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Zucchini

jglass

jglass

New member
I took Cathy and Mama's advice about getting my hubby to eat zucchini.

I thin sliced some young zucchini for lunch then soaked them in buttermilk. I made breadcrumbs from some stale roasted garlic bread I had and mixed some parm cheese, garlic powder and pepper into them. Skipped the salt because parm tends to be salty and Jon doesnt like much salt. After the buttermilk I then dipped the zucchini into the breadcrumb mixture and fried them in hot canola oil. Once they were fried golden brown I put them on a plate lined with paper towels and lightly sprinkled with kosher salt to finish.

Jon has always been a big lover of fried green tomatoes but after having these he said he liked the zucchini even better than the tomatoes. I dont think there is any hope of ever getting him to eat broccoli though lol.
He likes potatoes, mushrooms and fried greem tomatoes. Thanks to you guys now I can add zucchini. He hates peas and broccoli. Will not touch green beans. He will eat lettuce on burgers but wont eat salad. I can get him to eat spinach if I put it into lasagna or something similar. He says with alot of veggies it is a texture thing in some cases more than taste. He is worse than a little kid :rolleyes:
 
Hey - at least he will now zucchini! What about breading some broccoli florets for him to try? Puree some and add another veggie and make patties out of them; bread and fry. He may not even notice. And eggplant? The small baby eggplant are the best and have a great flavor. Whatever he doesn't like - puree and add to something else - it works with kids! LOL
 
I even tried hiding broccoli in a pizza pot pie once lol.
I'll try breading it but getting him to taste it may be the trick. I could make him a batch of beer batter mushrooms and throw a few broccoli in there. I just wont tell him they are in there. Jons Dad put some eggplant in the garden but I think he told me none of them came up and all they ever have in the store here are really big. I may be able to find some small ones when the farmers market starts.

His Dad has aBIG problem with the garden his is growing at Jons brothers. Groundhogs!
They ate every cucumber vine they had down to the dirt. One of his brothers neighbors wounded one of them with his gun but they saw like three total and the one he wounded still got away. It sucked about the cucumbers. They had like 12 vines covered with baby cucumbers. Im not sure what they are gonna do about them. He has alot of stuff planted there and I would hate to see them loose it. Not to mention the fact I was really looking forward to the sweet potatoes he has at their place :eek:

Thanks for the help Mama. I will try that with my 44 year old child lol. He jokes about getting old and I always tell him if he was as old as he acted most days I could put him in childrens day care.
 
You can beer batter any of the veggies - small bits of broccoli here and there should not be detected!

It's a shame about the garden!

One year I planted my lettuce, basil, etc. in crocks on my second floor deck instead of the garden - for the same reason. How beautiful everything grew! I was ready to "harvest" in a couple days - damn squirrel made a nice Italian salad from the lettuce and basil - ate it all. Little scumbucket flea-bitten varmit! Boy did I wish him and early road kill experience! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr That is one squirrel I personally wanted to run over - repeatedly in public - for everyone to see!

Remember that woman that ran over her husband repeatedly with her daughter in the car a few years back?? Well that is what I wanted to do to the squirrel!

Was I ever "praising" his furry butt in Italian! %$#)#&^%*

Teach him to mess with Mama...............
 
lol Mama you crack me up!
I love animals but not when they are causing damage and destroying a persons hard work and time. Then my motto is shoot them now and shoot them quick.
Around here the birds have feasted on locust and left the fruit trees and gardens alone but the bugs and critters are doing their best to destroy everything.
I dont know about you guys but I for one have sure appreciated that we have had cooler temps so far. Some days have been in the 90's but there have been far more nice mild days than scorching hot ones. Last summer was miserable.
Im still hanging onto your recipe for marinara using fresh tomatoes. Our tomato plants are really starting to grow after last weeks rains. I already picked up two cases of quart jars with the lids and two cases pint jars with lids.
That elderly fella I was telling you guys who likes my roasted garlic bread loved your marinara. I took him a jar a few days ago with a loaf of bread. He gave you two thumbs up.
 
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Maybe many have seen this already- I just laughed my behind off! In a recent Saveur mailing there was a teensy little pamphlet with a few recipes. There's one for a deeply-moist chocolate zucchini cake. It's mentioned that in the region where the recipe comes from gardening and zuke-growing are past-times ALL partake in. It goes on to say that in late summer in this area the folks lock their cars up for one reason only- to keep neighbors from placing zucchinis in them. Ha! How true is that? Sure sounds faimliar to me!
 
I'm unlocking my car doors now - I love zucchini - and I'm putting the trunk up! LOL

Glad I've got another marinara sauce fan!

Zucchini, marinara, - gosh - zucchini lasagna sounds dang good to Mama!!!!

Layer in baking pan - marinara, sliced zucchini, seasoned ricotta with spinach - luscious layers - mmmmmmmmmmm - crusty Italian bread with homemade garlic butter and topped with my Italian cheese blend - salad on the side - mmmmmmmmm
 
I dig zukes too. Worked at a lodge once where we cut nice average 1-1/2" diameter zukes into 1" lengths. We then sat them up on end, and used a small melon-baller to hollow-out a "bowl" in the center of the zuke. Then filled the "bowl" with a stuffing made of lentils, eggs, carmelized onions, & parmesan cheese. We offered them first paired with various veggie sautees as a side-pairing to entrees, but in time we had requests to make the protion larger & turn it into a vegetarian entree- went over quite nicely... very pretty and yummy too!
 
Last year they were giving huge zucchini away at the farmers market lol. I
He def liked your marinara. Its to hot now for me to put up the windows and torture the neighbors and landlord while it simmers though.

I read where someone pureed fresh basil with olive oil and froze it in ice cube trays. Think that would be a way for someone like me who cannot get fresh basil at the store to get that fresh taste during the cold months?
 
>in late summer in this area the folks lock their cars up for one reason only"

Least the zucchini banditoes strike again!

It's fairly common in many areas that, at that time of year, everyone has knee deep in zukes and yellow squashed, and trying to get rid of them.

I remember when our kids were small, they'd haul them around in their wagons, trying to foist them off on neighbors.

"Then filled the "bowl" with a stuffing made of lentils....."

That sort of verticle stuffed zucchini is common all over the Mideast and North Africa, Chubbs. Sometimes it's just a vegetarian filling, as you used. Just as often it's lamb-based.

Near as I can figure, the style originated in Turkey, and spread out from there, as you can find varieties of it wherever there's a Turkish influence on the cuisine. I've got a great version of it, for instance, from Malta, where they use marrows instead of zukes. But the end result is the same.

Many other cultures have versions of stuffed summer squash. But most of the time, as in the U.S. and Italy, the squash are split the long way, seeds removed, and then these "boats" are filled.

But I like the vertically stuffed style, as it makes for a nicer presentation, IMO.
 
Yeah- some really cool ideas, KYH!

I love zukes and yella crook-necks. My Mom used to slice them, toss in seasoned flour and pan fry in clarified butter- oh so yummy! She also cut the zukes into sticks did the flour-eggwash-Italian breadcrumbs thing and then sprinkle parmesan on them when fished hot outta the grease. Talk about delish!

I have just a tiny container garden out on my condo patio this summer (which is the most growing I've been able to do in years!) but I remember as a kid our huge garden yielded SO many of everything! We did everything we could to utilize and keep from wasting, but I remember towards Fall many squash the size of a man's leg from the knee down, were allowed to get hard bumpy and were eventually tilled into the dirt after Halloween... I love zucchini bread and muffins... I may try that chocolate zucchini cake this year- something tells me I'll be hooked!
 
Yeah Janie we sneaky old gals rock!!! I loved reading that you got Jon to eat zuccini how totally cool:) I can understand how he would not like the broccoli in pot pie, as it is a rather strong and over powering veggie when cooked. As Mama mentioned try fried eggplant but remove the skin, he will like it, just slice super thin!!! What you are doing is attempting to help him develope his palate for the tastes of these veggies very gradually, over time you may cut the slices just minute degrees thicker and see how he tolerates the tastes and textures, just go slow and gradual as to not turn him off. after all he is a grown man with his likes and dislikes in place, what you are attempting to do is to help him learn new tastes and hope he enjoys them. You know in time (I believe I mentioned this before) you can gradually build on the fried veggie theme take fried eggplant for instance(if it turns out that he likes it) and top it with marinara and parm cheese and broil it until cheese is brown and bubbly and serve with pasta and more marinara, and wa-la he may love it and there you have him enjoying eggplant parm.! Like you said he can take the spinach in lasagna, in time increase the spinach amounts gradually.

I am so happy for Jon that he likes fried zuccini, ya' done good gal!!! He is lucky to have you, as I am sure he already knows;) or he would not have given you his last name:D
 
So, yesterday we made one of our round-robin shopping trips to Lexington. When possible, on those journey's, we eat at a small Turkish restaurant hidden away behind St. Josepth's Hospital, called Istanbul Palace. Usually we have the buffet.

This time it included fried zucchini. But better than any I had eaten before. I told Friend Wife they reminded me more of latke-style potato pancakes, rather than breaded and fried slices, as they were crispy on the outside, soft and tender in the middle. "Try them especially with yogurt sauce," the proprietor advised. Which we did. And he was right: delish.

So, checking my copy of A Taste of Turkish Cuisine (Nur Ilkin and Sheilah Kaufman, Hippocrene Books) I find Kabak Mucveri---or, in English:

Zucchini Fritters

2 zucchini, peeled and grated
3 spring onions, greens and whites, finely chopped
6 sprigs fresh dill, finely chopped
5-6 springs fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
6-7 sprigs fresh mint, finely chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1/2 cup crumbled white Turkish cheese or feta cheese
3 eggs
1/4 cup plus 2 tbls all purpose flour
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup vegetable oil for frying

Squeeze the grated zucchini to remove any excess juice and place in a large bowl. Add the onions, dill, parsley, mint, cheese, eggs, flour, salt and papper to taste to the zucchini. Stir to mix well.

Place the oil in a skillet and heat. Drop zucchini mixture by large tablespoonfulls into the hot oil and fry until golden brown onoone side, then turn over and continue cooking until the other side is also golden brown. Before dropping each batch, stir the batter. (This is a trick that insures the fritters won't be watery). Drain well on paper towels.

The Turkish yogurt sauce that goes with fried veggies couldn't be simpler. Crush two cloves garlic in a mortar with about a teaspoon of salt and mix into a cup of yogurt.

Apropos of nothing, while on our shopping tour came across some very nice snapper filets. So that will be tonight's dinner, made simply by broiling (or grilling if I work up the ambitions) with a hint of toasted cumin and corriender seeds.
 
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A slow-simmered Marinara is another one of those things I enjoy making in the crock-pot. I prefer the slow cooker mainly because my range and back-splash are white and I hate the miniscule red/orange splatters from the bubbling sauce that explode all over hell when I lift the lid to stir and taste throughout the day...
 
Just before you joined us, Chubby, there was a longish thread on marinar sauce: http://www.spiceplace.com/forums/sauces/3457-marinara-sauce.html.

Maybe you'd like to repost this as part of that discussion.

When I was growing up, all the Italian families I knew had two kitchens. The regular one, upstairs, and one in the basement specirfically for making sauce "because it's so messy." Uh, huh. If you every visited one of those basement kitchens, though, you could eat off the floor. And there was nary a spot on the walls, cooktop, or nearby cabinets.

Personally, I think those red dots add to the decor. :D:D:D
 
Cool story about the hidden basement "sauce kitchens" KYH! (also- just posted my original paragraph at the marinara thread as u recommended- thanks!)
 
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