Explosions of summer ZUCCHINI
As the deep summer heat settles in, something magical happens in backyard gardens.
Blink your eyes and those tiny blossoms are baseball bat-sized zucchini.
Zucchini are among the most versatile foods you can grow thanks to their wonderful neutral flavor and adaptable texture that can go in anything savory to sweet.
But if you’re like me, you tend to get stuck in that “bread it and bake” rut. So I asked folks to send me their favorite recipes.
Most of us think of zucchini as something we saute, fry or bake but it’s actually excellent raw. Maria Rodale — author of numerous books including 2010’s “Organic Manifesto” and 2016’s “Scratch,” former CEO and chair of Rodale Inc. and former co-chair of the Rodale Institute — emailed me with a great raw zucchini salad recipe that came out of a collaboration with her friend Kimbal Musk, chef and co-owner of The Kitchen in Boulder, Colorado.
Rodale writes: “When two good friends get together — one a gardener and the other a chef — magic happens. I, the gardener, brought my first zucchini, six squash blossoms and fresh purple and green basil from my garden. Kimbal
Musk, the chef and co-owner of The Kitchen in Boulder, Colorado, brought the creativity and the technique. The recipe was created on the spot and the salad was delicious.”
My favorite raw zucchini style is to spiralize it and add one of my favorite quick salad dressings by Food Network’s Alton Brown. First, you need a spiralizer, which is an inexpensive kitchen gadget with different blades. Once you have one, you’ll find yourself using it for all kinds of vegetables and fruits. Then put together Brown’s salad dressing recipe: ½ cup low-sodium soy sauce, ¼ cup rice wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons finely grated ginger, 2 tablespoons chopped green onion, 2 cloves garlic, minced, 2 teaspoons sugar and 1 teaspoon sesame oil.
Send me your favorite way to serve up your squash!
In search of crullers
OK Recipe Exchange readers: Here’s another one for you.
Joseph Brogan of Allentown wrote in looking for a recipe for crullers like those you can find at Mary Ann Donut Kitchen in Allentown. He’s a big fan. (Aren’t we all?)
“Hopefully, a reader will share their recipe and help me to make my own homemade crullers,” he writes.