Z is for Zucchini
A poor gardener’s friend, the zucchini rewards inattention with a bumper crop. But ignore this veggie at your peril. With back turned for a day and you find a modest fruit has grown to the size of a baseball bat. This tendency alone is why it is good to raise a pig next to the summer garden. Pigs will eat your oversize zucchini and overripe vegetables. And they would eat your baseball bat for that matter.
Two good plants will provide all your “zuke” needs for a season. So productive you scramble for ways to eat them: layered in lasagna or simmered in tomato sauces, bread and butter pickles or added to your kimchi, baked into a sweet bread or made into a savory pancake with fresh yogurt and chives.
But our favorite way of using excess zucchini is to stealthily leave them on a neighbor’s porch, ring the bell and run.
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Reading this weekend: Roots: the definitive compendium by Diane Morgan, a cookbook devoted to roots. And, Roast Figs, Sugar Snow: winter food to warm the soul by Diana Henry. A bit obvious as to what is on my mind this week.
