Recent reading

[luzula]

Now at the family summer place, struggling to keep up with the zucchini production! Zucchini soup yesterday, zucchini pancakes with feta cheese today. Further suggestions? We already have plans for tzatziki.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (2020, audiobook)
Reread; for book club. I think I enjoyed this slightly less on reread, just because I didn't get the discovery process of reading it for the first time. But like last time, I enjoyed Piranesi the narrator a whole lot! In a way, he reminds me of a character in a James Tiptree Jr story, the one with the woman who is convinced she lives in a world of goodness, but who in fact...does not live in that world. But it's not just about innocence: the thing I enjoy most about Piranesi is his enthusiasm and curiosity and engagement in the world. Also, the audiobook narrator was great.

Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold (1991, audiobook)
Also a reread. I think I enjoyed this more than Shards of Honor, actually! It's such a pleasure to see Cordelia navigate Barrayar and being awesome, and see Aral backing her up--and her backing him up. Established relationship stories FTW! Also the childbearing stuff is fascinating: Barrayar is a world where women are expected to bear children, but Cordelia, coming from a world where that isn't the case, is not reacting against that Barrayaran norm, or at least not in the same way that she might if she came from a world where women have recently had to fight against such norms. Instead, she's greedy for children, because they're restricted on Beta. Again, the audiobook narration is great.

Comments

[lyr]

Aww, Barrayar brings back such good memories. I should really re-read that, too. As for zucchini, I like to use them in zucchini fries, zucchini rollatini, zucchini lasagna, zucchini bread, zucchini fritters, and zucchini ricotta tart.

[luzula]

The zucchini bread thing seems a very American thing, as part of a broader category of things that seem to me midway between "bread" and "cake". Either I make bread, which is basically just flour, yeast, salt, and water--or I make a cake, which has eggs and butter and sugar etc and is made with baking powder/soda. I'm not used to much of a range inbetween!

[trobadora]

I really like zucchini with glass noodles!

[luzula]

Thanks for the rec! I don't think I've ever cooked with glass noodles, as opposed to noodles made of wheat or rice--I ought to try it some time.

[sanguinity]

We had it for dinner tonight, and it was tasty! Thanks for the rec!

[trobadora]

Yay, glad you liked it! :D

[sanguinity]

Zucchini! We quite enjoyed these Korean zucchini fritters (scroll way down to the end!). Chocolate zucchini bread was a decadent treat (this recipe, I think?). We are also not above shredding and freezing it in pre-measured portions for later in the year.

I'm reading Barrayar aloud to grrlpup right now (a re-read for me, first time for her), and I'm enjoying all the little details I missed the first time. One that particularly charmed me yesterday: Cordelia can beat Aral in a tickle fight! :-D

[luzula]

Now, I would not call that a bread but a cake! Or maybe some sort of bread-cake hybrid, which appears to be a very American thing--Sweden has bread, which is usually just flour, yeast, salt, and water, and it has cake, which is sweet and usually has eggs and butter and baking powder/soda. But not much inbetween. (Well, okay, there's cinnamon buns etc which are made with yeast, which are in the category of dessert-y things, not bread.) Do you eat chocolate zucchini bread with butter and cheese like a sandwich, or as a dessert? And yes, I just shredded a zucchini for freezing.

I don't remember the bit with the tickle fight! Aww.

[sanguinity]

We have a category called "quick breads", which are made with baking powder/soda and run sweet. You don't make sandwiches of them; you eat a slice plain or with butter, maybe toasted (if you do it in a broiler, they don't have the structural integrity to go into a pop-up toaster), maybe as a light breakfast or part of an afternoon tea/snack where you might have had a pastry instead.

As to what makes them different from cake... The texture is coarser? They're heavier? They're less buttery? They're baked in a loaf pan and sliced crosswise like bread instead of radially like cake? Eh. It's all a bit smooshy, category-wise.

I will say that this particular bread I linked is sooooo buttery and sweet and chocolatey that my gut reaction when I made it was that it's cake and not bread. So even if the category boundary between cakes and quick breads wasn't loosey-goosey, this wouldn't be a good example of "Oh, that's clearly a quick bread."

[luzula]

Sorry, late reply due to an extended family get-together yesterday, which was tiring. Anyway, thanks! It's always fascinating with different cultural categories around foods. You clearly have a bread-cake continuum. : )

[sanguinity]

Anyway, thanks! It's always fascinating with different cultural categories around foods.

Yes! I'm always fascinated that food is one of the places where USian, Canadian, and British English stop being mutually intelligible. So much shared vocabulary for foodstuffs, and yet what we mean by them is very much not the same.

[garonne]

Ratatouille? Or vegetarian lasagne? You can also make spaghetti from zucchini. (Actually I hate courgettes! :D so I always notice when they are presents in a recipe.)

One of the things I love about Barrayar and Beta is the way they both take cultural elements from Earth while being recognisably different, and how neither Cordelia nor the Barrayarans react to stuff the way we would. It's really well done.

[luzula]

Ratatouille and lasagna are both great ideas! But... *squints at the zucchini spaghetti* I mean, spaghetti is the main carbohydrate component of a meal, and a zucchini is mostly water, so it seems to me to fulfil different roles?

I have never understood the different between squash, zucchini and courgette. Maybe squash is a broader category and also includes winter squash that keeps for months. And maybe zucchini and courgette are just the Italian and French names for summer squash?

Yes to the Barrayar/Beta observation!

[sanguinity]

I always understood that zuchinni and courgette are the same thing, just the preferred British and American terms for a particular variety of summer squash. (The one that is long and cylindrical and is basically dark green but actually a little mottled and is legendary for going out of control in your garden.) Other kinds of summer squash have their own names. The yellow ones that look like flying saucers with fluted edges are called pattypans here.

To an American, while 'squash' can technically be all the squashes, summer and winter, if you just say "we're having squash for dinner tonight" or "I bought a squash today" or whatever, you'll always be understood to be talking about winter squash. If you use either of those constructions for summer squash, you'll cause confusion.

[luzula]

Ah, thanks! I did somehow avoid the term "squash" for this post and used "zucchini" instead, so perhaps I did have some intuition. I don't think I've ever eaten one of those flying saucer summer squashes, but I've seen them while surfing gardening websites, and really want to try to grow some next year.

[garonne]

To me squash is a drink! I had no idea it was also a word for courgette/zucchini-type vegetables.

[luzula]

I have never seen it used for a drink! Is it the same as juice (which is pressed fresh from fruits)? Or more like cordial (which you heat/boil and then strain the liquid out)? At least I think that's the distinction between those two.

Squash is also a sport.

[garonne]

It's fruit juice (i.e. the liquid pressed from fruits) mixed with artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and potentially other flavourings, and sold in a highly concentrated form, i.e. you dilute it with water before serving and one bottle gives you dozens of glasses. It has a much longer shelf life and is cheaper per glass than real fruit juice. It tastes nothing like real fruit juice!

Squash is also a sport.

Haha, yes.

[luzula]

Heh, it doesn't sound like it's for me!

[sanguinity]

Oh, interesting! I had always inferred/guessed that it was a carbonated soft drink of some kind -- if not something fruity and alcoholic -- and it seems I was... well, not completely wrong, but a good bit off.

In the States, we would call such a thing a concentrate. Frozen concentrates (which tend to be pure fruit juice) are fairly common, but liquid ones aren't so much.

[anotherslashfan]

I like to make stuffed zucchini halves in the oven. But that doesn't use up a large amount of them...

[luzula]

Oh, that's true. I make filled bell peppers sometimes, and squash could serve the same function.

[chestnut_pod]

I have two summer-favorite zucchini recipes from Smitten Kitchen: the inimitable zucchini butter pasta and a lovely cracker-crust zucchini pizza. I always add lots of fresh herbs to both of them, and usually use shells for the pasta.

[luzula]

Those both look interesting, thank you! : ) I'm not usually fond of "white" pizza without tomato sauce, but that one looks worth a try.

[ysilme]

Zucchini recipes.... *cracks knuckles* XD As we usually also have tomatoes at the same time most of my zucchini recipes are based on that.
Let's see, what did I do recently with my own bounty...

(all of these work great with vegan cheeses as I'm using only this, or do separate casseroles with vegan and dairy cheese.)

*roasted garlic zucchini as a side instead of pasta or other carbs (I mainly don't eat carbs with our main evening meal, so zucchini anything are my main replacement): dice zucchini (if larger than hand-sized without the innards) into dice or stripes of something between 0,5-1cm in width/diameter, roast in olive oil on low heat until slightly toasty, add diced/sliced garlic to taste for another 1-2min, salt & pepper. Optional: roast also with rosemary or add fresh basil at the end. Also great as bruschetta on roasted bread

*quick warm pasta salad with garlic zucchini: use recipe for roasted garlic zucchini, add quartered cherry tomatoes or diced larger tomatoes without the innnards, mix with freshly-cooked pasta, chopped/ripped basil and, depending on your preferences, additional olive oil, balsamic vinegar. Variation: cheese of choice - parmesan, other grated cheese, feta, mozzarella. Works great with vegan feta. Carb-free variation: do the same but replace the pasta with canned or freshly-cooked white beans, but definitely add olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

*quick pan-veggies to go with pasta, potatoes, beans of any kind, rice or simply bread: slightly roast onion slicesor segments, add dices or stripes of zucchini (about 1cm wide) until lightly roasted. Optional: bell peppers in small stripes. Once everything is nicely roasted, add 1-2 handfuls of tomatoes in similar-sized chunks or dices (or use the contents of a small can but without the juice so you need to strain them), salt, pepper, let cook for another 2-3min. Optional: crushed or diced garlic (together with the zucchini), herbs to taste, a dash of white or red wine or balsamic vinegar together with the tomatoes. Cheese can be added but isn't necessary. The result is supposed to be not quite liquidish, if that makes any sense?

*there's an Italian antipasti dish with roasted zucchini fingers marinated in olive oil, but I don't have a recipe. I know it served together with equally prepared mushrooms and bell pepper stripes, but just zucchini is fine.

*Zucchini lasagna: prepare a thick veggie or meat bolognese sauce to your preference (or thaw it as I do, I always have some frozen for such recipes). Slice midde-sized or small zucchini in 0.5cm thick slices lenghtwise (or, if you happen to find an overgrown giant, just hollow it out until you keep about less than 1cm, cut it in slices and place those side-by-side). Salt & pepper from both sides. Oil your lasagna casserole and layer zucchini slices, herbs of your choice, slices of fresh tomatoes, bolognese sauce, cheese, and repeat, ending with a layer of cheese or feta in thin slices. You can put in a layer of crème fraîche between the zucchini and tomatoes but I find it's not necessary. The result likely isn't a firm cube like a pasta-based lasagna and might end up more like a heap on the plate, but tastes awesome.

*Zucchini-bean casserole: garlic-roasted zucchini in larger dices than in the recipe above, mixed with canned white beans, chopped tomatoes, herbs and spices to taste and either covered with grated cheese or with feta cubes mixed in, baked in the oven.

*Zucchini Thai Curry: I have a thai curry staple we make with all kinds of veggies, and it works well with half the veggies being zucchini dices. Bring 1 can of coconut milk to boil with 2-3 tablespoons of curry paste of your choice, 1 TS sugar, 1 TS salt, let simmer on low heat for 2-3min. Chopped or grated garlic, chili rings, lemongrass rings or chopped kaffir lime leaves can be added as well. Meanwhile, prepare the veggies: I'm using about 500g assorted veggies for this recipe - at least I think I do, I don't usually measure it. Either a mix of frozen asia veggies with or without added peas, or anything from the following in whatever amount and mix I want: carrots, peppers, thin stripes of white or pointed cabbage, onions, peas, cauliflower and broccoli florets, zucchini dices. Sweet potatoes or potatoes (max 1/3 of the veggie part) also work really well. Bring to a boil and let simmer about 10 more min, depending on the veggies added. We serve it with halved hard-boiled eggs and a topping of peanuts or cashews.

*Veggie bolognese: my mother created the trusted veggie bolo recipe of my family. It consists of 1/3 canned or fresh tomatoes, and 1/3 each of two other vegetables, which can be carrots, zucchini or bell peppers - any combination works, and frozen veggies are fine. Otherwise onions, garlics, herbs and spices as you would put into a regular bolognese, and also some tomato paste. Cook until done and then mix with the immersion blender until you get a bolognese consistency. We prefer it to have some bite so only cook it long enough the carrots will still provide this. To make it extra tasty I'll leave the zucchini out of the cooking part, shred or very finely dice them and prepare them like for the roasted garlic zucchini, and then serve the bolognese with the zucchini on top.
Works also great with beans as replacement for zucchini.

Edit: I forgot our current favourite: tomato-zucchini-sugo with salmon.
Roast chopped onions, zucchini and garlic in olive oil, add diced tomatoes and possibly some tomato paste, depending on the tomato-zucchini-ratio, and a dash of wine if the mixture is too dry; you want a consistence that can simmer for about 20min without burning or getting too dry. Let simmer for about 10min, then add finger-thick slices of a frozen salmon fillet. Make sure the slices are slightyl submerged and let simmer until done.
Serve with pasta, rice or bread, but is also fine on its own (which is how I eat it).
Note about the salmon: we don't have a good variety of fresh or frozen fish from acceptable fishing grounds here, so a brand of thick slices of wild salmon with the skin still on is my main source. I take it out of the freezer about an hour before I start cooking, then the salmon is thawed enough I can get the skin off easily but still have it frozen enough it won't cook too fast in the sauce.
Will likely work with most other fish and seafood one can find.

[luzula]

Oh wow, that's a lot! This whole post turned into a wealth of zucchini recipes. : )

Yeah, we also do the basic "fried zucchini slices with garlic and herbs" as a vegetable side to various meals. I'll have to try the zucchini lasagna, that looks interesting!

[china_shop]

struggling to keep up with the zucchini production!

Hee!

Ooh, I might have to listen to Piranesi for the narration. (Last time I read it in ebook. :-)

[luzula]

We only have two plants, but we had been gone for more than a week, so they had a head start on us! : )

[resonant]

Bookmarking to read everybody's zucchini recipes! I have 2 contributions:

Pasta with zucchini: Grate zucchini, sautee it in olive oil with thyme, and serve it over pasta with parmesan cheese. (The original recipe started by warming red pepper stripes in the olive oil first before adding the zucchini, but I don't like red peppers, so I leave that part out.)

Pintogallo: Sautee chopped onions until soft, then add a little minced garlic for 30 seconds, then add chopped zucchini and sautee together until they begin to turn golden. Add chopped tomatoes, cooked black beans, and oregano, and stir together until everything is warm. Serve over rice with grated cheddar. (You want roughly equal amounts of onion, zucchini, beans, and tomatoes. Canned beans are fine. Brown rice is best but white is fine too. If you don't have black beans, kidney beans are a decent substitute.)

[luzula]

Thank you! : ) The pasta sounds like something similar to what's already on my repertoire, but I don't know much South American or Mexican cooking, so I'll have to try out the second one.

[sanguinity]

I tried pintogallo for breakfast yesterday morning (I added in scrambled egg and green chile for reasons), and it was tasty, thank you!

[resonant]

Wow, great additions. I'll have to try that.

[feroxargentea]

I sometimes resort to handing them out at work. "Morning! Have a courgette!" When they reach crisis level, they get stacked in the lunch room with a note asking people to rehome them. I guess this wouldn't work at a summer house, though...

[luzula]

I hope your workmates appreciate them! We only have two plants, but we'd been gone for over a week, so they had a head start on us, and two of them had grown enormous. Still worked well to make soup, though.

Since I'm late to the party

[jesse_the_k]

You now have as many recipes as you have zucchinis! but I have to share Marge Piercy's lovely poem about your predicament:

It begins:

And thus the people every year
in the valley of humid July
did sacrifice themselves
to the long green phallic god
and eat and eat and eat.
They're coming, they're on us,
the long striped gourds, the silky
babies, the hairy adolescents,
the lumpy vast adults
like the trunks of green elephants.

https://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=96

Re: Since I'm late to the party

[luzula]

Oh that is genius! : D Thank you!

[nnozomi]

I hope the zucchinis are out of the way by now, late comment, but I usually either resort to "sauté in olive oil with garlic" or "sub in for eggplant (mabo zucchini?)."
I rarely reread _Barrayar_ because I find a lot of it shattering, but it's very good, and like you say the established relationship part is great!

[luzula]

...and a late reply. Anyway, not quite! : ) But we're working on it.

What aspect of Barrayar is that you find difficult?

[nnozomi]

What aspect of Barrayar is that you find difficult?

Mostly the whole thing with the soltoxin attack and Miles' sort-of-birth and the missing uterine replicator and fleeing into the middle of nowhere with Gregor...it's just so much physical and emotional trauma all at once and I still find it stressful to read. (I love all the scenes after Cordelia and Aral are reunited at their whatsit base, though--"shopping" obviously, Illyan's brevet promotion, and so on.)

Good luck with the zucchini. My partner has been bringing home mountains of local cucumbers and I've been racking my brain to deal with them, from stir-fry to refrigerator pickles...

[luzula]

Yeah, I can see that! I don't know why it isn't hitting me as hard--maybe because I don't have kids and don't want any, so the whole pregnancy thing is a little more theoretical/distant to me.

Have you tried cold cucumber soup, gazpacho style?

[nnozomi]

Have you tried cold cucumber soup, gazpacho style?
That sounds very promising! I've made pseudo-tzatziki a couple times, you know, plain yogurt with mint and cucumber etc., but my partner is not wild about it. Soup might work better.