"Anyone that doesn't agree with leggings as pants can physically fight me.
And I'm going to win because I have a full range of motion due to the fact that I am wearing leggings as pants."

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Marinated Zucchini and a BZT

My garden isn’t quite as bounteous as I’d hoped it to be at this stage in the game. I haven't harvested enough tomatoes at once to make a single batch of Finny's Best Tomato Sauce Ever. Which is sad, because that stuff is incredible.

The one saving grace are the zucchini plants which, despite their tiny size, are doggedly producing pounds and pounds of fruit. If I walk away for a couple of days those suckers can go from several inches to almost a foot.

And my favorite way to serve these guys, you may be wondering?

Sliced and marinated in a homemade vinaigrette. It’s that simple. And so very tasty.

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Jenny’s man came up with the original recipe and I’ve tweaked it a bit based on my preferences. The key is to slice them very thin, almost translucent.

They’re great in salads and absolutely fantastic on sandwiches (they add so much flavor in fact, that you can even skip the mayonnaise).

Even the kids in our family will eat these just plain as a side. And you can adjust the flavors to go with the rest of the meal. Jeff’s dad, who hates zucchini, even claimed to like them, but it might have been because the kids were listening. You never can tell with him.

The best use of these marinated zucchini that I've found, though, is as a replacement for L.

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What follows is a recipe for the zucchini, not the BZT because of the simple fact that most people know how to stack ingredients on a piece of bread, which makes a recipe somewhat unnecessary. (I must point out, though, the lack of mayo on this sandwich. You won't miss it. Trust me.)

Ingredients (for standard recipe)
-2 T red wine vinegar
-pinch of salt
-a couple of grinds of black pepper
-2 T olive oil
-1 medium sized zucchini

How To
-Slice the zucchini super thin and put in a bowl (or a mason jar if you have one, which I always do).
-Sprinkle with salt, pepper and any other herbs or spices you’re using.
-Drizzle with the vinegar and stir (or put on lid to mason jar and shake) until it’s all well coated.
-Let sit for 5 minutes or so and then drizzle with the oil. Stir again.
-Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more oil if it’s too sour, more acid if it’s too bland and more spices as necessary.
-You can store this in the fridge for several days (see aren't you glad you used that mason jar?). I suggest making smaller batches of different flavors every now and then.

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Variations
-Instead of slices, you could cube them. These are really good on salads. You'll need to let them sit longer in the vinegar this way, shaking every now and then.
-Instead of the red wine vinegar, you can use another acid like lemon juice, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar- all will work, depending on the flavors in the rest of the meal.
-Instead of the olive oil consider more neutral oils like canola and grapeseed. Extra virgin olive oil doesn’t always play nice with other flavors.
-Try adding other herbs and flavors like the one below.

Mexican Variation (this is based on a recipe by Rick Bayless)
2 T. balsamic vinegar
2 T. vegetable oil (I don’t like olive oil in this recipe)
Pinch of dried oregano
Half a clove of garlic, minced
Pinch of chili powder
1/8th t of adobo sauce (this is the sauce that chipotle chiles come packed in)

10 comments:

Wander to the Wayside said...

This sounds delicious, and I loooove zucchini. All my plants succumbed to some kind of Georgia bug that eats the blossoms from the inside out.

Do you remember your mom's zucchini pickles? They were so good! In fact, I think I still have the recipe.

Leonie Guld said...

I always said I could feed a small nation on my zucchini's! Our chooks and ducks love the surplus! as well as the neighbors, friends, the local gp, school principal.....etc......etc.....you get the drift!!

FinnyKnits said...

Well, to be fair, *I* don't even have enough zucchini to make THIS recipe! Boo.

Maybe the farm share will offer some up this week and I can try it out. I do love my pickles after all, and these definitely smack of *pickle*.

Sarah Bonn said...

I see this in my husband's future!

auroramae said...

I love bacon!

Karin said...

"Niam, niam!" as the French say for "yum, yum." I am so glad you found my blog and also that you left your blog addy for me! Yay! It is really good to "see" you again and this zucchini recipe looks great! I have not tried zucchini in a while, I know it is in markets here (but usually the round kind, interestingly enough) and I have a feeling I might tolerate these well! The BZT looks awesome. What a great idea.

Well, my friend, I shall return. I have you plugged into Google Reader, something I am absolutely growing to LOVE, and it is really easy to track posts on my friends' blogs from there.

Take care, and I will be back!

Anonymous said...

Oh hey, I am trying this as signing in with OpenID. Sorry to experiment this way on your blog, but I wanted to see if it worked.....

Wendy said...

Here's my mom's recipe that my Aunt Linda (Wander to the Wayside) sent me. We were crazy picky kids, so she never ever tried to make these for us...

The reason I remember it all these years later is because it was so easy! I'm like 95% sure that she gave it to me when we lived on Zepher.
Sliced Zucchini Pickles
(Makes 6-7pints)

1 qt. vinegar
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. salt
2 tsp. celery seeds
2 tsp. ground tumeric
1 tsp. dry mustard
4 qts. sliced zucchini
1 qt. onions, sliced
1) Bring vinegar, sugar, salt and spices to a boil; pour over zucchini and onions and let stand one hour.
2) Bring to a boil; cook 3 minutes.
3) Pack into hot jars. Process in hot water bath for 5 minutes.

Anonymous said...

I found long, regular zucchini in the grocery store yesterday!!! Yay! I am trying this today. :) Thank you for posting it!

Vone said...

I have about 6 or so small zucchini on my fridge and I'm trying to figure out what to do with them - those sound yummy. Last year I made sweet refrigerator pickles with them - so delicious.