Well, the day has come. I’m going to eat zucchini, a vegetable I swore I’d never eat again, after growing up having it with nearly every dinner in the summertime. I just don’t get why people like it - it’s mushy, it’s tasteless, it’s watery. You have to jump through hoops to make it taste good, adding all kinds of other things until it doesn’t even resemble its original form. You can’t just roast it in olive oil and salt, like you can do with so many other vegetables, and have it taste good.
But, dang it, my students planted a bunch of it in the Environmental Center garden at Merritt, and I must admit it’s a lovely plant, with those enormous green leaves and bee-friendly yellow blossoms. It grows fast, it grows big, it shades the soil and keeps out weeds while retaining moisture in the soil, and by golly it makes the garden look professional and productive. I’ve been delighted with its appearance and growing habit, but also eyeing it with a certain amount of dread, knowing that the day would come when the plants would finally put out fruit, and then I’d have to face it.
Today is that day.
I can’t waste them - the zucchini must be eaten! This presents me with a challenge: Find the most delicious recipe for zucchini; or, if that sounds too lofty a goal, find a merely acceptable one. So my friends, I throw it out to you. I am asking for your favorite recipes for this questionable vegetable, especially since I know this is just the beginning of the (long, long, long) harvest season. Please post your recipes below, and I guarantee I will try them all.
Tonight, I think I will make lentil-zucchini fritters, to go with the Middle-Eastern meal that Adam is cooking for us. If they taste terrible, I at least can smother them in tzatziki!
*P/S: I found this hilarious article from Bon Appetit about zucchini. I guess I’m not the only person in the world who finds this vegetable disgusting.
*P/P/S: The fritters were freaking delicious. I didn’t make the sauce because we had leftover tzatziki. Definitely a winner recipe, thanks Barbara!