This time of year I’m reminded of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegone tale. There’s so much late-summer zucchini in this small town that, under cover of night, people are surreptitiously leaving big paper bags of it on people’s porches. You walk out to get the paper in the morning—and you’ve been zucchini-ed.
Sometimes I get the feeling this must be happening to me; there’s just too much of the stuff lying around. A couple of weeks ago someone wrote on our Facebook wall, “Got any ideas of what to do with zucchini besides zucchini bread?” I get it. You’ve got this wonderfully healthy vegetable and all you can think to do is to turn it into cake.
This time of year grilled pasta sauce is a favorite of mine. While the pasta water heats, grill tomato halves, a head of garlic, and sliced zucchini and red onion. After slipping the garlic from the cloves, transfer them, along with the grilled tomatoes to a food processor and whir for an instant cooked sauce. Toss some of the sauce with the grilled zucchini and onion, the remaining sauce with the pasta. Although you could sprinkle with the usual Parmesan, I prefer topping this robust pasta with more assertive crumbled feta.
Between the farmer’s markets, our gardens, grocery store sales, and what our gardening friends pass on, it’s easy to end up with zucchini by the bushel. There’s always zucchini bread, but now you’ve got a main-course vegetarian pasta to add to your repertoire. With dishes like these, you might want to leave a sign at the front door, “Accepting all stray zucchini.”
- 12 ounces thin spaghetti
- 8 Italian plum tomatoes, halved
- 2 medium-large zucchini, cut into rounds on a slight diagonal
- 1 large red onion, cut into thick slabs
- 1 small whole garlic head
- ¼ cup olive oil, divided
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- Salt and ground black pepper
- ¼ cup pitted kalamata olives
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese, divided
- Heat all burners of a gas grill on high. Bring 2 quarts of generously salted water to boil in a large soup kettle. Add pasta; using back-of-the-box times as a guide cook, partially covered and stirring frequently at first to prevent sticking, until just tender. Reserving ½ cup of the cooking liquid, drain pasta and return it to the pot.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl toss tomatoes, zucchini, onion, and garlic with 3 tablespoons of the oil, oregano, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.
- Place tomatoes (cut side up), zucchini, onion, and garlic in a single layer on a hot rack; cover and grill tomatoes without turning until skins have darkened and flesh is soft. Grill zucchini, onion, and garlic, turning only once, until grilled marked, about 10 minutes. Transfer tomatoes to the work bowl of a food processor. When cool enough to handle, slip garlic cloves out of skin and into food processor, along with olives and remaining tablespoon of oil; process until smooth. Transfer zucchini and onion to a medium bowl. When cool enough to handle, separate onion rounds into rings and toss ½ cup of the tomato sauce over warm vegetables. Toss remaining sauce along ¼ cup of the feta cheese and as much of the reserved cooking liquid as necessary to make a moist pasta.
- Arrange pasta on each of 4 pasta plates, top with vegetables, sprinkle with remaining feta, and serve.
Make this.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/zucchini-cornbread-casserole/detail.aspx
It tastes like hushpuppies, and eats up about 2 medium zucchinis.
I’m in love.
I wish people would leave bags of zucchini at my door! I have to pay for the wimpy ones at the grocery store. As always, this recipe looks amazingly yummy. Can’t wait to try it.
That looks like the perfect dish after a jog in the heat. I usually sautee thinly sliced zucchini, add corn, and finish with shredded mozzarella. When the temperature dips below 100, I want to grill some. Maybe I should just throw it on some foil on the sidewalk and watch from the window.
couple of other ideas for humongous zucchini, apart from the ubiquitious zucchini bread, which freezes well. you can make awesome moussaka, substituting zuccini for eggplant. you can stuff halved and scooped out large zuccini with a meat or sausage stuffing and bake, topped with cheese.
you can also vertically slice smaller vegetables from stem end to blossom end, leaving stem end intact and fan out, using the heel of your hand, brush with olive oil and grill or pan-saute.
Thanks for those additional great ideas, Sandy!
I have recently discovered that I prefer zucchini raw, say diced for gazpacho or in matchsticks as in this green bean salad with a light tarragon dressing. http://www.food52.com/recipes/4764_french_bean_salad_with_tarragon_and_green_peppercorn
Just wish I could outsmart the squash bugs.
My aunt just made an amazing zucchini lasagna. Sliced the zucchini lenthwise very thin and use in place of noodles and it’s gluten free!
I love your roasted tomato and garlic sauce, my family will love it… Husband will get to play with man-fire, baby will eat pasta with hands, and I will get delish veggies!
I also simply sauté lots of zucchini (with a bit of onion or shallots), and it’s good for several days worth of adding to scrambled eggs (or makes scrambled egg whites delicious!) Easy, yummy, and a great way to sneak veggies into breakfast!
I shred and bag them in correct amounts for zucchini bread and freeze them. Grab a bag from the freezer and have fresh zucchini bread any time of year!
I Stumbled Upon this recipe through the CSM. Both my husband and I loved it! I love kalamata olives, so I added a few more to my final pasta. Thanks!!