Attack of the Giant Zukes

It’s July in Wisconsin. I read somewhere that this is the month when neighborhoods that don’t typically lock their cars and houses do, because if they don’t, they will find unwanted zucchinis deposited on their front seat and kitchen counters.

Zucchinis, if left unattended on the vine for only a few short days, expand from a petite green cylinder the size of your thumb to an unwieldy green baseball bat. What begins as a perfect little sauté component morphs into something only a food processor and a shredding disk can handle. Or a box grater and some tough biceps.

What seems like a good idea in May can haunt you in July. My overzealous gardening-self planted (please don’t mock me), five different types of summer squash—nine plants all together. I know, I know—pure insanity. I’ve actually resorted to selling them in a cardboard box at the end of my driveway. I’ve made $4 so far. (Why not give them away free you ask? Psychology says that people think they’re getting something better if they have to pay for it. Whatever. If they choose to just steal them, that’s fine too.)

Despite being overwhelmed by squash, I am pleased to have a few different varieties. I have a small, striped Emerald Delight, an absolutely gorgeous green and yellow bicolor called Zephyr, a yellow patty pan, the standard dark green Black Beauty, and a straight yellow crookneck.

What I can’t pawn off on friends and co-workers or sell to people passing by my house, I’ll cook. I have eaten zucchini in something every day for the last three weeks.

They get tossed into pasta sauces, eggs or warm whole grain salads, either sliced thin or shredded with a julienne slicer. Of course there are standard quick breads and muffins, and my favorite, zucchini fritters.

I like to think of zucchini as nature’s “hamburger helper.” You can dice it up and add it to just about anything, and if you grow it yourself (or get it from a friend or co-worker who has too much—hint, hint) it is a super-economical meal stretcher.

And when it all gets to be too much, freeze it. About once a week I gather the behemoths that have escaped harvesting and shred them up. I either mound them into one cup servings on a cookie sheet or pack into a muffin tin and freeze. Once frozen, I transfer the mounds to freezer bags for use through the winter in more muffins, lasagnas, soups and smoothies.

If you have zucchinis strewn across your counter or if someone has stealthily left a few on your front car seat, rejoice and embrace them (some may, in fact, be big enough that you will have to embrace them in order to move them).

Check out this new Zucchini Cherry Muffin recipe, and here are a few more links to some other great zucchini recipes.

Chocolate Walnut Zucchini Bread from my blog, Tallgrass Kitchen

Haystack Salad with Maple Vinaigrette from Edible Madison

Grilled Veggie Galette from A World of Flavors

Zucchini Fritters from Smitten Kitchen