NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State
University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
July 9, 1998
Those of you who grow zucchini and those of you who have neighbors who grow zucchini and then try to pawn some off on you know what a "bat" is. Those head-splitting summer squash that you can do nothing with except grind up and make enough quick bread to fill a large freezer.
Most of our zucchini bats end up in the compost. But we really don't have that many because I like zucchini and once we notice a plant starting to blossom, my wife, Nicki, and I go into zucchini-management mode. We try to check the plant daily and pick each fruit at the perfect size, about 6 to 8 inches long with the diameter of a 50-cent piece.
Of course, that means we eat a lot of zucchini during the waning summer months. We usually start the season with zucchini salad, which often includes kalamata olives, fresh tomatoes, onions—a lot of garlic—and an oil and vinegar dressing. Then, we go Mexican: chicken taco salads with fresh zucchini. Then Chinese: zucchini stir fry with hot peppers—a lot of garlic—and fresh ginger. Zucchini often becomes an ingredient for our vegetarian pizzas too.
I sometimes finely dice zucchini (leave the peel on) and add it to my tuna salad, which may include some crushed fennel seed, lemon juice—a lot of garlic—mayonnaise and some diced purple onion. Sometimes I put this mixture on English muffins or pita bread, top it with a slice or two of provolone cheese and bake the sandwiches until the cheese is golden brown. (I eat these tuna sandwiches—any kind of tuna sandwich—with catsup. My wife disapproves, but all I can say is that some childhood habits die hard.)
Later in the growing season, we usually try zucchini fritters. To make these, I begin by chopping fresh zucchini, chives, parsley—and a lot of garlic. Did I mention I like garlic? Anyway, the vegetable mixture becomes part of a batter consisting of corn meal, flour, eggs, baking powder and baking soda, and some liquid, usually buttermilk and, on occasion, a little white wine. I drop the batter by the spoonful into hot oil, and the result is light-textured, almost dumpling-like.
By now I'm sure you get my point: if you can eat it, zucchini be an ingredient in it. Even cornbread. Here's a recipe I adapted from SOAR—the Searchable Online Archive of Recipes, University of California, Berkeley (http://soar.Berkeley.EDU/recipes/).
Upside Down Zucchini Cornbread
Yield: 6 servingsIngredients:
2 cups sliced unpeeled zucchini (about 2 medium)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 egg whites
¼ cup canola oil
1 cup buttermilk
¼ cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1 tablespoon crushed fennel seed
Procedure:
Saute zucchini in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile,
combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In
another bowl, stir together egg whites, oil and buttermilk. Add
dry ingredients to buttermilk mixture and stir only long enough
to incorporate. Mix in onions, garlic, lemon peel, pepper flakes
and fennel. Spray an 8-inch round baking pan with cooking oil and
layer zucchini, beginning in the center and working outward.
Overlap zucchini so pan's bottom is completely covered. Spoon
batter over zucchini and bake at 350 F for 35 to 45 minutes. Run
a knife around the pan to loosen corn bread and invert onto a
serving platter. Let inverted pan sit for a few minutes then
thump pan to loosen.
What's Your Take on This, Julie?
Numerous bags of zucchini have mysteriously appeared on my doorstep over the years, so I always like to find new recipes for this prolific squash. In fact, if you have a favorite—and somewhat unusual—recipe for zucchini, please send it to me at: NDSU Food and Nutrition Department, E. Morrow-Lebedeff 351, P.O. Box 5057, Fargo, ND 58105. We'll choose one to feature in an upcoming column. If the recipe has an interesting history, please share that too.
Botanically speaking, zucchini is a fruit, but it's used as a vegetable. It was developed in Italy and is also known as "vegetable marrow" or "Italian marrow." When selecting zucchini look for tender rinds, a glossy appearance and absence of blemishes.
To freeze for later use, wash, peel and slice young zucchini. Blanch in boiling water, chill, drain and pack into freezer containers leaving a ½-inch headspace. Frozen zucchini will lose its texture, but it can be used in cooked dishes. When zucchini become too large, they're best used as food for the compost bin.
A cup of plain zucchini is a nutritional bargain at only 18 calories. It also contains fiber, vitamins A and C and only a trace of fat. Like all plant foods, it contains no cholesterol. With all the recipe options, zucchini is an easy way to work toward the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
A serving of Upside Down Zucchini Cornbread (one-sixth of the recipe) contains about 360 calories and 15 grams of fat. A smaller portion, of course, will lower these numbers. A serving also provides calcium, vitamin C, iron and the B vitamins, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.
Using any type of vegetable oil will result in an acceptable product, but canola oil is one of the better choices. Canola oil, which is produced from rapeseed, is primarily monounsaturated fat, which is more heart-healthy than many other types of fat.
If you are an avid gardener with a bumper crop of zucchini, you might want to offer your neighbors some Italian marrow instead of zucchini. They may be so curious about this exotic vegetable, they'll offer take twice as much, sight unseen of course.
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Sources: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136 & Julie Garden-Robinson (701) 231-7187
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