Zucchini discovery

You may all already have realized this--at times, I'm a tad slow. We sliced, breaded and fried zucchini slices last week and they were so wet the breading didn't really stick. Today, I sliced it, let it dry for a few hours, floured then egged then breaded and fried it and it worked wonderfully! I wish I had thought of this when I breaded and fried two HUGE batches last week and the week before. Ah well. Better late than never.

Laurie

Next you should try zucchini chips, yum yum! Thanks for sharing!

I always peel mine and slice before starting to cook, dip in egg , then bread with Martha White buttermilk cornbread mix(dry) then fry, or freeze single layer, til frozen. Do you peel yours? Mine does not seem wet, maybe it's the breading, it has flour in it.

You ought to try sliced zucchini grilled, just some pam to keep it from sticking, very good!

Jo

Jo, this year, I had 15 zucchini plants! Something ate the original six I grew from seed and my DH purchased another six. However, the originals re-grew. Plus there were volunteers from my compost that I saved three and planted. No, I'm not totally nuts; we love the flowers and the more plants there are, the more flowers there are. We didn't weigh the zucchini we harvested but it's probably close to 200 pounds! I think there is not a way to prep zucchini that I haven't tried! I love it grilled, sometimes we prep it with only olive oil, salt and pepper. Other times, we sprinkle it with Emeril's essence.

More power to ya'll! I cannot imagine all those plants!
Jo

Wow that's awesome, what a harvest of zucchini this year! I hope someday I will have harvests like that! One of my new found ways to eat zukes are grilled with potatoes, turnips, and kohlrabi seasoned with fresh dill, yum yum. I do par cook them first though.

15 plants??? I would love to see a photo of all those zucchini plants, NYC. Is that possible?

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:15 plants??? I would love to see a photo of all those zucchini plants, NYC. Is that possible?

CC

CC, I am trying. I am not the photographer or computer person in my family--a technoincompetent is a better description. I don't have the zucchini or gourds or pumpkins planted in my SFG. The deer, for the most part, leave them alone. I have one bed with 6 and 3 pumpkins. I also have three planted in the back of a flower bed. Then, another one is near the zucc bed. The others are in an empty bed close to the SFG.

Laurie

To nycquilter
I wasn't sure what you meant by you like the blooms--if you just liked to see them or eat them. Squash blossoms are edible and great fried. You can use the male blossoms and if you don't use all of them, the female blossoms will still produce squash. I love doing things with edible flowers and seeing and hearing the reactions of people.

Sandy, I meant eat them. Never occurred to me to state it overtly. Doesn't everyone read my intentions??

I've stuffed them with many things, fried them after breading, fried them after dipping in beer batter. I've used them in a risotto. I've sauteed them plain! I also have used the male flowers of pumpkin and other winter squashes.

Just had squash blossom soup for the first time. YUM!!!

GG

oooh, ooooh, Goosegirl, please, please give us the recipe for squash blossom soup! We're still getting some blossoms, and we hate to waste them. Nonna

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:oooh, ooooh, Goosegirl, please, please give us the recipe for squash blossom soup! We're still getting some blossoms, and we hate to waste them. Nonna

I will see if I can get it! A friend made it for a congregation lunch with squash and blossoms out of her garden. It was divine!

GG

We've mostly had squash blossoms stuffed with a soft seasoned cheese, then rolled in an egg wash and Panko crumbs, then fried. The recipe I used said to leave about 5 inches of stem, so I did. Result when I laid them out on the paper towels looked very like a row of crispy fried mice, tails sticking out behind them. PapaVino since then frequently asks if we're going to have more "fried mice." Nonna

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:We've mostly had squash blossoms stuffed with a soft seasoned cheese, then rolled in an egg wash and Panko crumbs, then fried. The recipe I used said to leave about 5 inches of stem, so I did. Result when I laid them out on the paper towels looked very like a row of crispy fried mice, tails sticking out behind them. PapaVino since then frequently asks if we're going to have more "fried mice." Nonna

I have put in the request for the soup recipe.

GG

Thanks, Goosegirl, I'll watch for it. Nonna

Nonna - Here it is. It was FABULOUS!!!

GG


GOLDEN SQUASH BLOSSOM CREMA

Ingredients:
1-1/2 Tbs. butter
1 large white onion, chopped into
1/4-in. dice
3 cups good chicken broth
1 small boiling potato, peeled and roughly chopped
25 large, fresh squash blossoms (3-in. to 4-in. male blossoms)
2 poblano chiles
1 cup milk
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1?4-in. pieces
Kernels from 1 large ear of corn
1/2 cup heavy cream or crème fraÎche
1-1/2 tsp. salt
*Epazote or parsley for garnish
6 servings

In a medium (4-qt.) soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly brown, about 5 min. Scoop out half of the onion and set aside. Add the broth and potato, partially cover, and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 min.

While the broth is simmering, prepare the squash blossoms. Peel off the sepals that come out from the base of the blossoms. Break off the stems. Remove the stamen in the center of each flower and discard. Cut the blossoms crosswise into 1⁄4-in. strips, including the bulbous base.

Add half the blossoms to the broth and simmer 3 min. In a food processor or in batches in a blender, purée the mixture and return it to the pot.

Roast the chiles directly over a gas flame, or on a medium-hot gas grill, or 4 in. below a very hot broiler. Turn occasionally until blistered and blackened on all sides, 4 to 6 min. for the flame or grill, about 10 min. for the broiler. Cover with a kitchen towel and let stand about 5 min. Peel off the charred skin, cut out the seed pod, then quickly rinse to remove straggling bits of skin and seeds. Cut into 1⁄4-in. dice.

Add the chiles to the soup along with the milk and reserved onion; bring to a simmer and cook for 10 min. Add the zucchini and corn, simmer a couple of minutes, then add the remaining squash blossoms. Simmer a couple of minutes longer (the strips of blossom will soften into deep-golden “streamers”). Remove from heat, stir in the cream, taste, and season with salt. Serve in warm bowls garnished with epazote or parsley.

*Epazote (Chenopodium ambrosioides) is a prolific annual that hardly needs encouragement in the garden. It has an assertive pungency well suited for pairing with beans. Epazote is considered—especially in parts of the world where bean consumption is low—to be an antiflatulent. North of the border, epazote is found less in food but often sprouting as a “weed” in the garden. Epazote lends authenticity to Mexican dishes. If it’s not growing in your garden, look for it in Mexican markets. And don’t worry if it’s slightly wilted; it’ll still do its job.

Recipe by Rick Bayless

Wow, Goosegirl, that's not just a recipe, it's a whole meal! Can't wait to try it. Will start scavaging the blossoms this morning. Think I have just about everything else. (my epazote, however, is the dried variety) Looks like a big pot of soup, have you ever frozen some?

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:Wow, Goosegirl, that's not just a recipe, it's a whole meal! Can't wait to try it. Will start scavaging the blossoms this morning. Think I have just about everything else. (my epazote, however, is the dried variety) Looks like a big pot of soup, have you ever frozen some?

There wasn't enough left to freeze, and my friend made a triple batch! She sent me a whole list of squash recipes she collected to try from her garden this year. There was even one for stuffed & battered blossoms (Fried Mice! )

GG

My 9-year-old twin grandkids are totally intrigued and repelled at the picture of the "fried mice" I showed them. But they had no difficulty understanding that PapaVino LIKED them! Carson muttered, "yeah, he eats anything."

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:My 9-year-old twin grandkids are totally intrigued and repelled at the picture of the "fried mice" I showed them. But they had no difficulty understanding that PapaVino LIKED them! Carson muttered, "yeah, he eats anything."

Well, I'm quite envious reading all these posts about bumper zucchini crops! I have tried 3 years running and have eaten a total of ONE zucchini Either powdery mildew or grasshoppers the size of small rats or raccoons or something destroys my plants!! I just planted two squares of zuke and yellow squash which were growing beautifully and when I went out......they had been reduced to some sticks poking out of the MM. Pretty sure it's squirrels. I planted a surinam cherry plant in the backyard and they dug it up three times! There's one that hangs on my screen porch and I could swear he's laughing at me.....

ksbmom, I had some success with raiding chipmunks by sprinkling cayenne pepper around the area they were digging into. Yes, you have to reapply it after a rain, but the resident 'munks soon learned to avoid the veggies that bit back. A restaurant supply house can sell you large containers of hot pepper at a very reasonable price.

Thanks for the cayenne pepper tip Nonna.PappaVino! My hubby grows hot peppers and makes his own cayenne - just opening the jar makes me cough and sputter! I'll bet it would do the same to those little marauders!

Good luck! Somewhere is written that a deterent for aphids can be made from cayenne pepper flour and garlic juice, though I've not tried it. Perhaps others on the Forum have? I have had success using hot pepper and garlic in a flower bed in front of the house to keep deer from noshing on tulips in spring. Nonna