Zucchini Overload

It's that time of year where the zucchini runs rampant and you begin to dread making another zucchini dish. So what creative ways have people found to make this lovely green vegetable.

so far I've,
-made zucchini bread
- zucchini pizza
- zucchini stir fry
- marinated grilled zucchini and tomato salad (very good by the way)

next up is zucchini pancakes.

Please post recipes!

I loved this recipe I tried for Summer Squash Slaw, but I recommend that you double the ingredients for the dressing.

Zucchini was the secret theme ingredient for last night's Iron Chef America.

A number of dishes appeared to be veggie, though since the addition of “proteins” is taken for granted, it might have been edited out. Still, a judge did explicitly praise the Iron Chef's tagine of zucchini as a “beautiful vegetarian dish.”

Both chefs made their take on mücver (for the -ovo- among us). IIRC, the challenger served them with kadayıf and yogurt and called it “Greek.” (There's an argument I'm glad not to be in the middle of.) The Iron Chef called them “blini” (and added lox).

ETA: someone's blog entry listing dishes.

Chocolate zucchini bread (not yeasted bread, a quick bread in the style of banana bread) is delicious! It doesn't taste like chocolate & zucchini, the zucchini just makes it really moist & good.

I made zucchini cake with olive oil, walnuts and spices. Lovely. The recipe I used is in Dutch http://www.nrcnext.nl/koken/2008/08/15/zoete-courgettecake/ but I am pretty sure this one doesn't differ too much: http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2009/10/gina_depalmas_z.html

Sorry for the vegans, it does contain eggs...

Recipe for zucchini tots / "bites" from the Emily Bites website: http://www.emilybites.com/2012/05/zucchini-tots.html

Banana bread is so easy to make--does adding zucchini make the recipe any more laborious? In my experience, zucchini takes quite of bit of time to prepare and cook, so I'm wondering how "quick" a chocolate zucchini bread would be. Also, which recipe did you use (if you used one or it came from online)?

I like this recipe:

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE
Yield: 24 squares

1 stick plus 1 Tbsp butter
2 ½ cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 ½ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 ½ tsp baking soda
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp grated orange rind
½ cup milk (or Lactaid)
2 cups coarsely grated zucchini

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x12 baking pan. In large bowl, cream butter & sugar. Beat in eggs, melted chocolate, vanilla, orange rind, and milk. Stir in zucchini. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix dry ingredients into zucchini mixture. Turn batter into pan. Bake for forty minutes. Cool on a rack before removing cake from pan. (Note: If using a Bundt or tube pan, bake for 1 hour.)

I have no idea when I found this recipe, but it came from The Washington Post. I’ve been making this recipe for years!

>8 SqueakyChu: Thanks! One more questions--do you cook the zucchini before grating? My guess is no (it's like grating a carrot then), but I wanted to double-check. When baking, there is little recourse for mistakes,!

No need to cook or peel the zucchini prior to its use. Just wash it well and dry it first. Grate it on the larger grater holes (like you would a carrot for a carrot cake).

ETA: This is such a good cake. I can almost taste it! I used to fool my kids into eating zucchini by incorporating it into this cake. :)

Wonderful, thank you. I can't wait to try the recipe. There is a large zucchinni from a neighbor's garden sitting in our kitchen, and I'm tired of making the same old recipe :)

I've got other recipes as well. Let me know when you're ready for another one I've tried and liked. :)

>12 SqueakyChu: I made the chocolate zucchini cake last week; it's amazing! I had to give some out to family and friends, because apparently it's a popular cake. I had no clue, but I'll definitely be making it again soon. Thank you for the recipe, SqueakyChu!

You're welcome!

Here's another zucchini cake recipe for you...

Zucchini Blueberry Cake
Servings: 24

3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp vanilla extract (yes!)
2 1/4 cups white sugar
2 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cinnamon (yes!)
pinch of nutmeg
1 pint fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 9x12 pan. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared pan. Bake 40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of cake comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes before serving.

This recipe was adapted from one submitted by LAUJRA to allrecipes.com (and found by me in 2009).

I try out lots of recipes because I'm newsletter editor for my CSA, and I always have to have *good* recipes ready to share.

If you dry the zucchini, the pressure will be off, and you can incorporate it into your cooking without time constraints. My favorite by far book on that subject is Food Drying with an Attitude, written by a woman who has 30 years experience with food drying. She also includes lots and lots of recipes. The book is also on the recommended list at Mother Earth News magazine website.

>14 by SqueakyChu, Can you taste the zucchini in these cakes? I really do not like it, but know it's healthy, so I have no problem being "tricked" into eating it so long as the taste isn't ruining the trick, lol. I'm guessing in the chocolate one it's pretty hidden, but what about the other one?

You can't taste any "zucchini" flavor in the these cakes. The zucchini supplies moisture to the cake. The taste of the blueberry cake is mostly influenced by the spices (cinnamon, nutmeg) that are added to the batter.

Sounds awesome then, nice! Will have to try them out sometime :)