More Zucchini Love

Last night I made lasagna, but instead of pasta noodles I used strips of zucchini. It'd been quite a long time since I did this last, so I worried if Greg would remember he'd liked it before. Guess so - he had two helpings. :o)
This is not so much a recipe as a technique for using the zucchini in place of noodles. Here's how it went: First, a giant zucchini. I've placed the regular-sized jar of spaghetti sauce next to it so you can see how bit the monster is. To the left you can see a little bit of the biggest knife I own. It, too, is huge.

Ah, the giant knife and a strainer-full of zucchini "noodles". If you click on the photo to enlarge you'll see the kosher salt I sprinkled liberally all over them. This draws out the water, thus the strainer. I only left these about 15 minutes - next time I'll prepare them earlier in the day and let them drain lots longer. The finished product was still a bet wet.

Here I have rinsed the salt from the noodles and am patting them dry. See how perfectly sliced they are? No? Well, neither are my fingers, which is what would have happened had I striven for perfection. Believe me. I have scars to prove it.

Ah, the final layer. Here is where you just use your favorite lasagna recipe and assemble as instructed, though obviously using the zucchini instead of pasta.

(Have I mentioned often enough so far that we're using the zucchini in place of noodles?)

And here it is, folks! It was yummy and juicy and I really liked the texture of the noodles, but it didn't have a "squashy" taste.

Let me know if you try it - I'd be interested to hear what you think.

I Dream of Zucchini

So far I've picked 6 zucchini from my garden. Six mutant zucchinis. One day they're just little babies, a few inches long. Two days later they're the size of a small child. Okay, maybe not that big, but these puppies are BIG. The first two were sliced lengthwise and frozen - I'll use them in place of noodles for lasagna. Yes, Greg eats it. Yes, he likes it.

The last four of the monsters plucked from the mother ship were shredded and bagged for the freezer. TWENTY-SIX cups of shredded zucchini. We'll be enjoying that in breads and muffins for quite awhile.

I did save a few slices of the last zucchini so I could make this recipe from Tyler Florence. Obviously we like zucchini in baked goods and in place of pasta, but I'd never had it raw, so I only made a tiny version of Tyler's dish and had it for supper last night before I left for work. Okay, now I can't wait to make it again, and to serve it to Greg.

Even with my love for Tyler Florence and his delicious recipes, I did make a couple of minor changes in my version, and I know what I'll do different next time. Those notes are in parentheses in the recipe.

Enjoy!





Carpaccio of Raw Zucchini







2 zucchini (about 1 1/2 pounds total), sliced into paper-thin rounds



Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper



Extra-virgin olive oil



1/2 lemon, juiced



1 young leek, white and light green parts only, sliced paper-thin into rings and thoroughly cleaned (I used thin slices of red onion because that is what I had.)



1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs, such as chervil, dill, chives, and chive blossoms (I used dill and chives - cut from my garden. Yea!)



1 cup ricotta cheese



Fresh mint leaves, for garnish, optional







Shingle the zucchini slices in a single overlapping layer on a platter. Dust with salt and pepper, then drizzle with a 3-count of olive oil and the lemon juice. Put that into the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to give the flavors a chance to get into the zucchini. Now scatter the leeks over. Sprinkle with the herbs. (I mixed the herbs with the ricotta cheese. Next time I'll just scatter the herbs over, and forget the ricotta altogether. It wasn't necessary.)



Garnish garnish with the ricotta cheese and mint leaves, if using; serve.