Yabba Dabba ZU!

Due to recent budget cuts in the clatter kitchen, I am no longer getting deliveries from Organics to You. I have every intention on picking it up again in the fall, but I’ve been finding lately that my lack of time in the kitchen has caused much of that goodness to go to waste. Without the scheduled box arriving today after work, I knew I had to find a new avenue to outsource my produce – something that could still provide fresh, local products at a reasonable cost. Nothing says reasonable cost like free, so I took to my mother’s garden over the weekend to see what I could come up with. While it was slim pickins’ (let it be known that this is in no way a reflection on my mother as a master gardener – the funky weather this late spring/summer has taken its toll on many of the crops in the area), I still managed to make a getaway with a few grape and cherry tomatoes, some green beans, a jalapeno, and a zucchini.

Late last night I watched a really terrible movie (I’m too embarrassed to reveal its title) and even though viewing it was not a good use of my time, there was one line in particular that stuck with me. This isn’t verbatim, but one of the main characters said something along the lines of, “I try to find something to love in every person.” This is certainly not an easy feat even by a figment of the imagination, but I think it’s a great philosophy - a philosophy that should apply not just to people, but to vegetables.

I’ve never been a huge fan of zucchini. In fact, up until a few years ago, I really just didn’t like it. I blame this at least partially on being scarred by anything zucchini-related after my sister attempted to bake what would become a seven pound (it could have weighed more - my younger brother even brought out the scale to measure) loaf of zucchini bread. Even if completely unfounded and unfair, I used to think of the zucchini as the ugly stepsister to the cucumber – lacking the zest, flavor, and crunch to give it that happy ending. (I could very possibly rhapsodize for hours about the many things I respect about the cucumber, but this post is the zucchini’s 15 minutes of fame.) After more thought, I’ve realized the two vegetables really shouldn’t even be put in the same category. Yes they could be siblings (and I mean blood-related, not step) because of their similarities in outward appearance, but inside they’re very different. What is it about the zucchini that made me change my mind over the years? What is the one quality that I see in the zucchini that really makes it special?

Its versatility. Just think about it. I don’t know about you, but I’m having very little trouble coming up with all the ways I’ve utilized zucchini: sautéed it with other veggies for the perfect side dish; split it in half and baked it stuffed with sausage, bread crumbs, and parmesan; drizzled it with olive oil, sprinkled with salt & pepper and thrown on the grill (ok, I haven’t done this, but if I had a grill I would); made a faux salsa verde to top some white fish (I got this idea from a recent Bon Appetit issue); and made a most delectable chocolate cake out of it (don’t even think about asking for that recipe – it’s top secret).

So what if the zucchini on its own doesn’t hold the most vibrant of flavors – it makes up for it in so many other ways. Even so, it still sure seems to get a lot of flack during the summer months. I guess it’s really no big surprise - how is that homegrown oversized, awkwardly shaped, flavorless zucchini supposed to compete with the cute-as-a-button cherry tomato, or the tall and slender green bean? If only people would learn to pick the zucchini before they get too big and turn into the garden-rejects-on-the-sidewalk-that-your-neighbors-won’t-even-take-for-free, maybe they could find something to love about it – on the inside and the outside. Perhaps instead of grabbing one to use as a bat for a game of baseball in the backyard, people could appreciate the zucchini for all that it can be. When I think of that oversized zucchini shaped like a bat, my mind goes straight to an image of Bamm-Bamm Rubble from the Flintstones. After finding this picture, I can’t help but ask with the most disdainful of looks: Betty, are you overgrowing your zucchini?!?