Zucchini: From Flower to Bread

Olive Oil Zucchini Bread.

I planted a couple of zucchini plants in my raised bed this year, and so far I have harvested two zucchinis.  The plants are quite lovely, and they produce beautiful yellow flowers of two kinds: male and female.  It is the female flower that produces the fruit (yes the zucchini is actually a fruit even though we think of it as a vegetable).  Botanically speaking a fruit develops from the ovary of a flower. 

Zucchini developing from the ovary at the base of female flower petals.

As I said it is the female flower that develops into the zucchini squash. 

Lower flower is female developing into zucchini.  Male flower above produces the pollen.

One of my zucchinis still on the vine.

I am quite fond of zucchini bread so I used part of my zucchini harvest to make a loaf of  bread using a recipe that was in the NY Times.  It uses olive oil instead of butter. 

I mixed the wet ingredients together.

Wet ingredients.

Wet ingredients mixed together.

Then I mixed the dry ingredients together, and folded the dry into the wet.

Mixed dry ingredients.

Ready to bake at 350F for 40 to 55 minutes.

After 50 minutes of baking here is the loaf of bread.

Olive Oil Zucchini Bread.

It is quite delicious.  Maybe not quite as good as the recipe that calls for butter instead of olive oil, but I like to think of this as a pretty healthy variant.  

Chocolate Zucchini Cake (I goofed!!!)

Chocolate Zucchini Cake (Photo from www.Penzeys.com)


I was in Shelby recently and my friend PJ made some delicious zucchini nut bread.  When I got home I noticed the bounty of zucchini at the Farmer's Market so I bought some.  Later while  looking through my Penzey's magazine, I found this recipe for chocolate zucchini cake, and I thought it the perfect recipe for using  the zucchini.

• 1/2 Cup margarine or butter (1 stick), room temperature
• 13/4 Cups sugar
• 1/2 Cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
• 1/2 Cup buttermilk or sour milk (1/2 Cup milk plus 1 tsp. white vinegar = sour milk)
• 21/2 Cups flour
• 4 TB. COCOA POWDER
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. PENZEYS CINNAMON
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 Cups grated zucchini, peeled if desired, drained (about 2 medium)
• 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 Cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 325° (for a glass pan) or 350° (for a metal pan). In a mixing bowl, cream together the room temperature margarine/butter and sugar. Add the oil, eggs, VANILLA and buttermilk and mix well. In a small bowl, combine the flour, COCOA, baking soda, CINNAMON and salt. Gradually add to the wet ingredients and mix well. Fold in the zucchini. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chips and nuts over the top of the cake. Bake at 325° for 45-50 minutes or at 350° for 35-40 minutes. Let cool before cutting. Prep. time: 20 minutes Baking time: 35-50 minutes Serves: 12-15 Gather your ingredients. Ingredients. Cream butter and sugar. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs,oil, vanilla, and buttermilk. Add wet ingredients. Mix dry ingredients. Dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients. Fold in grated zucchini. Fold in grated zucchini. Out of the oven. The cake has the consistency of brownies rather than cake.  Mine came out with the consistency of brownies---not light as cake should have been.  What went wrong?  As I looked back over the recipe I discovered that I had added baking powder instead of baking soda.  When I googled to see if it is possible to substitute baking powder for baking soda I learned that yes, that is possible, but when doing so one should add 4 times the amount of baking powder.  I had added only 1 tsp of baking powder and I should have added 4 tsps.  (Well actually I should have added baking soda as the recipe called for---must have been having a "senior moment".) Mistake number two:  When I was measuring the flour I discovered that I had only a cup of all purpose flour. Not wanting to make a run to the grocery store, I remembered I had some whole wheat flour in the freezer, so I substituted 1 1/2 cups of this in place of the all purpose flour.  After seeing that the cake was too dense, I thought perhaps it was because of the whole wheat flour substitution.  Sure enough, when I googled, I learned that when substituting whole wheat flour for plain flour use about 3/4 cup of whole wheat for each 1 cup of all purpose flour.  I didn't reduce the amount of whole wheat flour but used the full amount called for in the recipe.   Another "senior moment", I forgot to add the vanilla.  That didn't affect the texture, but it did affect the flavor.  There is cinnamon in the cake so the cake was flavorful but the flavor would have been better with the vanilla. Well one thing, Dan loves brownies, so he thinks the "brownies" are good.  I will make this recipe again though making sure I follow the recipe exactly---no substitutions.  Check out this recipe at www.penzeys.com.  I get all my spices at Penzeys.

Great Use of Zucchini

Zucchini Nut Bread

Each time I was in Shelby recently my friend PJ gave me a loaf of her zucchini nut bread, and it was delicious.  That reminded me of the recipe that I have used for years---out of the Southern Living Hospitality Cookbook.  With zucchini plentiful at the Farmer's Market, and with PJ's bread long gone I decided to make some.  Here's the recipe I use.

One of my favorite cook books.

Ready for oven.

Out of oven to cool.

Ready to eat.

Good plain----

---or even better with a dollop of whipped cream.

This freezes particularly well.  I'm going to stock up with several loaves to have on hand in the freezer now that zucchini is so plentiful at the market. 

Zucchini Mock Crab Cakes

We didn't grow any zucchini squash here this year, but our neighbors have a bountiful supply, and Angela brought us several large ones last week.  I made four loaves of zucchini-nut bread, and yet had more zucchini left.  I found this recipe for mock crab cakes using zucchini.  If you are a vegetarian you will love this.  We're not vegetarians and we like it a lot too.  And it's so easy to prepare.

2 cups coarsely grate zucchini (pat dry with paper towel to remove liquid)
1 cup bread crumbs
2 T mayonnaise
2 eggs
2 t Old Bay seasoning (I couldn't find Old Bay here, but used a seafood seasoning that worked.)
1 T garlic (minced or dried)

Mix together ingredients.

Spray pan with olive oil and add a bit of butter.

Fry until brown on both sides.

Makes 8 servings.

Zucchini Nut Bread

Zucchini Nut Bread

I've had the Southern Hospitality Cookbook since 1976, and it is one of my favorite cookbooks.  The Cookbook Book Club this month will be discussing recipes from Southern Living Cookbooks, and each person will take one of the dishes that he/she has prepared to share with the group at the meeting tonight.  I'm sharing the Zucchini Nut Bread from this cookbook. Here's the recipe:

I first made this one summer in the late 70's when I had a lot of extra zucchini.  And I've made it frequently since.  It is a favorite at our house. For this one I used walnuts, but often I use pecans.  I use Canola oil.

Grated zucchini.

Dry ingredients sifted together.

Walnuts and raisins ready to add.

This is good plain or we like it with mascarpone cheese when it's warm just out of the oven.  It freezes well too.

Plain.

With mascarpone cheese.

Zucchini Boat Meatloaf

Zucchini boat meatloaf.  Photo by CookinBug

Each day I receive an online recipe from  Allrecipes.com.  This is one that I received recently.  We like zucchini and we like meatloaf, so I tried this.  I thought I would share the recipe with you.  Zucchini Boat Meatloaf

If you like to cook you might want to check out this website.

Ingredients

• 1 large zucchini, cut in half lengthwise
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef sirloin
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/4 cup grated carrot
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 (26.5 ounce) can spaghetti sauce, divided
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Scoop out and discard zucchini seeds, leaving the hollowed-out shells. Sprinkle the garlic salt into the hollowed-out zucchini, and set aside. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix the ground beef, eggs, bread crumbs, basil, carrot, and Parmesan cheese together with the onion mixture. Stuff the zucchini halves with the meat mixture, and place them into a baking dish. Spoon about half the spaghetti sauce over the zucchini, covering all the meat and allowing sauce to drip down the sides of the zucchini boats.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the meat is no longer pink in the center and the zucchini are tender, about 45 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the zucchini, and return to oven until the cheese melts, about 5 more minutes. Heat the remaining spaghetti sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat while the zucchini boats are cooking. Serve the zucchini boats with the additional sauce on the side.

These and a hot crusty loaf of French bread will make a quick and tasty supper on one of these evenings. Perhaps you are tired of holiday foods and would like a little something different.