Greetings and welcome to this week’s zucchini extravaganza. These gourds have been featured heavily in my weekly CSA (community-supported agriculture) shares recently, and I’m sure I’m not the only one desperate eager to tastily work through them. Thankfully, zucchini recipes seem to be just as plentiful as the fruits themselves, so here are some of my favorites.
For as long as I’ve followed David Lebovitz and appreciated his work, this Zucchini Cake with Crunchy Lemon Glaze (adapted from a recipe in Gina DePalma’s book, Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen) is admittedly the first recipe of his I’ve ever really tried. It certainly won’t be the last though as this cake was truly splendid.
The cake itself is desirably moist throughout, well-spiced, and features three noteworthy enhancements: toasted, finely chopped nuts (I used almonds), olive oil, and its namesake crunchy lemon glaze. The zucchini is visible, but as in many zucchini desserts, it’s hardly detectable on the palate. The texture of the nuts and moist cake itself, as well as the burst of tart lemon and infusion of toasted almond, warm spices, and green olive oil all ensure your mouth is never bored.
I like to find every possible excuse to eat pancakes, and a glut of zucchini is as good a reason as any in my book. These Chinese Zucchini Pancakes from Judy at The Woks of Life caught my eye because of how simple and zucchini-focused they seemed. So often I feel like zucchini pancake recipes are centered more on cheese than zucchini, and inevitably end up just tasting like cheese. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but I appreciated the unique nature of these more delicately flavored pancakes.
These were more tender than I was expecting after the chewy references in the blog post. Thankfully that had the effect of making them very appealing to my 2-year-old son who got very into eating pancakes for dinner. I also enjoyed their tenderness and accompanying bit of fluff, and I savored the mellow note of sesame (from the seeds and the oil) that permeated each bite. It made them just flavorful enough to stand on their own without a dipping sauce or condiment. Of course I did use my pancakes to sop up all the juices on my plate.
Speaking of those juices, they came from this marinated zucchini recipe from the Canal House cookbook series (volume 8, Pronto). As one of Kristen Miglore’s Genius Recipes for Food52, this recipe has a lot going for it, including the fact that you can make it in 15 minutes pretty much as far ahead of when you want to serve it as you’d like (within reason). However, one downside of this recipe that’s worth noting is that a lot of hot oil splattering happens as the zucchini is cooking. That’s a minor hassle/hazard that could be mitigated with a taller sided pan, which I recommend for safety for you and those around you.
Despite the splattering, I really liked how perfectly cooked the zucchini turned out — tender with still a bit of crunch — and the added flavor from the caramelization on the outside. The marinade/vinaigrette is just acidic enough to infuse the zucchini without pulling it into pickle territory.
I did edit the recipe just a little since a single zucchini for me amounted to the full 1/2 pound required for the recipe (I’m not sure any of us outside the restaurant world at this time of year could actually get our hands on the very small zucchini they recommend in the recipe). I simply cut my medium-large zucchini diagonally into 1/2” to 3/4”-thick slabs and proceeded with the recipe that way. I also opted to transfer my cooked zucchini and marinade to a jar from the shallow dish I used per the recipe instructions. It seemed like an easier way to store the zucchini. Plus I felt like it helped fully cover the zucchini in the marinade instead of just partially.
My last recipe for you today comes with some modification, though, like many pasta recipes, I feel it’s well suited for adaptations. The dinner hour in our house tends to be a little, well, intense. Often it’s a race against “hangry” bellies to prepare some semblance of a meal (surely we’re not alone?), and I have yet to figure out a way around the frenzy. In any case, this Creamy Zucchini Pasta by Natalie and Holly at The Modern Proper was just a little too much process than I could manage one night this week, so I cut some corners to make it work for us.
Even with my work-arounds, the dish did come out creamy, and the flavors were beautifully clean and simple. Rather than dice, I grated my zucchini to make the cooking process go a little more quickly. And instead of cooling then puréeing the sauce in a blender, I opted to give it a quick blitz in the pan with my immersion blender just after I pulled it off the heat. That resulted in (again) some splattering of hot liquids and a chunkier sauce than the recipe developers probably intended, but it was a sauce nonetheless.
All told, I maybe cut down on 5 minutes of the preparation and cooking time — I don’t think the cooking timing of this recipe accounts for the time needed to boil water for pasta unless you’re very strategic with your timing — which proved to be not enough of a time saver for us on that particular night. The pasta wound up thrown from my son’s bowl to the floor (making the dog quite happy) in a matter of seconds after he was served. Oh well, at least it wasn’t at all predictable…
Thanks for reading this week’s edition of Friday Food Finds. I really do appreciate this little community we have here so much. If you know of others who would like it too, please don’t hesitate to share Balanced Diet with them. And please keep the recipe recommendations coming either in the comments or by responding directly to my newsletter. I read them and try to respond to all of them as quickly as possible.
Best,
Charlotte