Chief Jim Horvath, who gardens and loves to cook, told me he can’t grow the popular summer squash, so understanding friends bring him some each year.
Can’t grow a zucchini? I was surprised because it’s the one plant that seems to flourish no matter where I stick it – the front of the house in the flower beds, in a large pot on the back deck, my vegetable garden. I haven’t tried it, but I’ve heard you can even grow zucchini indoors if there’s enough light.
The squash is so prolific that stories abound of small towns where, if you don’t roll up the windows to your parked car, you’ll return to find the back seat full of zucchini.
But a check of a website on growing the Italian squash reveals that the loss of pollinating insects may be a contributing factor in the inability to grow zucchini. One website suggested taking a small artist’s brush and brushing the inside of the flowers to pollinate them, repeating the process until you see fruit form.
Happily, Horvath does know how to cook the vegetable, and here’s one of his favorites recipes with a variation, plus a couple of mine:
In a pan, brown sausage and onions. Place the sausage-onion mixture in the zucchini “boat” and cover with spaghetti or pizza sauce. Top with provolone or mozzarella cheese. Bake until the cheese melts.
This same recipe can be used by substituting a prepared stuffing mix topped with cream of chicken soup in the zucchini shell and heating through.
Zucchini Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 medium zucchini
- 1/2 pound American or provolone cheese
- 2 large onions
- 1 large green pepper thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 small can tomato sauce
- Parmesan cheese
- Basil
Steam unpeeled zucchini in water until tender. In a pan, sauté green pepper and onion in butter until tender. Combine all the vegetables into a shallow baking dish and add chunks of cheese. Pour a small tomato sauce over the mixture, top with basil and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly.
Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup salad oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 cups grated, raw zucchini
- 1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips or nuts
Combine eggs, sugar, salad oil and vanilla. Sift in flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder. Add zucchini and chocolate chips or nuts.
Pour into two greased bread pans. Bake 1 hour at 325 degrees.
