A Solution For All That Zucchini
If you’re growing it in your backyard, chances are you’ve got your arms full of the tender, green summer squash that tends to multiply more than a Tweeted celebrity rumor run amok.
In fact, just the other week, a friend gifted me a zucchini that was as big as my head.
OK, maybe I exaggerate. But only a little, because it surely was as big as my forearm.
What to do with this Everest of squash?
You can only make so much zucchini bread, right? And sauteing it and roasting it as a side dish gets pretty ho-hum after awhile.
Cookbook author Monica Bhide comes to the rescue. In her newest book, “Modern Spice” (Simon & Schuster), the New Delhi-born food writer spotlights Indian dishes that are easily accessible for the home cook.
Her recipe for “Pan-Fried Zucchini and Yellow Squash with Cumin” is a vibrant answer for what to do with all that zucchini and summer squash. Cumin seeds, ground turmeric, lemon juice, and cilantro combine to create a super easy dish full of warming flavors.
Find that recipe and my review of the book at ProjectFoodie.com.
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Friday, 24. July 2009 5:32
A delicious way of preparing that vegetable! A friend of mine also gave me zucchinis as big as my forearm ;-P…
Cheers,
Rosa
Friday, 24. July 2009 7:35
Although 95% water, which can cause a dish to become a soggy mess, zucchinis can be quite versatile. Here’s 17 recipes I posted a while back http://xrl.us/be5mk7 — all quite different than you normally see — plus a bonus recipe http://xrl.us/be5mna which has been quite popular at dinner parties.
Friday, 24. July 2009 8:53
I didn’t put any zucchini in my garden this year, because last year, I kept literally LOSING the zucchini in the garden! I would go out and look for zucchini ready to be picked and NOT see them until they were at least 2-3 feet long!! Perhaps next year I’ll give it a try again! I am getting some beautiful ones (regular sized thank goodness) from my CSA this year, so thanks for the inspiration!
Friday, 24. July 2009 9:25
sounds delicious! I have a bunch right now from my CSA and was getting tired of it grilled…
Friday, 24. July 2009 10:33
OK, on first glance at that photo, I *so* thought this was going to be a creative summer salad with zucchini, watermelon (!) and some sort of yellow-fleshed melon, or maybe mango — which has me thinking…zucchini, watermelon, mint &/or cilantro….? Might have to do some fiddling around with that possibility! I’ll have to click on Peter’s link now — maybe he’s already invented this and can save me the tinkering
Friday, 24. July 2009 10:48
Heather: You have stealth zucchini!
Carroll: That’s funny! But you’re right — the red peppers flecked with cumin seeds do resemble watermelon.
Friday, 24. July 2009 11:13
Adding cumin is nice. It’s one of the spices we add to a lot of dishes, actually. Good one to keep in mind.
Friday, 24. July 2009 11:20
Aww, I thought you would make cupcakes out of them!
Friday, 24. July 2009 12:53
Alas, I have no free supply of zucchini but it is pretty cheap at the markets these days. I’ll have to make this.
Friday, 24. July 2009 12:56
That’s such a colorful and flavorful dish! Sounds like a great way to change up the use of zucchini.
Friday, 24. July 2009 13:05
I have SO much zucchini and yellow squash on hand right now too. It comes with great abundance this time of year. Yummy dish!!
Friday, 24. July 2009 13:19
To me, zucchini was always a blank slate, with little flavor of its own, a texture that is just too sensitive to cooking, and a water retention problem that sounds like true confession at a Weight Watchers meeting. But then I saw Iron Chef America’s Battle Zucchini and the panelists kept talking about dishes that captured zucchini’s character.
Character?
So in the back of my head is this notion to try making zucchini a happy member of my kitchen arsenal. Perhaps I will try this as a first exercise. Interested in any other suggestions for making good use of zucchini in ways that don’t hide the zuke!
Friday, 24. July 2009 13:45
The other tip for cooking zucchini that I got from Mary Risley, owner of Tante Marie cooking school in San Francisco: Seed the zucchini much like you would a cucumber, by just scraping out the watery, center part or cutting out that part. That way you’re left with just the crisp outer region. This is especially worthwhile when cooking LARGE, older zucchini.
Friday, 24. July 2009 17:49
You know I like Monica’s book, but I especially like your scraping-out the core tip. I’ll try it the next time I saute zucchini over extremely high heat, which is my favorite way to prepare it.
Friday, 24. July 2009 18:46
Sounds like a great recipe. I don’t have garden (I wish but no outdoor space whatsoever) but I have been getting HUGE zucchini with my CSA share and this sounds like it would be a great use for it. Thanks as always for the great recipe suggestion. As a side note, I went to a wine tasting today at a local vineyard and it was almost as good as being in CA. Miss the beautiful Russian River Valley and jealous that you have it so accessible.
Friday, 24. July 2009 21:15
My 3-yr old daughter raised a zucchini at her day care. Tonight, I sauteed it with sun dried tomatoes, garlic, tomatoes, and pine nuts & tossed it with rice pasta — topped off with grated parmesan. Really, really good. The zucchini/cumin recipe you gave us looks awesome too.
Friday, 24. July 2009 22:40
Oh yeah, given an Indian twist to this ingredient is bound to be good.
Sunday, 26. July 2009 10:21
Beautiful recipe and very timely!
I love zucchini,
I always plant it in my garden beds and
I always have more than enough to spare.
Now if I can just find recipes for all of the weeds
that have taken over garden, I’ll be set.
Monday, 27. July 2009 12:37
Great recipe I love zucchini, you have a wonderful blog.
Tuesday, 28. July 2009 9:11
[...] Food Gal is a terrific food blog I found recently, with a wide range of great recipes and pictures like the one you see here. The zucchini recipe that accompanies the blog is found on the site Project Foodie. Here’s an excerpt from the Food Gal zucchini blog: [...]
Thursday, 6. August 2009 22:11
I am growing it in my backyard but apparently, they’re not getting pollinated due to a lack of bees and keep withering away instead.
I’ll try again next year and plant more bee attracting flowers near it!
Monday, 10. August 2009 23:57
What a very delicious and fine dining dish you have their. Aside from it is yummy it is also delicious. The only thing that you can eat nutritious veggies is how will you cook it and prepare it. Here are some veggies recipe from tanya’s site, hope you’ll like it too.
Tuesday, 11. August 2009 18:36
Wish I had this recipe when we were awash in zukes last year! We decided not to put in any these year; I didn’t think I’d regret it until now.