BWW Cooks: Battling the Giant Zucchini

It's the end of summer. The lettuce is fading, the final ripe tomato in the kitchen, and you can't decide whether to make those remaining green tomatoes into chutney or fry them up in cornmeal. Either you're waiting for broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and some jack o'lantern pumpkins, or you don't bother with fall gardening.

But while you clear out the remains of your summer garden, you find lurking in it a thing of evil. A thing so foul and horrible that you clench your fists and your stomach. The horror of the garden patch is there, lying under a bunch of leaves you overlooked.

It's a giant monster zucchini.

It's too big and tough to use in your usual zucchini recipes. You've had enough chocolate zucchini cake and zucchini walnut bread to last a lifetime. It's huge, it's staring you in the face, it's defying you to cook with it. And it has a brother across from it, even bigger than it is.

What do you do with the zucchini that ate Manhattan? That hasn't been done already and been forced on you by the neighbors?

Here's some relief, and relief in forms you may not already be trying.

First: Stuffed zucchini. You're used to halving smaller ones and scooping them out. Divide this one into segments before halving, and scoop each one out into a boat - no, some boat sides won't have skin, so don't scoop too close to the edge. (Scoop the seeds out separately, please.) You'll have plenty of stuffed zucchini no matter which filling you use, so have friends over for dinner. Remember - it's not loaded with sugar, chocolate and mayonnaise. It's good for you. And it's an entrée. You won't need vegetables on the side, either, if you're of the I Hate To Cook Book school of recipes and menus.

Do you ever make strata, that Italian bread, egg and cheese casserole that often shows up for Sunday brunch? I'm known to make it for dinner in cold weather, too. Shred a healthy piece of that zucchini and cook it along with the sausage and onions for your strata. It's delicious, filling, and makes sure you get your veggies. Just be sure it's well-drained before adding, so you don't get a soggy strata.

By the same token, with onions and some fried potatoes, another chunk of that zucchini will make you a beautiful frittata. We don't think you've made a frittata lately. But if you made any tomato sauce with your garden tomatoes, it will go well with your zucchini and potato frittata.

One of the reasons we hate the monster zucchini is the monster seeds inside. Scoop them out first and clean them after you've made your other dish. Anyone who likes pumpkin seeds will enjoy toasted, salted zucchini seeds. Toasted seeds, like toasted nuts, can be fun to make and serve in the fall, whether just salted, savory, or sweet. Yes, people will eat them, and if you put them in a bowl in the office, they won't last. They'll go much faster than your officemates' zucchini breads.

Especially if you also have fresh corn available, zucchini chunks of small size make an unusual but delicious alternative to lima beans in succotash. If the Pilgrims had given thanks earlier in the season, they'd have made this version instead of using dried corn and beans. It's lighter and infinitely adaptable in seasoning. Add red onion dice to the yellow of the corn and the green of zucchini skin, and go for butter and cream. After all, cold weather's coming.

If you'd like a solid vegetarian entrée, or a filling side dish, an infinitely forgiving recipe is the diced equivalent of two zucchini, along with half or more of a Vidalia or other sweet onion, chopped, and a few quartered tomatoes. Saute your vegetables in butter or olive oil until everything's tender. Add about ¾ of a cup of red lentils, and add a bit more liquid if the tomatoes alone won't do the trick for liquid. Simmer this all for around 10 minutes and begin checking the lentils for doneness. Salt, pepper, and a bit of fresh chopped basil will round this out before sprinkling it all with Parmesan cheese. Add yellow squash if you want, or more onion, or use up some string beans cut into short lengths as extra vegetable. Pretty much any garden vegetable except lettuce can find a home in this.

Jewish cooks have known the virtues of zucchini latkes for a while now. Shred zucchini in with your shredded potatoes, or simply use zucchini rather than potatoes, with the flour or potato starch and eggs, to make a lighter fried pancake. Zucchini latkes are increasingly popular each year, and the shredding of tough older zucchini makes their texture indistinguishable from that of younger, more tender ones.

If you make your own spaghetti sauce with your own tomatoes and with your own bell peppers and basil, zucchini is a great added ingredient whether in smaller or larger chunks. Be very sure you've seeded your giant zucchini, and that, as with your onions and peppers, you've cooked it down before adding it to the tomatoes on the stove. Canning or freezing spaghetti sauce is one of the best uses of the Mason jar or the plastic tub, ever. Buy tomatoes if you have to, in order to make it. If you've never made your own sauce from fresh tomatoes, it's worth a weekend day's work to discover it.

Incidentally, zucchini works well with leeks in a soup, or with leeks and potatoes. A zucchini vichyssoise is a cool idea on a hot September day.

Now, if you'll just pass me Zelda's zucchini bread...

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