"stuffed zucchini" news and stories

Zucchini Madness, Day Two, finds our old friends scooped out into boats, which the zucchini seems built for. They make the ideal edible longboat bowl.

You can stuff these big boys with a simple sauté of the zucchini flesh, onions and garlic, and top them with bread crumbs and bake; add a little cheese and herbs, as in this recipe, or, as blogger adashofsass does, above, load them up with a spicy turkey-and-black-bean chili and cheese combo, for a southwestern flavor. (See the recipe here.)

Run out of ideas for the bushels of zucchini you may be harvesting or find at the market right now? Browse these zucchini recipes from Kitchen Daily, for frittatas, pancakes, breads, salads and a whole lot more.

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This short, squat version of the zucchini gives the long, slender varieties a run for their money. In making self-contained little bowls, they're easy to serve, especially when they're stuffed with sausage, basil and tender zucchini flesh, as blogger Stef Noble has done in her simple recipe. A French round variety called Rond de Nice is palest green and Eight Ball (which I suspect this one is) is deep green with lighter flecks. Whether it also doubles as a forecaster for your future is anyone's guess.

In August you may not think so, because it's everywhere all the time, but zucchini fits in at almost any party. It's so mild that it blends easily when you want to add texture, color and fresh flavor to a dish, such as this recipe for frittata with feta and grape tomatoes.

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Several weeks ago now, I posted my mom's recipe for Stuffed Zucchini. It's such a tasty way to handle extra-large squashes that I never pondered any alternate zuck-stuffing possibilities. Thankfully though, The Urban Vegan has opened my eyes with a list of "50 Ways to Stuff Zucchini" (she offers apologies to Paul Simon for the appropriation), and now I'm contemplating attempting to get my hands on another giant zucchini in order to try one or two of her suggestions. I'm especially intrigued by number 42, which suggests that you use the halved zucchini as an edible pan for cornbread. That makes me wonder how interesting and crazy it might to cook zucchini bread IN an emptied out zucchini half. Oh, the possibilities!

Walking through the farmers market today, I spotted an unusual basket of goods. One of the local farms had brought a bushel of their oversized zucchini and were selling them for $.75 a pound. Most of the time at the farmers market, they bring moderately sized, nearly perfect veggies, so it was a treat to stumble over the kind of hefty zucchini that you typically only find in backyard gardens. The one I selected was just over three pounds. I brought it home and stuffed it according to my mom's recipe. It was delicious and took me straight back to childhood.

photo by Marisa McClellan

Yesterday afternoon, I was talking to my mom on the phone as she wandered around her vegetable garden. As we chatted, she discovered a hidden zucchini, tucked behind a pumpkin leaf, that had grown to the size of an adult cat. We quickly decided that this was a stuffer, not a steamer.

Since I live so far away from my parents, I won't be able to get a taste of that stuffed zucchini. However, I do have the next best thing, which is my mom's recipe for it, which she has fine-tuned over the years as a delicious and sure-fire way of utilizing giant zucchini. Full instructions, after the jump.

Photo via Cookthinker