Garden Harvest: Recipes to Use Up Zucchini

(Lots and lots of zucchini)

Perhaps you, like me, have a zucchini plant in the garden, and every week you think hopefully to yourself "Maybe it's stopped producing now, or maybe it's died!" Only to go out and find ten more zucchinis on it. This post is for you.

Tip Number 1: Don't go on vacation and let your zucchini grow to the size of a human infant

Congratulations!

Tip Number 2: Make friends who like zucchini and won't mind you dumping it on their porch

If after that, you still have more zucchini than you know what to do with, these recipes will help you out. I made a lot (a lot) of zucchini recipes this summer, and these are the best of the best. Normally I share three recipes to use up produce. Zucchini requires a lot more.

Zucchini Fried Rice: This one might be my very favorite (because it also uses the abundance of cherry tomatoes we had at the same time). If you, like me, didn't have leftover cooked rice on hand, fear not, the Serious Eats food lab explains how fresh cooked rice can be just as good.

Lentils with Zucchini and Burrata- ok, this might also be my favorite, or a close second only because it takes a little longer. If you do the whole basil vinaigrette thing it can get a little long and fussy, but you can just do a red wine vinaigrette and sprinkle some basil over the top.

Zucchini Bread Pancakes: These are amazing, and not high in fat or sugar. I used half whole wheat, and next time I plan to try spelt or barley flour. Barley flour is a little bit sweet, so I think it would be amazing in these pancakes. I made a double batch of these and froze a lot of them. Just freeze the pancakes spread out on a baking sheet so they don't freeze into one giant pancake, then throw in a gallon bag. If you don' have room to freeze them spread out, you can stack and freeze in a container, just separate each with a square of parchment paper. 

Zucchini Farro Cakes: Zucchini fritters are a pretty common way to use up zucchini, and these are a nice twist on them, adding nutty, chewy farro. You can top them with other sauces if you don't have goat cheese or cherry tomatoes, but it's a delicious pairing. 

Squachos: this was such a delicious, easy side dish! We did it with a mix of zucchini and summer squash, but it could be all of one or the other. I was skeptical the panko would be enough crunch, but it totally was.  

Ball Canning: I made the Zucchini Bread Jam, which is good, mostly tastes like apple cinnamon, and the Confetti Pickles using lots of zucchini, and both were great! Plus preserving zucchini means you don't have to eat it right now.

Freezing zucchini: Zucchini doesn't freeze super well in chunks because of the water content; when it thaws it's somewhat mushy. I did freeze some in chunks for things like soup or curries. It does freeze really well shredded! Freeze in portions already measured for your favorite zucchini bread recipes (or the zucchini bread pancakes above!) 

Garlic Explosion Zucchini Pasta: This is the first recipe I made up on the fly in college, and I still make it. It's so easy, so tasty, and you can pack lots of veggies in. You could use lots of other veggies in it, but it's a great way to use up a lot of zucchini.

Geoff was out of town, so I made enough for dinner and lunch the next day for one person (on that note, this is a good meal for when you won't be kissing anyone), but just double or quadruple the recipe to feed more people.

Ingredients

4 oz pasta (I usually use whole wheat fusilli)

3 gloves of garlic

1 small or half a medium zucchini

Olive oil

Shallot or onion (optional)

Pecorino cheese (I forgot to include it in the photo of ingredients! I suppose it's optional if you're lactose intolerant, but then really, what's the point of pasta?)

1. Put a large pot of water on high to bring to a boil. Slice zucchini into half moons (or if larger zucchini, quarter moons) about 1/8 inch thick, and finely dice shallot if using

2. Heat a skillet over medium high, add two tablespoons of olive oil, then add zucchini and shallot. Season with a very small amount of salt (you'll be adding more later) and pepper. Add pasta to water when boiling and cook until slightly al dente.

3. Mince two large cloves of garlic and add to skillet with zucchini. Take one large or two small cloves of garlic, mince, then sprinkle with fine salt. Angling knife so it's almost parallel to cutting board, go over clove pressing with the sharp edge and flat side of the knife, using the salt to grind it into a paste.

4. Drain pasta, reserving about half a cup of pasta water, and add zucchini mixture to same pot.

5. Add pasta back to pot, along with garlic clove ground with salt, and some grated pecorino, if using. Add a small amount of pasta water and stir to melt cheese and coat pasta. Continue adding cheese and pasta water until sauce has the consistency you like (an extra drizzle of olive oil helps too). Grate more cheese on top when serving (obviously) and enjoy!