Stuffed Zucchini

This is my favorite zucchini meal. Mom used to make it, but not very often as my brother was not a fan. I do not make it often, because it is best made with some of the mid-size home grown zucchinis, not the little skinny ones stacked in mounds in the produce markets.

I don't know the weight of these zucchini, but here is how they look on a 10-inch dinner plate. Once prepared, these will serve four for lunch. For dinner I'd probably make a side dish to accompany.
Preheat oven to 350 ºF. Wash the zucchini and cut off the ends. Cook whole in boiling salted water about 5 minutes.
Remove zucchini from water and cool till you can handle it. Slice in half lengthwise. With a spoon (I use a grapefruit spoon so the serrations help me) remove the meat from the shells. I leave about a quarter inch of flesh on the skins to make the shell.
The meat and seeds that have been removed are then chopped, grated, pureed, or otherwise processed into tiny pieces. To the zucchini meat add 3 beaten eggs, fresh herbs such as parsley, rosemary, 2 cups breadcrumbs, 1/3 cup minced onion, a little garlic, and one cup of grated cheese. For the cheese, cheddar and Swiss work, but Parmesan is best in my opinion. Today I used cheddar. This mixture is then piled into the zucchini shells. The look like little canoes heaped with treasure to me. Lightly grease a baking pan and arrange the shells inside. Bake, uncovered for about 30 minutes, until the tops are browned.The kids and I enjoy these when Rick is not home. The Engineer and the Artist give this meal a thumbs up and an "It's good."

Grilled Zucchini

Today I tried a recipe I found at Kalyn's Kitchen. When I say I tired a recipe, be advised -- I did not print it out and follow it. I read it, and a couple of days later I worked with what I remembered.

I slices into ovals first. Then put them in a ziplock with some Italian dressing, crushed rosemary, and some fresh garlic put through the press. The zucchini and the dressing had been kept in the fridge, so I let them marinate on the counter top for about three hours, giving the vegetable a chance to come to room temperature.
Once the grilling started, these smelled so incredible -- I couldn't wait to taste them.

As Presbytera mentioned yesterday, cutting the slices too thick would be a problem. I ran into that with a couple of my slices.

I think I had a slight disadvantage by using an indoor electric grill too. They would have cooked faster on the gas grill. In general things that are great on the outdoor grill are pretty good on the indoor grill. The indoor grill gives me better control than the broiler and it doesn't heat up the house the way the broiler does.
These grilled zucchini slices were served to my family and a visitor. My son gave them two thumbs up. My daughter thinks it is nice, and said it reminds her of something she drank once (I've no idea what that means!). Our guest declined to try it. Rick didn't get home to taste it until after I posted!

The recipe gives instructions about how to get the grill lines just right. I was not too interested in perfect grill lines. But if you'd like to see showcase photos of the finished product there are some nice ones at the recipe link.

Easy Zucchini Recipe

An excellent suggestion from Barb the Evil Genius, Why don't I share some recipes for those who are dubious about zucchini?

A good suggestion, because I have some people close to me who would rather pass the vegetable by. One of them still does not eat the stuff, unless it comes as part of his entree and he cannot make a vegetable exchange. Another resents that he was tricked into eating it years ago.

I have not done a lot of research on the subject, but I know some folks get around the texture of cooked zucchini, which seems to be a good part of the food's unpopularity, by breading and deep frying the slices. I've eaten it that way, but never prepared it that way.

The most frequent way I prepare it at home is sauteed with garlic and olive oil, and sprinkled liberally with Parmesan cheese once it is in the serving dish.

First I slice the zucchini into rounds about a quarter inch thick, or even slightly thicker. Heat some olive oil in a saute pan. Be sure to use a large enough pan that most of the slices can lie on the bottom. I don't use a lot of oil, maybe even less than a tablespoon. I just film the bottom of the pan.

With a spatula, I keep turning the rounds in the pan. I want them to be lightly seared on at least one side, browning, not blackening.

Near the end of the saute time, I'll put some paper thin slices of garlic (a couple of cloves) in on top of the zucchini, or a single clove crushed through the press. I also add some salt and fresh pepper. I'll get that thoroughly mixed in and then transfer the rounds to a serving dish, one spatula full at a time. I like Parmesan cheese, so I layer the slices of zucchini in their serving dish with the cheese.

My kids enjoy this recipe with me. Sometimes we use it with zucchini alone, and sometimes with yellow summer squash.

I also love zucchini bread, stuffed zucchini and I plan to try grilling zucchini for the first time this week. Zucchini bread recipes abound on line and I've never had a bad one. It makes an attractive looking cakey bread. Tomorrow I'll post about the stuffed zucchini my mom used to make.

Fresh Herb

Fresh Herb: So Charlie Chive says to this Blushing Blossom...

The past several days have been beautiful outdoors. Before I hurt myself, I was doing some yard clean up and I noticed the parsley was sprouting, but not near large enough to harvest yet. The chives were coming in so thick and lush, I could not resist.

I clipped a medium size handful of chives and brought them inside. It was rather difficult to rinse them with their being only about 3-4 inches tall. But they smelled so oniony-sweet and fresh. It was invigorating to have something garden fresh to put on the table. Even if it was only slightly more than a garnish.

The chopped chives went into a three-bean salad topped with honey, balsamic vinegar and a half sesame, half olive oil mixture.

I used my last tin or anchovies to garnish my salad bowl. It makes everyone in my family happy if I don't share the anchovies.

Avocado

It is funny how a chain of events happens sometimes. We are starting an avocado plant from seed because a new produce market opened close to my home.

I wanted to check out the new market. I browsed around and was very pleased with the quality and prices I saw. Plus, being new it is so clean! Let's say it was different from the market where I shopped previously and leave it at that.There were baskets of beautiful big tomatoes next to baskets of fresh inviting avocados. My mind went right to chopping and mixing them with some onion and lemon juice and mayo.

Under this spell I created upon myself I was powerless to resist. So some tomatoes and an avocado came home with me.

Silly me. Must have been that self-created food craving spell. To think that one avocado would do. When my little salad-snack was about half gone I realized my error in judgement. Maybe today I can stop back into the market and pick up a dozen avocados and more tomatoes. I'm really glad the new store is close to home!

When I was little I remembered Mom set an avocado seed in water with toothpicks and we watched it root and grow a shoot. I don't know whatever happened to the plant. I thought I'd give it a try with the handsome seed I'd garnished from the fruit I'd just enjoyed.

The first photo looks like we are back in chemistry building a model of a molecule. Those chemistry flashbacks are bothersome to me, so I quickly got the glass of water out and my relieved mind concentrated on botany again. The Artist has charted the progress of seeds for science classes before, but for the Engineer this is the first time. So far he has not taken much interest. I hope when the taproot starts to show he notices it before it is pointed out to him. Is your mouth watering? The first cookbook I reach for is the book I saw mom reach for first when I was growing up, the Good Housekeeping Cookbook, 1963. Among the offerings on p. 451 is Guacamole Salad: In chopping bowl, chop 1 small onion, 1 small dried red pepper (optional), 1 tomato, fine. Add 6 peeled avocados, 2½ teasp. salt, 2 teasp. lemon juice, 2 tablesp. mayonnaise, 1 teasp. salad oil, 4 drops Tabasco. Chop fine (don't mash). Serve in bowl or on greens. Makes 8 servings.