By Nicole Hvidsten, Star Tribune (TNS)
Cooks and gardeners poke fun at zucchini all season long, but the summer squash deserves respect. Few fruits and vegetables are able to move between sweet and savory genres with such ease.
Need a quick side? Slice it or dice it, drizzle with olive oil, breadcrumbs and Parmesan and pop it in the air fryer or sauté pan. Want a low-carb substitute for pasta? Zoodles it is. Planning a special dinner? Zucchini can be a sturdy vessel for all manner of fillings from a variety of global cuisines.
Its presence in baked goods is equally prolific. On the sweet side, zucchini breads and muffins are suitable for breakfast, and the squash also pairs well with chocolate, resulting in top-tier cakes for dessert. Its friendly flavor can accompany carrots in a carrot cake and is equally at home in cookies. (If you’re baking for picky eaters, just peel away the green.)
We all have our favorite ways to enjoy this summer mainstay. But just as there’s always more zucchini, there are always more recipes to try. A new crop of cookbooks takes us through Ireland, Italy, Greece and around the Mediterranean, giving us a savory zucchini bread, zucchini cacio e pepe, fritters and spiced wild rice stuffing.
They also give us the excuse to call zucchinis courgettes, which sounds a lot fancier when you’re leaving them on a neighbor’s doorstep.
On the Versilia coast in Tuscany, bakers are known for scarpaccia, a simple round zucchini bread. (The word roughly translates to “old shoe.”) Unlike the zucchini cakes we typically have in the United States, this bread is savory, not sweet. The zucchini is sliced instead of grated and Parmigiano Reggiano adds a nice cheesy note. Make sure to save some zucchini slices for a decorative topping on the recipe.
As for that pasta, “cacio e pepe is probably my favorite pasta dish of all time,” writes Theo Kirwan, author of “Saladology.” “Heavy on the black pepper and pecorino, it’s so beautifully simple. I’ve drawn on that classic Italian concept to create this special vegetable recipe. I’m not about to tell you that zucchini pasta is better than spaghetti, because it’s not! But something magical happens when you braise zucchini in their own juices. This could be thrown through pasta, as the zucchini become quite jammy and soft, but it’s stunning as a side dish.” (It’s easily doubled or tripled, too.)
There are all sorts of stuffed zucchini recipes out there, but this version by cookbook author Ben Tish is “a vibrant, summer plate inspired by a lovely lunch I once enjoyed in Izmir. I love slowly cooking zucchini in the oven to intensify their natural sweetness and, as here, they make a great vessel or ‘boat’ for a nutty, spiced rice filling.
“A fresh tomato sauce always works well with roasted courgettes and I’ve added a warm note of cinnamon. You can add grilled halloumi to this if you fancy, but in all honesty, it’s deliciously fresh and vibrant just as it is. Although I suggest serving this dish hot, both the zucchini and sauce are equally good served at room temperature with a salad alongside.”
Here are all the how-tos.
Makes 1 (9-inch) cake; serves 8
½ cup (100 grams) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing and drizzling
2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs, beaten
2/3 cup (150 grams) whole milk
1 cup (142 grams) toasted pine nuts
2 small zucchini (10 to 12 ounces total), sliced very thinly crosswise into rounds on a mandoline (about 3½ cups)
6 or 7 basil leaves, sliced into thin ribbons
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brush the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with oil, line with parchment paper and brush the parchment and sides of the pan with oil.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ½ cup Parmigiano, salt, baking soda and baking powder.
Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the eggs, milk and ½ cup oil. Whisk the wet ingredients to combine, then, using a rubber spatula, fold them into the dry ingredients. Fold in the pine nuts, followed by all but about 20 slices of the zucchini. Stir in the basil.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it into an even layer. Arrange the reserved zucchini on top in a circular pattern.
Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup Parmigiano on top of the zucchini. Drizzle a few tablespoons of oil on top.
Bake for 45 minutes, until the edges pull away from the sides of the pan, and the cake is firm to the touch. The cheese and zucchini slices will be golden brown. Set on a wire rack to cool completely. Run an offset spatula around the edges of the zucchini bread to loosen before removing the sides of the pan, slicing and serving.
— “Italian Snacking” by Anna Francese Gass (Union Square & Co., 2024)
Serves 4
3 1/3 cup (100 g) baby spinach
1 large zucchini
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ bunch of dill, mint or flat-leaf parsley, or a combination
4 green onions
¾ cup (100 g) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
¼ cup (50 g) plain Greek yogurt
1 cup (100 g) feta
Olive oil
1 lemon, to serve
Roughly chop the spinach and place in a colander set in the sink. Trim and coarsely grate in the zucchini, add to the colander and toss the vegetables with the sea salt. Mix together well and leave for 15 to 20 minutes to draw out the moisture. Give the mixture a good squeeze to really extract all the water, then transfer to a large mixing bowl.
Finely chop the herbs, trim and finely slice the green onions, and add both to the bowl. Stir in the plain flour, baking powder and a good pinch of black pepper. Beat in the eggs and yogurt. Crumble and fold in the feta.
Line a plate with paper towels. Place a large frying pan on medium heat. Pour in enough olive oil to just cover the base. Spoon in the fritters, one heaped tablespoon of the batter at a time — don’t crowd the pan. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until golden and crisp, then transfer to the paper-towel-lined plate. Keep frying until all the mixture is fried.
Serve with a generous pinch of salt on top and lemon wedges for squeezing over.
— “Greekish” by Georgina Hayden (Bloomsbury, 2024)
Serves 2 as a side
2 zucchini
3 tablespoons good-quality olive oil
Small handful of basil leaves (about ½ ounce)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed with the side of a knife
Generous pinch of salt
1½ tablespoons pecorino cheese, plus extra to serve
Lots of freshly ground black pepper
Squeeze of lemon juice, for serving
Cut the zucchini into discs about ¼-inch thick. Place a heavy-based flameproof casserole or saucepan with a lid over the lowest heat you can. Add the olive oil, zucchini, basil, smashed garlic cloves and salt. Stir it all together, then cover the pan with the lid and cook very, very gently for 30 minutes. The zucchini shouldn’t fry or be getting any color, but mostly steaming in the moisture coming from them. Lift the lid to check on them from time to time, gently stirring them around to make sure they all cook evenly.
Discard the wilted basil leaves and garlic (or remove and mash the garlic into a paste, then add it back to the pan), then grate in the pecorino, add 20 grinds of black pepper and very gently stir into the zucchini.
Spoon the braised zucchini onto a serving plate and serve with an extra grating of pecorino, a little extra black pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.
— “Saladology” by Theo Kirwan (Mitchell Beazley, 2024)
Serves 4
For the tomato sauce:
3½ tablespoons (50 g) butter
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
About 6 Roma tomatoes (750 g), roughly chopped
Leaves from 4 or 5 fresh thyme sprigs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
For the zucchini:
1 cup (160 g) wild rice, washed
Olive oil
1 large red onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ras el hanout
Leaves from 4 or 5 fresh thyme sprigs, plus extra, to garnish
5 large zucchini
2/3 cup (80 g) green olives, pitted and halved
Handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
6 tablespoons (50 g) pine nuts, toasted, to garnish
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
First make the tomato sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When it’s sizzling, add the garlic, cinnamon and red pepper flakes. Once the garlic starts to color, add the tomatoes, thyme leaves and salt and pepper, then simmer, uncovered, stirring often to avoid the sauce sticking and burning, for 30 minutes, or until it is thick and rich.
Using a blender, immersion blender or food processor, blitz sauce until smooth. Set aside.
Meanwhile, bring 1½ cups of water with a generous pinch of salt to the boil in a large saucepan. Add the wild rice and return the water to a boil, then lower the heat and leave to simmer until all the water has been absorbed. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and leave the rice to steam for a few minutes. Drain well and set aside.
Heat a good splash of olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the onion, ras el hanout and thyme leaves with salt and pepper and leave the onion to sweat, stirring occasionally, while you prepare the zucchini.
Cut the 4 largest zucchini in half lengthwise, then scoop out the flesh with a teaspoon, leaving an edge of about ¼ inch thick. Chop the zucchini flesh, then finely dice the remaining zucchini. Add all the zucchini to the onion and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes, or until softened but without color.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Place the hollowed zucchini halves upright in a roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to the oven and roast for 15 minutes, or until tender.
Mix the cooked rice with the onion and zucchini, the olives and half the parsley, then season. Divide equally among the zucchini halves and drizzle with olive oil. Return to the oven for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, until the zucchini is just tender. Reheat the tomato sauce, if necessary.
To serve, sprinkle the zucchini with toasted pine nuts, the remaining parsley leaves and the extra thyme leaves. Serve with the warm sauce.
— “Mediterra: Recipes from the Islands and Shores of the Mediterranean” by Ben Tish (Bloomsbury, 2024)
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