Any Zucchini Lovers here?

[nekvermont]

Well the summer appears to be gone, the fall foliage is appearing in its splendor and my garden is winding down. Of all the vegetables we eat out of our garden the one I always miss the most is the Zucchini. There are so many ways to prepare it from main dishes, casseroles, breads to desserts. My wife even makes and puts away about 12 jars of a great marmalade using Zucchinis. I'll admit that my wife is getting a little sick of it. I always plant 2 early hills and a latter hill with 5 seeds in each hill. This years crop yielded the typical amount of this versatile summer squash, are you ready for this, 202 :lol: . I give a lot away and bet there wasn't more than a dozen that ended up in the compost pile. I like to pick them at about 9" and pick them every day, I think this is the secret to a high numbers yield. With Zucchinis in the world there is no reason for anyone to go hungry. I don't know if I'm crazier that I like zucchinis or that I count how many I grow. Any one else here a big fan of Zukes?

 

[Kevin]

I can't say I'm a big fan, but I do like zucchini bread. Aren't they sort of a neutral flavor, that will take on the flavor of any other food you cook with them? Do they have much nutritional value? Vitamin C, I suppose. Zucchini marmalade actually sounds delicious.

 

[gramps]

Yep, goes great in Chinese dishes, casseroles, or just plain with butter and salt. My second wife would take the older fruit, cut in half, scoop out the seeds, then cut small sections off that looked like apple slices. She made “mock apple pie” so good, it fooled people at the Senior Center her folks went.
gramps

 

[Bull Barrel]

As a kid I never liked many vegetables since Mom always cooked everything to death...bless her heart.
Now I am trying different vegetables "cooked right" and enjoy them. Zucchini is one. Can't go wrong battered and deep fried. Btw...isn't zucchini Italian? It ends in a vowel.....

 

[nekvermont]

Kevin, here's a link to the health and nutritional benefits of zucchini. They have their own mild flavor and texture. I like to cut them into 1" chunks and cook them in olive oil in a "hot" pan or wok. Some Red Bell Pepper, fresh Basil, black pepper, pasta and a good cream sauce with parmesan cheese on top makes for a good meal.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/zucchini-benefits#section1

 

[recumbent]

I do it on the grill with some cajun seasoning. Also do acorn and butternut squash the same way.

 

[eveled]

I purée it and use it as a base for soup. Makes a real nice thick beef stew without adding any thickening agent.

 

[rugerguy211]

Big fans in this household.
A simple saute with olive oil, salt, and pepper is my favorite.
Or a casserole (precook the zuke-simmer in water until 3/4 or so cooked) with butter, Italian bread crumbs, cheddar cheese, layered in a dish and baked. Yum!

 

[eveled]

Puréed in soup or breaded and fried like eggplant are the only way I like it.

 

[Acorn]

We sliced them breaded and fried then layered with ricotta ground meat and tomato sauce and topped with mozzarella for a lower carb version of lasagna.

 

[SamV]

All those ways are good. I like to slice them into quarters, toss in olive oil and some seasonings and grill them, or roast them in the oven.
I only tried growing some once. They are the perfect first time grower project. They seem to grow so easily for me, and I have a brown thumb.
I like my zucchini small. Somehow I missed several growing on the backside of one row of plants. I could not believe how big they got. I made four loaves of zucchini bread with one zucchini, with leftover zucchini.

 

[exavid]

I like zucchini too. My wife isn't much of a fan though. One year I'd planted several in our garden but just as they were almost harvest sized we had to leave for visit a sick friend and help them out for almost two weeks. When we got home we didn't have any zucchini. Someone must have stolen them and left a bunch of green, bent, baseball bats in the garden.

My daughter makes great zucchini bread. I should remind her how good hers is about now. Just a slight hint and a hopeful look ought to do it.

 

[Taterman]

Puréed in soup or breaded and fried like eggplant are the only way I like it.

Did you bake/fry/grill them before you puréed?

 

[redhawker]

I have replaced spaghetti with zucchini. I have a gizmo that looks like a giant pencil sharpener and it turns zucchini into "spaghetti noodles".

 

[eveled]

Puréed in soup or breaded and fried like eggplant are the only way I like it.

Did you bake/fry/grill them before you puréed?

I actually cut them and summer squash into fairly large chunks. Put them in water brought it to a boil. Let them simmer a while spooned them out into a blender and puréed them and put them back into the pot. Then just treated it like any other soup stock. I’ve done the same with frozen butternut squash. It makes for a real thick soup or stew.

Last time I made a vegetable stew I did string beans and tomatoes the same way. Basically anything I don’t want to see chunks of in the soup went through the blender after if simmered a while.

Soup to me is more of an adventure than a recipe. Based on what is available from the fridge. Every pot is different but it’s always good.

A scoup of Bob’s Red Mill mix never hurts either, and usually a pack of Goya Sazon yellow rice seasoning.

 

[Taterman]

I actually cut them into fairly large chunks. Put them in water brought it to a boil. Let them simmer a while spooned them out into a blender and puréed them and put them back into the pot. Then just treated it like any other soup stock. I’ve done the same with frozen butternut squash. It makes for a real thick soup or stew.

Cool, thanks, that sounds like a great way to do it. I'll give a try next time we make veggie soup.

Edit: I bet even microwaving the cubes would soften them up enough.

 

[powder smoke]

Any Zucchini Lovers here? Not really i grow only for Linda. butternut squash, acorn squash are a whole lot better. I do not even know why they call it squash? Its all water no substance. More like a Cucumber than squash! You can have my share I'll take Butternut Squash any day. ps

 

[Taterman]

I baked some zucchini today with olive oil and Tony Chachere's Cajun Seasoning on it. Tasty, thanks for the thread.

 

[gramps]

Any Zucchini Lovers here? Not really i grow only for Linda. butternut squash, acorn squash are a whole lot better. I do not even know why they call it squash? Its all water no substance. More like a Cucumber than squash! You can have my share I'll take Butternut Squash any day. ps

Cause if you stomp on it, it goes squash! :shock: :mrgreen: The real reason is probably taxonic?
gramps

 

[Thumbcocker]

I do not love the z squash. There is a story. My Dad was a construction lineman who couldn't work. He decided that the family should garden. We gardened. Dad read in the Gurney's catalogue about an improved Zucchini. He plated two 30 foot rows. When they began producing he was ecstatic. Look at all that FOOD he would say. We ate Zucchini.
Actually me and Mom ate Zucchini. Dad ate frozen pizza and ice cream to "settle his stomach". I had Zucchini 2 meals a day for weeks.

Dad then decided that Zucchini should be introduced to the rest of our small southern Indiana town and that I could make some money. So my bicycle was loaded down with Zucchini and I pedaled over hill and dale, mostly hill, and knocked on doors attempting to sell Zucchini. Dad stayed at home under the air conditioning.

It was an interesting study in sociology to try to sell small town folks zucchini in the early 1970's. Did I mentioned I had zucchini on my plate two meals a day?

Mrs. Thumbcocker once mentioned planting some zucchini in our garden. I told her that I had really enjoyed being married to her and hoped that she would do well in her next marriage.

I don't like zucchini.

 

[eveled]

Someone told me when they lived in Florida if you went to the strip mall this time of year you had to lock your car or someone would give you a Zuchini!

I grew up calling them Italian Squash by the way. I’ve never planted any, but have always had plenty. Easy to grow and there’s always someone giving it away.

 

[SamV]

Thumbcocker, two thirty foot rows of zucchini would be more zucchini than I would ever want to have, and I like zucchini.
I just looked up the yield of zucchini plants. It is 6 to 10 pounds per plant. (Seems low to me!)
Spaced 3 feet apart, that is 11 plants for each row for a total of 22 plants. That would be 220 pounds of zucchini. That's a lot of squash to eat in one season. Half of that output would still be problematic.

 

[eveled]

I think it’s delmonte sells it in a can with tomato sauce. The flavors go well together makes me think my “purée and hide it in soup” idea would work well in a pot of sauce too.

 

[eveled]

A pot of sauce could easily take one puréed zuchini I bet you’d never notice it and it would cut the acid of the tomatos

 

[Gator89]

Someone told me when they lived in Florida if you went to the strip mall this time of year you had to lock your car or someone would give you a Zuchini!

I grew up calling them Italian Squash by the way. I’ve never planted any, but have always had plenty. Easy to grow and there’s always someone giving it away.

Having been raised in FL I can attest that the zukes were planted closest to the neighbor's fence and that the yellow crook neck squash was planted on the orher side of the garden behind the okra. This was done to trick the neighbors into stealing the zukes and leaving the crook necks for us to actually eat. Yellow crook neck squash sauteed with a couple slices of bacon and chopped onions is so good your tongue will beat your brains out.

 

[Thumbcocker]

Zucchini and okra would be a very effective barrier to keep me out of a place.

 

[exavid]

Go easy on okra. I don't like it much except fried. Fried okra is very good. It tastes a lot like fried clams which is one of my very favorite foods on this planet.

 

[Gator89]

Go easy on okra. I don't like it much except fried. Fried okra is very good. It tastes a lot like fried clams which is one of my very favorite foods on this planet.

Yep fried okra is delicious. Okra is also a welcome addition in vegetable soups and gumbos.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

Unfortunately I'm not much of a veggie eater at all. It's an embarrassment at times, but it is what it is.

 

[Gator89]

Zucchini can also be used to make a good relish. Yellow squash too!