LAKE MACBRIDE— More has been written here about zucchini than any vegetable of late. In an effort to figure out more ways to prepare and preserve it, I posted a note on Facebook. It proved to be beneficial.
Not only did I receive good suggestions on how to prepare the vegetable, several ways to dispose of excess were identified. This is an inherent part of a local food system— social networking to resolve issues like an abundance of zucchini.
It’s not that I have been short of recipes, I haven’t. So far, I have prepared crudites, toppings for salads, soup, zucchini fries, baked zucchini, a squash casserole, zucchini lasagna, mandolin sliced zucchini pasta, and as soon as there is eggplant, the classic zucchini dish— ratatouille.
There were new ideas for cooking. A friend wrote, “Oh and re. Zucchini— they’re never to big to stuff! That’s what we do. Cut in half length wise, core out the seeds. In the depression add your favorite things For us that’s lots of walnuts, mushrooms, celery, rice? and what ever else you have laying around— almost anything can make for a fine stuffing. Use favorite spices. Melt Cheese on Top. Enjoy again, and again.”
Here are other preparation suggestions:
“Sausage stuffed zucchini boats & zucchini fries.”
“A friend had a pretty good recipe for “mock apple pie” that was made with zucchini and a lot of cinnamon.”
“Sliced in half with some olive oil and garlic salt, then grilled. We’re also big fans of zucchini bread.”
“I just shared a thing about oven baked zucchini chips. never heard of them done that way before myself, but could be worth a try.”
What else to do with excess? There were people that wanted some to eat. Also here are some comments:
“Chop them up and feed it to the chickens. They love zucchini.”
“right to the compost”
“Sounds like you have the basis for a cottage industry… upgrade the packaging and sell frozen zucchini for those of us who aren’t in a position to have any in our own freezers!”
“Contact the veterans shelter house in Cedar Rapids, … they have storage and will distribute green grocery items to their homeless veterans.”
…and there is my favorite, trade zucchini as chicken feed for farmer’s eggs.
As we savor the most recent pick of zucchini, we’re far from exhausting the possibilities. And thanks to social networking, we’re better together.
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