Zucchini Recipes

[buyobuyo]

I was wondering if anyone has any good recipes that use zucchini. I'm growing my first garden this year, and I have 4 zucchini plants. I'm making this recipe (http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/stuffed_zucchini_with_turkey_sausage/) with my first two, and I have my mom's zucchini bread recipe. However, I think I'm going to need a few more recipes for all the zucchinis I've got on the plants right now, and they're still flowering.

[SciFiJim]

4 zucchini plants?:shock:
If you start giving them to neighbors, they will run from you by the end of the season.

Try pickling some.

Also good, fresh tomatoes and cut up zucchini in a skillet with a little salt and stew in their own juice until tender makes an excellent side dish.

[Longwood]

Now and then, let one get big enough to slice lengthwise for the chickens.
The blossoms are good dipped in batter and fried.

[Reg]

Ours are just starting to stick out of the ground--- cant wait. Pop them off the vines at not more than 7 or 8 inches, slice thin and stir fry with Anaheim and jalapeno peppers for a great breakfast. Serve with English muffins and a good cappuccino. Thats how to start any day !!!!!

[smilie=w:

[waksupi]

Did you check local ordinances? In this county, it is illegal for more then one person to grow a zucchini plant, and if they are found leaving them on doorsteps, or in vehicles, there is a $10,000 fine, and two years in the state prison. :kidding:

Pick a bunch when small, and treat them like pickles.

[altheating]

I make a Zucchini Crisp. Just like Apple Crisp but with zucchini. I find it much easier than pealing all those apples.

[buyobuyo]

Haha. Thanks for the ideas so far. Like I mentioned, this is my first garden, so I just planted what I thought sounded good. I've got zucchinis, roma tomatoes, watermelons, corn, and two different chili peppers. I probably planted more of everything than what I'll be able to eat, but I figured that I'll try my hand at canning.



Pick a bunch when small, and treat them like pickles.

Waksupi how small for the pickling? Do you have a good recipe or website you can point me to?


I make a Zucchini Crisp. Just like Apple Crisp but with zucchini. I find it much easier than pealing all those apples.

Would you mind posting or PMing me the recipe? I'm willing to try most things at least once.

[waksupi]

For pickling, you can do whole or sliced. I don't really use a recipe for pickling anymore. I heat the vinegar and pickling spices together, and add either surgar, or dill, until I like the taste. I'm sure you can find lots of specific recipes with a bit of google fo.

[hoosierlogger]

You are going to have way too many. You had better find a recipe you like and eat alot. With 4 plants you will most likely get 5 or 6 zucchini a day.

I like to take them about 6 or 7" long ones, slice them in half length wise. score the meat with a knife being careful not to cut through the skin. apply a liberal coat of butter and sprinkle with Lawerys seasoning salt. Wrap them in aluminum foil and gook on the grill on low for about a half an hour turning once. It will be so tender and juicy.

[Rick N Bama]

I plant one just to torment my neighbors:)

If you will allow some to reach maturity you'll have some fine bidegradable targets.

Rick

[Tom-ADC]

We did that one year and ended up buying a cook book from Gardens Way's Zucchini Cookbook by Nancy C Ralston & Marynor Jordan.

[Longwood]

If you keep picking them young, they will keep producing.
I feed some to the chickens and compost what I don't use too keep more coming.
Tempura squash and blossoms is big bucks at fancy Asian food joints.

[Longwood]

I plant one just to torment my neighbors:)

If you will allow some to reach maturity you'll have some fine bidegradable targets.

Rick

In SW Oregon, our mature zucchini, were too big to pick up.

[Longwood]

If you have too many plants,,,:shock: you might do like we did one year.
Grow only one large squash on one plant to impress the kids and neighbors.
Keep picking off the blossoms on that plant so it only grow one big squash.
They eventually yellow when they mature but if you lightly fertilize it and give it plenty of water,,,, the one squash could get as long as four or five feet and a foot in diameter before it starts changing color.

[Marvin S]

There should be my white guy stir fry in this forum.

[gbrown]

Zuchinni Boats. Slice 4 large zuchinni in half and parboil (5 minutes) or bake (10 minutes). Scrape meat/seeds out with tablespoon. Save the hulls. Brown some ground meat--beef, pork, chicken or venison. Add chopped onions, bell peppers, garlic, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste and cook until vegies are soft. Spice up with jalapenos, cayennes or anything else you like. Add zuchinni meat and mix all this with toasted bread crumbs or croutons and an egg. Stuff the zuchinni hulls with this and then top with shredded cheese. Bake for about 25 minutes. Enjoy!! Salad, garlic toast and this is a fantastic meal! Serves 4 adults with hearty appetites.

[Tom-ADC]

BTW the zucchini recipe cookbook is available on Amazon.

[buyobuyo]

Thanks again for all the idea. I printed out a few recipes that I found online that I'll give a try when some more are ready to pick.

I had 4-5 small zucchini's shrivel up on me, and I found/killed 3 squash beetles last night. Went through all the plants this morning, and I found/smashed 3-4 egg clusters, so I'm on the look out for them now. I'll have to resort to poisoning them if I find many more.

[Longwood]

Thanks again for all the idea. I printed out a few recipes that I found online that I'll give a try when some more are ready to pick.

I had 4-5 small zucchini's shrivel up on me, and I found/killed 3 squash beetles last night. Went through all the plants this morning, and I found/smashed 3-4 egg clusters, so I'm on the look out for them now. I'll have to resort to poisoning them if I find many more.

There are ways to deal with many pests that do not use poison.
One good tip is for pill (sow) bugs.
Plant red solo cups dirt level deep in the garden and put small bits of rotting veggies in each one.
I lived where they were plentiful and the chickens loved me feeding them the bugs each morning.
Dietomatious (sp) earth will probably take care of the beatles.

[buyobuyo]

Nothing around here to feed them to. One tip I read about was putting down a piece of board near the plants, and they'll take shelter there overnight. Then you just flip the board over in the morning and kill them all, so I'm giving that I try right now.

I've noticed a number of pill bugs have moved in since I started the garden.

[Longwood]

Nothing around here to feed them to. One tip I read about was putting down a piece of board near the plants, and they'll take shelter there overnight. Then you just flip the board over in the morning and kill them all, so I'm giving that I try right now.

I've noticed a number of pill bugs have moved in since I started the garden.

The boards will work too. Especially if you put some food under it that rots quick for them. If you try the cups, put two nested together in each hole so you can empty the top one without the hole filling in with dirt.
Cut worms will move in fast also.
A tuna can or Solo cup with the ends cut out buried about 3/4" deep around new seedlings will protect from the worms.
Slugs and snails dislike diatomatious earth also and it is cheap and goes far.
Walmart has it for swimming pools.

My problem is borrowing critters that eat the main stems just below the surface.
How sickening to see about a bushel of leaves and small squash shrivel and die because of one little critter meal. Three days, three nice plants with numerous squash, killed.

[WILCO]

Great thread with lots of good ideas.

[Reg]

Four plants, way too many, We only plant two each year and have found out that most folks who come out to visit tend to lock their car doors and keep their windows rolled up. Of course we are also blessed with a overabundance of kittens right now as well.

:bigsmyl2:

[dale2242]

GRILL IT.
Pick your squash when they are 9"-10"' long
Slice them lenghwise in 1/4" strips.
Place them in a 1 gallon Zip-lock bag with Italian seasoning, ground garlic, and enough olive oil, to get the seasoning and garlic to stick to the squash.
Let them marinade for a few hours.
Cook on the grill, adding seasoned salt to taste.
Goes well with any grilled meat.....dale

[VA Shooter]

Does that board trick work for tater beetles too

[gon2shoot]

Wife just made a bunch of zuchinni cake ( like banna bread), with pecans and warmed up with butter on it, great.

[dale2242]

OK, i`m with gon2shoot.
Zuchini bread is another of my favs.
Wife makes killer zuchini bread.

4 eggs 1C oil
3 tsp vanilla 1 tbl bk. soda
2 1/4 C sugar 1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinn. 2 C grated zukes
3 C flour 1 C chopped nuts
1/4 tsp bk. pdr.

Beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, vanilla and oil. Blend, stir in squash.
Sift together flour, bk pdr, soda, salt and cinn.
Blend with creamed mixture. Fold in nuts.
Place in 2 greased and floured 9X5 loaf pans.
Bake at 350 for 1 hr.
Walnuts or Pecans are my favorite nuts.....dale

[buyobuyo]

Trying a recipe for zucchini fritters tonight to go along with a beer can chicken I have on the grill right now.

If things continue at the current pace, I won't have to worry about being over run with zucchini. It looks like I have the squash beetles taken care of with an application of sevin dust. Now I just have to work on the lack of pollination. I'm getting more zucchini's that end rot and shrivel up on the plant than not. I turned up the watering which seems to have taken care of the yellowing leaves and fruit.

[catmandu]

Seeing as there are soo many Zukes this year. We like to make this.

Ravioli & Zucchini Lasagna
- 6 Servings
Total Time:40 min

INGREDIENTS
2 medium zucchini (about 1 pound total), cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 package (26 ounces) frozen large cheese ravioli
3 teaspoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
8 ounces lean ground beef (90% fat free)
1 jar (26 ounces) tomato-basil sauce
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheet with paper towels. Grease 2-quart ceramic baking dish.
2. Heat large covered saucepot of water to boiling over high heat. Add zucchini and cook 5 minutes. With tongs or slotted spoon, remove zucchini to prepared cookie sheet to drain. Return water to boiling. Add ravioli and cook until ravioli rise to the top.
3. Meanwhile, in 3-quart saucepan, heat 2 teaspoons oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until tender and lightly browned; transfer to small bowl. In same saucepan, in remaining 1 teaspoon oil, cook beef over medium-high heat 3 to 4 minutes or until browned, breaking up beef with side of spoon. Stir in tomato sauce and onion; heat to boiling.
4. Drain ravioli; return to saucepot. Add meat sauce to ravioli in saucepot and stir until combined.
5. In prepared baking dish, arrange half of zucchini; top with half of ravioli, then half of mozzarella and half of Parmesan. Repeat layering all ingredients. Bake 20 minutes or until hot in the center and golden and bubbly on top.

Not that hard once you do it.

Paul in WNY

[buyobuyo]

That sounds tasty. If I get more zucchini, I'll give it a try. I'm down to one plant, and it's in sad shape. My neighbor let her squash get decimated by the squash bugs. Then they came after mine, and I couldn't keep up with it fast enough to save my other two plants.

The fritter recipe I mentioned in my last post came out good. It can be found here: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/zucchini_fritters/

[foxhole]

sliced thin and fried up like tater chips,very good

[pmeisel]

I like them cut up, and used to make a zucchini lasagna, sort of... just sub zucchini for the pasta.

Or, split and baked with cheese and seasoning on top.

[Jim]

slice zucchini lengthwise. steam until tender. scrape out flesh into a bowl. add some finely diced onion, breadcrumbs, an egg, salt and pepper and whatever other spices you like and some shredded cheese. Mix until is like a thick paste. if too runny, add more breadcrumbs. Spoon mixture into hollowed out zucchini shells, top with more cheese. Bake 350 until bubbly. you could also add some cooked sausage or finely chopped nuts to the mixture as well.
from Jim's wife. (sorry cant be more specific with quantities -it all kind of depends on how much zucchini flesh you end up with)

[clodhopper]

Scrambled zucchini
Launch large diameter flat nose bullet @ 1800 FPS
Enjoy!
Check area next year with hoe in hand to make sure infestation is under control.

[.30/30 Guy]

I'm thinking that the big ones at 100 yards and smaller ones at 50 yards!

[Shiloh]

Slice to 1/4-3/8 strips. Paint with olive oil and season with garlic and salt. Grill.

Shiloh