zucchini. (It's actually been done!)

7.   The stores pay you to take some off their shelves.

6.   Even the field mice stop eating it.

5.   You till under the zucchini plants, but still have more today than you had yesterday.

4.   Nightmares about a giant zucchini wake you in the night.

3.   Your kids are using it for building blocks.

2.  You spray your zucchini plants with sugar water to attract insects but they won't bite.

And the number one sign that you have too much zucchini…

1. The President of the United States declares zucchini growers to be terrorists.

-- From the Gardener’s Network (www.gardenersnet.com)

Zapple Pie with a Streusel Topping

This ingenious hide-the-zucchini recipe comes from The Classic Zucchini Cookbook.

Filling

6 cups peeled, quartered, and thinly sliced zucchini (about 2 pounds)
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 unbaked 9- or 10-inch pie shell

Topping

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

To make the filling, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the zucchini, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Stir to mix and cook until tender but not mushy, about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. In a large measuring cup or a small bowl, dissolve the flour in the remaining 1/2 cup lemon juice. Stir into the zucchini mixture. Continue to cook until the mixture thickens, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Preheat the over to 450ºF.

To make the topping, combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the pecans.

Spoon the filling into the pie shell. Top with half of the streusel topping. Place in the oven and reduce the oven to 350ºF. Bake for 30 minutes, until the crust is browned and the filling is bubbling. Sprinkle the remaining toping over the pie. Turn on the broiler. Run the pie under the broiler for about 3 minutes, until the topping is browned. Set the pie on a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or completely cooled. It is best served on the day it is made.

Penne with Zucchini, Mozzarella and Eggs

1 lb penne or rigatoni

2 lbs zucchini

5 oz olive oil

Salt and pepper

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

8 oz mozzarella cheese

2 eggs

Cut the zucchini into thin rounds without peeling them and fry lightly in olive oil. The zucchini should be just tender and bright green. When done, salt them and keep them warm. Keep the olive oil to add to the final dish. Grate the Parmesan cheese and cut the mozzarella into small cubes. Cook the pasta following the package directions. Beat the two eggs together. Drain the pasta and pour while still steaming into a heated serving bowl. Add the mozzarella and stir so that the pasta starts to melt the cheese. Now add the eggs, zucchini and olive oil, stirring quickly to set the eggs. Add the Parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper to taste. Serve at once.

Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms

1 cup fresh ricotta cheese or soft goat cheese

4 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 Tbsp minced fresh chives

Fresh ground pepper, to taste

25 zucchini blossoms, rinsed and drained

2 cups unbleached flour

3 eggs

3 Tbsp milk

4 Tbsp clarified butter

4 Tbsp olive oil

Stir the ricotta, mozzarella, chives and pepper in a mixing bowl. Fill each blossom with about 1 tsp of this mixture and gently pinch or twist the ends shut. Place the flour in one shallow bowl. Combine the eggs and milk in another shallow bowl. Heat 2 TBS of the clarified butter and 2 TBS of the oil in a skilled. Dip the blossoms in the flour, then the egg mixture and sauté in batches until golden, about 2 minutes per side. As they are cooked, transfer the blossoms to a low over to keep warm. Continue cooking the blossoms, adding more butter and oil as needed. Serve immediately.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Cake

Cooking spray
1  tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4  cup granulated sugar
1/2  cup packed brown sugar
1/2  cup (4 ounces) block-style fat-free cream cheese, softened
1/3  cup vegetable oil
2  large eggs
2  large egg whites
1  teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2  cups all-purpose flour
1/2  cup unsweetened cocoa
2  teaspoons baking powder
1/2  teaspoon baking soda
1/2  teaspoon salt
1/2  teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4  cup fat-free buttermilk
2  cups shredded zucchini
2/3  cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4  cup chopped walnuts

Glaze:
3/4  cup powdered sugar
3  tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
8  teaspoons fat-free milk
2  tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
1  teaspoon instant coffee granules
1/2  teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; dust pan with 1 tablespoon flour. Place sugars, cream cheese, and vegetable oil in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs and egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Lightly spoon 2 1/2 cups flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine 2 1/2 cups flour and next 5 ingredients (2 1/2 cups flour through cinnamon) in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in zucchini, 2/3 cup chocolate chips, and nuts. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare glaze, combine 3/4 cup powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons cocoa in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Combine milk, 2 tablespoons chocolate chips, coffee, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract in a 1-cup glass measure. Microwave at medium 45 seconds or until chocolate melts, stirring after 20 seconds. Combine powdered sugar mixture with chocolate mixture, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle glaze over cake.

This article originally appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, September 2006