Zucchini pasta with feta, zucchini pasta with brie, zucchini-ricotta-sun-dried tomato pasta

 

If you've found yourself winding to the end of harvest season with zucchini piling up, here are a few more ways to use that blank canvas that is zucchini.

Wagon wheels with zucchini and brie

From “Super Tuscan” by Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar. The recipe called for wagon wheels (which I have not seen in stores for years) or another round pasta.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ pounds zucchini, sliced into 1/8-inch rounds
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
12 ounces Brie, cut into 1inch cubes, rind trimmed
1 pound pasta (the recipe called for wagon wheels or a tube-shaped pasta like penne
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Grated Parmesan for serving

Method
Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add zucchini in as flat a layer as possible. Top with red onions. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until zucchini is beginning to brown, about 20 minutes or so. Remove from heat. Top with Brie chunks, cover and let sit while pasta cooks to al dente. Drain, reserving cooking liquid, and toss with zucchini mixture. Add reserved cooking liquid as needed for sauce consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with grated Parmesan.

Rating: Nice enough, but fairly subtle flavor. 

 

 Zucchini dill pasta

Adapted from “Al Fresco: Inspired Ideas for Outdoor Living,” by Julie Pointer Adams. A lot of the food in this book doesn't necessarily scream outdoors or picnic in the stereotypical sense; just recipes that are photographed in idyllic settings that you could at least transport to a table in your back yard. Just make sure that back yard is in So Cal or Tuscany for the photo backdrop.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to taste
½ medium yellow onion, diced
Red pepper flakes
4 garlic cloves, chopped
5 medium zucchini, coarsely grated
12-ounce package fettucine
½ cup white wine
Zest and juice of 2 lemons, divided
A handful of chopped fresh dill, plus more for garnish
Small handful lemon balm, chopped
½ cup crumbled feta
2 tablespoons chopped pistachios

Method
Bring water to a boil for pasta.

While water is heating up, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat in a large deep pot. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add a pinch of salt and of red pepper flakes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add zucchini and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Add pasta to pot and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving some pasta cooking liquid.

Add wine to zucchini and cook over medium high heat until it mostly cooks off. Add lemon zest and juice of 1 lemon. Add herbs, pasta and cooking liquid as needed for desired sauce consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with more dill, feta, a drizzle of olive oil, pistachios and the remaining lemon juice.

Rating: Between the first two recipes, I liked this one a bit more, probably because it seemed creamier, and had the bright flavor of dill and tang of feta. Certainly a workable combination. I confess we ate it indoors because it was raining.

 

Pasta with roasted zucchini, ricotta and sun-dried tomatoes

Having tried two variations of zucchini pasta with cheese, I pondered what a version with ricotta would be like.

Ingredients
1 pound short pasta, cooked to al dente and drained, some cooking liquid reserved
3 medium zucchini, ends trimmed, sliced into ¼-inch rounds
2 tablespoons oil from oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, divided
Lemon pepper seasoning, salt
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
½ pound ricotta
½ cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

Method
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Place zucchini rounds in a single layer in the pan. Brush with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Sprinkle liberally with lemon pepper seasoning and a bit of salt. Bake for 20 minutes until tender and starting to pick up color. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a large deep pot, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Add garlic, red pepper flakes and lemon zest and cook over medium heat until garlic is just fragrant. Add lemon juice and ricotta and heat through. Add zucchini, pasta, sun-dried tomatoes and enough pasta cooking liquid to make desired sauce consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Rating: Not a bad first take on a recipe. I liked the ricotta a lot, and thought the roasted zucchini brought a bit more to the party than the previous recipes. Sun-dried tomatoes up the flavor. If I try it again, I'll try adding all the oil to the garlic pan and using some of that to brush the zucchini, or maybe grilling it for extra flavor.

Zucchini gratin

Zucchini seem to be like rabbits: There's no such thing as just one. Well, unless you count that monster zucchini that some co-worker will bring in and put a sign by it that says "Free." It's clearly one that was hiding under a giant leaf and could be used to feed an army. It never seems to get any takers, but there's always at least one that shows up every year.

Naturally, the French have a solution for such excess. Here is Ina Garten's version.

Zucchini gratin

From “Barefoot in Paris,” by Ina Garten

Ingredients

6 tablespoons butter, plus extra for topping

3 large onions (I used a mix of red and yellow)

2 pounds zucchini, sliced ¼ inch thick

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup hot milk

¾ cup grated Gruyere cheese

¾ cup fresh bread crumbs

Method

If baking immediately, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a large deep skillet over low heat. Add onions and cook until tender but not browned, about 20 minutes. Add zucchini slices. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Uncover and stir in salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cook uncovered for another 5 minutes. Stir in flour. Add hot milk and stir until mixture thickens and flour is cooked. Pour mixture into a baking dish. The recipe called for an 8-by-10 pan, which I didn’t own, but any casserole dish will do in this case.

Mix cheese and bread crumbs. Sprinkle over top of onion mixture in dish. Dot top with a bit of butter. (At this point you can cover the dish and refrigerate until ready to bake. Can be made a day ahead. Bring back to close to room temperature before proceeding.) Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.

Rating: Tasty. A repeatable use of an excess of zucchini. An easy make-ahead side dish. That said, I don’t know that I’d serve it to company because it lacks much in the way of texture despite the crumb topping. Those onions and zucchini have become very soft in that creamy, almost gooey sauce, and even with using a mix of onion and squash colors, it’s not very colorful. But it made a great comfort food side with chicken for supper.And I no longer have any uncooked zucchini in the house.

Hamburger pickles, pickled brussel sprouts and other quickles

Gin quickles

Never let the perfect be the enemy of the just dandy. That truism is never truer than when it comes to refrigerator pickles.

In an ideal world, I clear the decks, haul out my mother's old canner, sterilize the jars and go all in on the hot water bath. The result is highly satisfying: rows upon rows of shelf-stable jewels, ready to reward your virtuous efforts whenever you choose.

But the world I live in involves two kinds of headspace when it comes to making pickles: the one in which you leave a half-inch gap or so at the top of the jar before processing, and the mental headspace I need to be in to tackle all that. Canning is nothing to go half-in on, and while pickles are among the easier things to can, you still need to be in a very focused place with enough time to follow steps carefully so you ensure proper food safety. My advice when canning is never, ever deviate from the recipe and make sure you're following one developed by a reputable cookbook or source. Food poisoning is not good eats.

Plus, given the time commitment, getting around to using up the produce before it becomes compost is a race I might well lose.

Thus the case for the quickle, the kind where you skip the hot water bath and just store the results in the refrigerator. With less time commitment, you're much more likely to try something new, and less resentful if it doesn't work out. The worst thing that happens is that you might find a new favorite pickle you want to go all-in on and actually can.

Here are some new recipes I tried this fall.The first one is a prime example of the advantage of not canning the pickles so you don't have to follow the recipe to the letter: I wanted to use whole small pickles, but they don't fit in the same 1-quart jar as the original recipe, and there was no way onion chunks and a spice bag were fitting in one jar. So I just poured in all the spices and divided everything between two jars. The second time I made this I sliced the onions instead and it worked better. Since I was leaving the spices in the jar instead of pouring the mixture through cheesecloth, I halved the spice amounts and was very happy with the results.

Hamburger pickles

Pickles adapted from “A Burger to Believe In” by Chris Kronner. This cookbook builds the perfect burger from the ground up, with no detail left to chance. Hence these pickles. I haven't done the whole nine yards yet, but it sounds like a great quest.

Ingredients

1½ pounds pickling cucumbers (the smaller the better)

2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons fresh dill

1 tablespoons coriander seeds

½ tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon caraway seeds

½ tablespoon dill seed

½ tablespoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon mustard seed

1 star anise or ¾ teaspoon anise seeds, optional if you don't like anise

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

¼ teaspoon celery seed

2 whole cloves

2 allspice berries

2 bay leaves

1 small white onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic

3 cups white vinegar

Method

Wash the pickles and cut off the ends. Pack pickles into 2 pint jars, or 1 pint and 1 quart jar, depending on the size of your cucumbers. Put 1 tablespoon salt in each jar, and 1 tablespoon dill. Shake to distribute evenly. (Alternatively, you could slice them into quarters lengthwise, which does make it easier to pack them into jars efficiently, but whole pickles hold up longer in the refrigerator than spears.)

Combine coriander, caraway, dill seed, peppercorns, mustard seed, anise, fennel seed, celery seed, cloves and allspice in a small bowl. (You’ll be much happier with yourself if you mix them up in advance because it’s hard to properly measure out that many ingredients in a timely fashion while trying to toast them briefly.)

Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, bay leaves and spice mixture. Toast until fragrant, a  minute or so, stirring often to avoid burning them. Add the vinegar and increase the heat to medium high. Bring to a simmer and then remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes.

Divide pickles and garlic among the jars, pushing them down in among the pickles. (The handle of a wooden spoon works well for this.) Pour vinegar and spices over pickles in the jar, dividing up the spices and brine as best you can between the two jars. Cover with canning lids and let cool before refrigerating.

Rating: These are really, really nice. Wonderful combo pack of spices, even though it looks like a spice rack dump when you look at the ingredient list. Even though there's no sugar, there's an almost sweet taste implied by those spices you associate with baked goods like cloves and allspice. Someday I might try them by using the cheesecloth spice bundle method, but right now I'm not messing with success. A definite keeper, although keeping them on hand might be a challenge.

Pickled brussels sprouts

Adapted from the traditional hot-water bath method on the Farm to Table site.

Ingredients

4 cups brussels sprouts (smaller is better)

1 ⅓ cup white vinegar

⅔ cup sugar

⅔ cup thinly sliced onions

⅓ cup red bell peppers, chopped small

1 tablespoon mustard seed

½ tablespoon celery seed

1 heaping ¼ teaspoon turmeric

1 heaping ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Method

Wash brussels sprouts and remove any hard stems or outer leaves.

Bring a salted pot of water (4 teaspoons coarse salt per 1 gallon of water) to a boil Add sprouts and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat but leave them in the water while you prepare the rest of the recipe, because this is the only cooking the sprouts will get since we’re not doing a hot water bath.

Combine vinegar, sugar, onions, peppers, mustard seed, celery seed, turmeric and red pepper flakes in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Divide onion and red bell pepper among the jars. (The size and number will depend on how big your sprouts are; I used 2 jars of less than a quart each.) Drain brussels sprouts and divide among jars. Pour brine over sprouts, covering as much as possible. Wipe rims clean and cover with canning jar lids. Let cool completely before refrigerating.

Rating: Dave called them tasty little pickle treats and said that next to roasting them with bacon, this was his favorite way to eat them. I wouldn’t go that far, but they’re a not-bad treatment and a sweet/savory counterpart on the plate to pork or chicken. I don’t think I’d go out of my way to ever do the water bath version, but again, that’s the beauty of quickles: You’re more willing to experiment.

This next recipe is a fine example of how freeing it is to make refrigerator pickles. I was intrigued by the gin/juniper combo suggestion in this quickle tutorial. The author outlined her standard formula for refrigerator pickles with which she's found success. I took one look at those ratios and knew they wouldn't suit me, as I don't like my pickles that sweet, but the flavor profile of the juniper-dill-gin was a winner.

Gin quickles

Adapted from food52.com

Ingredients

2 tablespoons fresh dill

1 ½ pounds small cucumbers, sliced ¼-inch thick crosswise

2 ¼ cups vinegar

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons kosher salt

4 juniper berries

1 tablespoon gin

2 bay leaves

Method

Pack pickle slices in 2 pint jars (more or less, depending on the size of your cucumbers). Divide dill among jars.

Combine vinegar, sugar, salt, juniper berries, gin and bay leaves in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar and salt are dissolved. Cool for 5 minutes and pour over cucumber slices. Seal with canning lids and let cool before refrigerating.

Rating: Very refreshing and tasty. Make great sandwich pickles. I'd make these again.

The next recipe was more or less an experiment based on what was in the herb pots. I used the brine base from a Cooking Light quickle recipe I've made for years.

Lemon pickles

Ingredients

1 pound small cucumbers, sliced ¼-inch thick crosswise

2 fat strips lemon peel (a peeler works)

4 sprigs lemon basil

A generous dash of crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup water

¼ cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

Method

Place cucumbers in 2 pint jars. Put a strip of lemon and 2 sprigs of lemon basil in each, tucking down into the cucumbers. Shake a bit of crushed red pepper into each jar and shake to incorporate.

Heat vinegar, water, sugar and salt to a boil over medium high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Let cool a few minutes and then pour over cucumbers. Seal  with canning jar lids and let cool completely before refrigerating.

Rating: Very nice, bright flavors, and nicely balanced. Repeatable combo.

And another stand-by that I've blogged about before is the Fast-Favorite Dill Pickles from Epicurious. They're good as refrigerator pickles, but they're also a great gateway to canning. And that might be a good idea, since oddly enough my refrigerator is a little full of pickles right now.