Zucchini Three Ways

Ahh- It's that time of year when farmers markets and CSA's bring forth all the yummy summer vegetables for us to turn into something delicious. I love when the seasons change and I have a whole new lot of fruits and vegetables to create with. Enter zucchini! I have been getting vegetables delivered from Misfits Market which is a subscription company that sends you all organic produce that got rejected from being sold in traditional stores because they are either too big, too small or a funny shape.  The last few deliveries have brought us some GIANT zucchini, or "googootz" as the Italians like to call them (thanks dad for a lesson in North End history!).  Zucchini is a wonderful vegetable mainly because it is so versatile- you can find countless ways to eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even dessert.   Another benefit of zucchini is that the taste is very mild so you can even sneak this past the toughest food critic in your house. My girls, though they usually eat anything, have something against this poor vegetable in it's natural state so I often find myself "doctoring it up".  

I could fill up multiple blog posts with zucchini love but for now I'll just share with you the three recipes I made this past weekend with this veggie as the star.  It's not often that I follow a recipe exactly but in these instances I pretty much did, so.. I will share the recipe links directly. It's always great to know a familiar face vetted one of the thousand Pinterest recipes you may have stumbled upon and wondered if its worth making... so here you go!!

**One tip I want to share, that is not necessarily apparent in each of these recipes,  is that you really need to SQUEEZE the heck out of the shredded zucchini before adding it in your recipe or else the texture of your finished product will be off... I like to shred it with a grater and lay on a clean dish towel, sprinkle with a little salt to help draw the water out and let it sit for 15 min or so... then wrap up dish towel and give it a few good squeezes. You'll be amazed at how much water comes out!

Here are some of my favorites:

1. Breakfast-  Apple Cinnamon Zucchini Muffins 

https://www.persnicketyplates.com/apple-cinnamon-zucchini-muffins/

These are so so good, it is hard to just eat one so you might want to double the recipe and make 2 dozen..... They also freeze very well. I tend to end up with so many extra apples from my Misfits box so this is a good use of those too. A fruit and veggie in one bite- winning!  There's even a video tutorial on the site.

2. Lunch/Dinner-  Zucchini Fritters

https://www.evolvingtable.com/zucchini-fritters-recipe/

*pic from website- I ate mine so fast I didn't take time for a photo!

OMG do I LOVE a fritter! Anything lightly crisp and begging for a dip in sour cream makes me happy so this recipe does not disappoint! I doubled it naturally. I do recommend the added step of tossing them in the oven after a quick pan fry- the texture was perfect.  These little babies are great for a light lunch or as a side with some grilled fish or meat. I made my own dip by mixing sour cream with a little squeeze of dill from "That's Tasty" https://thatstasty.com/product/organic-dill-puree/ . I actually use lots of their "squeeze spices" such a time saver and great to have fresh herb flavor without the stress of herbs going bad.

3. Dessert- Instapot Chocolate Zucchini Cake

 https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/instant-pot-chocolate-zucchini-cake/

I stumbled across this recipe about a year ago when I got my Instapot- which by the way is a whole other story.  I was a total skeptic at first but I now love love love this kitchen gadget.  It can do anything! I'll have to do a separate post for my affinity of 'potting.  But for now I was really craving something chocolaty this weekend and with the COVID crisis I try not to just succumb to my sweet tooth and aimlessly find my way to a local bakery etc... I did however hit up my Pins and was pleased to see I had all the ingredients I needed for this one.  This recipe comes together very quickly as it all goes in 1 bowl. The hardest part is finding a pan to fit inside of your Instapot.  I definitely added more zucchini than called for and it still came out great. This cake was begging for a touch of creaminess and was perfect topped with a little whipped cream to cut the sweetness. It's divine warm!

Well there you have it! I hope you'll add one of these zucchini recipes to your menu this summer! I'll be back with another zucchini edition I'm sure!! Enjoy! xo

Family Favorite- Chicken Broccoli and Ziti!

Ok, Honestly, who DOESN'T love chicken broccoli and ziti?! It's a timeless Italian-American classic that can pretty much be found on any restaurant menu but I much prefer my home version. This recipe is also super easy to customize as we all like ours a little different. The girls prefer a creamier sauce so I add half and half to theirs at the end, while I like the more traditional olive oil garlic sauce. John, well he orders his up gluten free, so I bread his chicken in almond flour and serve his over either zoodles or potato gnocci. 

Yes, this one does take a little more time to prepare and a lot more dirty dishes to clean but it's the weekend and I promise you it's worth it! 

Total cooking time: 40 minutes

What you'll need:

2 lbs chicken breast or tenderloins 
1 cup breadcrumbs

2 eggs

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1 box pasta of your choice

1 head broccoli

2 cloves garlic

olive oil

1/4 cup white wine

lemon

                                         half and half (optional)

Preparation here is KEY, especially if you are not super comfortable in the kitchen.. This is one of those recipes that you can find yourself running frantically around in circles because there's a lot going on! First off- set all of your ingredients out on the counter, fill a big pot of water, rinse your broccoli and cut your chicken into chunks. 

Next prepare your "breading station"- I get two shallow bowls, one gets the 2 eggs with a splash of water, scrambled up, the other gets the breadcrumbs plus some salt, garlic and a generous amount of grated cheese.  This granulated garlic is one of my favorite foodie products- all the garlic flavor, none of the work. It came in a variety spice kit from Spicewalla that I got for Christmas, highly recommend!!

Remember last post we talked about the difference between Parmesan cheese and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese? Just look at the difference  below~ the "real stuff" is all knobby with salty crystals on its surface which gives it amazing flavor and which is why a little of this expensive version packs a big flavor punch... get it!!

Breading station ready to go!

Next grab a big tall sided skillet (did I mention I LOVE my Copper Chef pan?) and coat bottom in olive oil.  Heat on medium. Season your raw chicken liberally with salt then dunk in the egg mixture (mine looks weird because I used liquid eggs from a carton because, hey pandemic- I'm not about to sacrifice an egg I could bake a cake with for breading chicken LOL) then roll around in the breadcrumbs and place in a single layer in the heated oil. 

Don't overcrowd your pan, you will need to do this in batches- drink some wine and enjoy the process :-) You want the oil hot enough to hear a "sizzle" but not too hot that it burns the coating... Just listen to this delicious sound.. wish you could smell it!

You want to let the chicken sit for about 3 min before flipping over, so that it gets a nice brown coating, because nobody likes the eat pale looking chicken! Flip over and repeat on the other side- we aren't cooking the chicken all the way through here, it's going to finish cooking later! 

Meanwhile salt your water and when it boils toss in the big head of broccoli. We are par-boiling it to keep the color bright and soften it up just a bit so that it doesn't fall to mush in our pasta dish.  Needs about 5 minutes tops in the boiling water then take out and set aside- by the way see that kitchen tool I used? It's called a "Spider" and you need one!!

This is also a time saver because you can now use the same water to boil your pasta! Go ahead and do that now!

Once all of your chicken has been partially cooked it's now time to put it all together!  Add some more oil to the pan and then some chopped garlic.  

Toss back in the chicken and a swig of white wine- I prefer Pinot Grigio for this but any white wine with the exception of Reisling will do. Scrape up those yummy brown bits of flavor and coat chicken well.  Add in the broccoli and some grated cheese.  

Then for my secret ingredient- grate some lemon peel into the pan- this really adds an extra layer of flavor (your'e so fancy!)  Saute for 2-3 more minutes until chicken is cooked through.. then turn off the heat and add in your pasta to get it tossed in the sauce. 

**If you prefer the creamier version add some half and half now. A little twist of lemon juice over the top and you are ready to plate this masterpiece!

Mangia! Enjoy every bite of your kitchen victory- and delegate the dishes to someone else! xo