Zucchini harvest

[sumi]

We have a few zucchini plants in the garden, just for fun, we thought we'd grow some veggies while we're waiting for our farm to sell.

What we didn't expect was that they'd started producing and producing and producing... I suspect all the rain we had recently might have something to do with this, because in the 7 years we've grown zuchs and other vegetables here I've never seen such a harvest.

These were picked from 4 plants two days ago (the ruler is 6 inches long):

I went and looked at the plants earlier today and found a bunch more ready for picking. The local butcher/general dealer in town said he will take some off our hands and see how they sell, but I am going to have to freeze quite a few of them by the looks of things. Not complaining though!

 

[digitS']

Yes, for me, it is especially important to have some way to sell zucchini. I've tried! I just don't like to eat it ...

Except, I like it one way. As zucchini bread! That freezes well. I finished a loaf yesterday, thought how good it was a wondered if there was anything special about our recipe.

I don't think so. It's simple. We have a friend who calls us almost every year so that he can get the recipe and make use of his girlfriend's extra zucchini. I see nothing about it that amounts to any cleverness. It is just that he, like so many people, likes zucchini bread.

I have a final pumpkin in the basement that I'd better bring up to determine if it's still good enough for Half Moon Bay pumpkin bread. That's a recipe easy to find that I can highly recommend!

Steve

 

[sumi]

We just sold nearly all of them Didn't get a great price, but it paid for the week's chick food, so it was a good swap.

One of our favourite ways to eat zucchini is like this:

1lb zucchini - grated and cooked
1/2 cup greenbeans, chopped and cooked (optional but very nice)
1 tin creamed sweetcorn
150ml self-raise flour
1 teaspoon thyme (fresh or dried)
5 large eggs
5 ounces cheddar cheese -grated
Salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven, 350' F

Mix all ingredients together in bowl, transfer to shallow oven proof dish and bake approx 1 hour or until cooked through.

Stick a knife/cake tester into the middle, if comes out almost clean, it's cooked.

For this recipe I grate and freeze zucchini when we have a glut of them, like now. It's a bit watery after the freeze, but I squeeze the excess out before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.

 

[digitS']

Wow!

Lots of eggs ... cheese ... maybe a good sharp cheddar ... I could get past the zucchini, probably only about 3 cups shredded ...

150ml flour is 2/3rds cup.

Steve

You sure this wouldn't be better with just julienned green beans ..?

 

[sumi]

With the sweet corn, cheese, eggs and thyme (which is amazing in it) you don't notice the zucchini so much. You can play around and add more beans, add garlic, use mixed herbs etc. We've experimented with this dish over the years, but the above version is our favourite.

I put mushrooms in once, but it wasn't nice.

 

[goatgurl]

@sumi, I'm guessing these are the plants in the containers? good deal! what did the little round squash grow up to be? and great that you were able to trade for chick feed.

 

[sumi]

@goatgurl No, the plants in the containers got bugged, badly. We moved the beans to the back garden and left the squash plants to the bugs. Due to MIL's health problems we avoid spraying anything on the farm, even in small amounts and two plants wasn't a huge loss?

These were picked from the plants we grew in the back garden, the traditional way.

 

[so lucky]

Does the flour in the recipe just thicken the juices, or does it make a "crust" like a bisquick quiche?

 

[sumi]

It's hard to explain, it kinda "dries" the mixture out a bit and helps hold it together? I bake it until it's browned on top, so makes a thin crust.

BTW If you don't have self-raise flour in the house, I found ordinary cake flour works if you mix in a teaspoon full of baking powder.

 

[journey11]

Zucchini candy? I meant to try it this past year and forgot.