More Zucchini

Well I guess since zucchini is green it falls into the category of greens, and farmer John did say there would be lots of greens in our Ranui CSA boxes. This is the third week straight with zucchini.

What to do?  At least it’s the Roman varietal zucchini in our boxes; Costata Romanesca does have more substance and real flavor than the brunt—of–jokes classic green zucchini .

Zucchini Ideas:

Grill zucchini simply, with olive oil and salt and pepper, which is what we did last week.

Or bake up some Chocolate Zucchini muffins—a variation from the Chocolate Zucchini Bread in my Chocolate Snowball cookbook.

Go to fellow blogger Gwen’s  terrific recipe for stuffed zucchini—and read her funny comments about zucchini.

This post from another blogger has ideas for the top 10 best things to do with too much zucchini. As I read Cheryl’s ideas I was giggling out loud—“lol” in internet vernacular.

This summer I’ve been writing monthly for Catalyst Magazine here in Utah. Go to Catalyst’s July issue to learn fun zucchini facts and trivia as well as my advice to pick and enjoy the blossoms before they turn into the green phallic fruit.

Here is a variation on the recipe for Squash Blossom Soup from that same Catalyst article. Enjoy this soup hot or cold.

For efficiency, use an immersion blender to puree the soup, it stands right in the soup pot and eliminates the muss and fuss of hot soup transfer and exploding out of the blender. An immersion blender is a purchase worth every penny.

Cotija cheese is a Hispanic-style cheese–somewhat salty and doesn’t really melt–you may substitute any cheese you want or skip it altogether.

Squash Blossoms on the Grill

Zucchini Soup

1 tablespoon canola or grapeseed oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

About 5 cups grated zucchini

3 cups veggie broth

1/4 cup cilantro, basil or parsley leaves

Dash cayenne pepper

Real Salt or sea salt

1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese, optional

1/4 cup lightly toasted pumpkin seeds, optional

Avocado slices, optional

In a large saucepan, heat the oil on medium heat and sauté the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add the zucchini and the broth, cilantro and cayenne. Cover and simmer 10 minutes, until the zucchini is soft. Puree in a blender, or with an immersion blender.

Season to taste with sea salt and more cayenne.

Serve garnished with garnishes of crumbled cheese, pumpkin seeds or slices of avocado, if you wish.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

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Gwen’s Parmesan Vinaigrette with Heirloom Tomatoes

Gwen is my foodie and hiking friend who lives in Carefree Arizona. She publishes her own cookbooks and a writes a blog called penandfork. In fact, she set up muffintalk at wordpress.com after she heard how my husband calls it “talking muffin” when he notices me yakking about recipes and bakeries etc. with fellow pastry chefs and other food-minded folk.

I gleaned this recipe from Gwen’s website, also Pen and Fork, in 2003, and I fed Gwen and her fly-fisherman husband heirloom tomatoes with vinaigrette when they came for dinner last month.

Ranui Gardens heirloom tomatoes this year have been prolific, for which we are grateful. I remember years when we were lucky to get 2 tomatoes all season and they’ve been in our box the last 5 weeks!

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon Real Salt

2 teaspoons minced red onion

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, oregano, parsley, etc.)

Pinch freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Put vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt, onion, Parmesan cheese, herbs and black pepper in a blender and whir until creamy, about 20 seconds. With the motor running, pouring through the top, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Add more salt and pepper, to taste. Pour over lovingly sliced heirloom tomatoes.

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