How do you prepare your zucchini?

[nissenpa]

Looking for side dish recipes? What do you like to do?

[Harters]

I cut long strips using a Y peeler and then "stew" in a little butter.

[lgss]

Slice and sauté with onions, garlic, red bell pepper, and mushrooms. Serve with potato salad, or black beans and brown rice, or garbanzos and quinoa, hummus and hemp chips, etc.

[Mr. Cookie]

Sauteed zucchini with summer squash, onions and mushrooms:

Quarter 2 zucchinis lengthwise and then cut quarters into 2"-3" chunks. Do the same to 2 summer squash.
Slice 1/2 an onion and saute in olive oil until soft. Add zucchini and summer squash chunks and saute on medium high heat until they start to brown.
Add sliced mushrooms and saute with squash/onion mixture until the mushrooms release their liquid and are tender.
Sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper, and serve.

[ddixson73]

I needed a recipe today, thanks for all the good tips. I think I'm going to try a little combo of some of them.

I'm going to roast some stuffed zucchini tonight. I'll split and scoop out the zucchini seeds, then season liberally with salt, pepper. I'll give it a little olive oil, to coat. The stuffing will be shataki mushrooms, onion, breadcrumb, lemon thyme, and a Parmesan-like cheese (local hard cheese I need to use up). I'll serve it with a quick little thick tomato sauce from tomato paste with basil, oregano, and red pepper flake.

[JennyHunter]

When they are in season I make zucchini bread. Great breakfast treat!

[Kaisgraham]

We have zucchin this way almost once a week: slice medium-small zuccini lengthwise and throw it in a zip lock baggie with some kosher salt and fresh ground pepper for a few hours refrigerated. Sprikle the cut side up with some garlic powder and cover it liberally with very fresh grated quality parmesan cheese. Broil for several minutes not too close to the broiler until the cheese is bubbly and very brown.

[2m8ohed]

I cut them thin lengthwise, marinate in vinaigrette, and grill them. I also like to make zucchini pancakes with julienned zucchini, salted and squeezed out - a good way to camoflauge them so the kids will eat them. I've even used prepared pancake mix with fresh basil, thyme, salt, and ground pepper to the batter when feeling especially lazy. Stuffed with a sausage/crumb mixture and baked is also nice.

[bigjimbray]

I like to cut up the squash in quarter inch rounds add a onion chopped up with a can
of whole kernal corn and cook it that way.

[AnneInMpls]

Roasted Zuchini Sticks! Cut them into batons (3" by 1/4" sticks), toss them with balsamic vinegar, dump them onto an oiled cookie sheet, and drizzle with olive oil. Add freshly ground black pepper, if you like it. Then roast at 400 until they're lots smaller - at least half the original size - and are deeply caramelized on the ends and bottom.

I can eat at least 3 medium zucchini when they're cooked this way!

Anne

[Andiereid]

Slice them, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and chopped oregano and toss 'em on the grill. Cook them until they're a little crispy and nice and brown.

[lilygirl]

Saute a small onion in butter with clove of garlic ...add 5-6 sliced zuchini saute until just tender then add about 1 cup of roasted corn kernals (I use frozen from trader joes) .. and half-cup of chicken broth (or water) ... when the kernals are heated threw add a pinch of cumin (or to taste) ... top with shredded jalapeno monterey jack cheese... cook until melted. In the summer when tomatoes are at their best ...I dice up 1 or 2 and throw it into the mixture. Enjoy.

[MeffaBabe]

I love making Fried Zuch Planks or Zuck pancakes... To do the planks you slice them lenghth wise, dip in flour then egg wash then lightly coat with a breadcrumb parmesean mixture (50/50) and pan frie till golden... serve with either sour cream or marinara sauce...

The pancake recipe
grate (i use food processor) zuchs. Wring out in towel to remove most water
Add roughly diced onions, salt, pepper, flour and eggs.
Drop by spoonfuls into frying pan with a little oil as if frying pancakes or potato pancakes. Serve these with marinar or my fav, sour cream...

[vicki_vale]

I select the smallest zukes, cut them into rounds, oven roast them at 400 with mint or oregano, smashed garlic, red onion or red pepper if I have it, a little lemon, salt & pepper.

The leftovers are good with cheese for filling omelettes.

[piccola]

I love to julienne them lengthwise so they look like noodles, then sautée with garlic and toss with herbs. (You can use an Asian-style dressing too.)

[Pate]

I make a recipe very close to this occasionally. it's good for pot lucks because it can be made in advance. I know this isn't as healthy and fresh sounding as some of the others posted (which sound delicious BTW), but I do make it and people seem to like it.

A couple of notes.
I use regular stuffing mix like Marie Callanders or Pepperidge Farm, not"chicken-flavored..."
I just saute the zucchini quickly in a small amount of boiling salted water. I don't "boil for 5 minutes". I want the zucchini to stay bright and crisp.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/summer-z...

[pemma]

One way is to slice them, sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper and thyme and roast at 450 for 15 - 20 minutes or more.

A variation on this is to sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper, garlic powder and grated cheese and roast.

Can also mix in summer squash for color.

This is a quick and easy way to get some tasty fresh vegetables for a weeknight dinner.

[Aromatherapy]

Slice thick, sautee in olive oil with whole garlic cloves over pretty high heat, turning once when the first side is brown. You want them to get a rich brown but still a little crispy in the middle. Can be embellished with lemon or lime juice, vinegar, and/or herbs.

[smtucker]

1. steamed lightly, serve with a spritz of lemon juice.

2. In a sautee pan that can go into the oven, sauteé onions and garlic before adding some tomato and herbs of choice. Place rounds of zuchinni over the tomato/onion mixture to totally cover, and place in a 350º oven. When zuchinni begins to soften, spread grated parmesian cheese over the top and broil until brown.

3. tempura

[gourmanda]

grate, drain, squeeze in a towel to remove all moisture. saute w/ minced shallot in a little olive oil, s&p. simple, sweet and flavorful

[weezycom]

I sautee some minced onion and garlic in olive oil, add zucchini rounds, sautee until the zuke starts to soften, add some crushed tomato, oregano, S&P, fresh basil, cook until zukes are tender through, and top with freshly grated parmesan

[C. Hamster]

Very close to a Julia Child recipe.

Shred 2 zuccini, salt it lightly and draw the moisture out. Fry up a some bacon. Remove the bacon and crumble. Set aside. Pour off all but a little bacon fat. Sautee a medium onion, sliced, inthe fat. When the onion is soft, turn up the heat to high and add in the zuccini and bacon add pepper to taste. Sautee, stirring, till done (maybe 2 min).

[patz]

do you rinse the salt off or just throw the zucchini in as is?
Thanks!

[luniz]

oven roasted with herbs de provence.

[abud]

I LOVE this dish: thinly slice the zucchini, lightly brown then on one side in a pan with olive oil, then turn over, add chopped tomatoes and minced garlic. Cook until tomatoes and zucchinis are cooked, stiring all the flavors together. Salt and pepper, serve. Good hot, good cold, good two days old.

[ricepad]

Grate zukes into a bowl, crack some eggs (usually about the same number of eggs as zucchini) into it, mix well, and stir-fry in a hot wok. Drizzle some oyster sauce over it, and serve w/ hot rice. If you want, throw just about any kind of meat (chicken, pork or shrimp are all good) cut into bite-sized pieces into the wok first, and add the zucchini/egg mixture in when the meat is about half done.

[ballulah]

I do something similar but more structured. I use a lttle less egg, and I add a couple of tablespoons of flour and some grated onion and chopped cilantro, salt & pepper, maybe some parmesan, etc. I heat up some vegetable oil in a large skillet and make fritters. I use a 1/4 cup measure to put heaping scoops in the oil and then flatten with a spatula.

[Food Smith]

My favorite quick zucchini dish - often with other squashes as well - is to cut zukes into chunks and make a quick stir fry in olive oil (sometimes I add sesame oil for zing) add s&p, maybe garlic powder, or red pepper and voila! an easy hot side dish in less than 5 minutes.

[paulj]

I finish mine with lime juice and cilantro

[Food Smith]

That sounds good! Now I shall too. Thanks.

[chowser]

One thing I do is slice them lengthwise, scoop out the center, fill and bake. Usually, I'll use ricotta, eggs, parmesan, herbs but I'll use whatever I have (salami is good). Then I cover them w/ tomato sauce, mozzerella cheese and bake. Kind of like mini lasagnes in zucchini boats.

[pescatarian]

My personal favourite and simplest way to prepare zucchini on the side is to cut it into round slices and pan-fry olive oil, S&P, lots of fresh garlic and a splash of lemon juice at the end.
We had a wonderful roasted zucchini, cauliflower and potato dish in an Indian cooking class I took also. It had freshly crushed black cardamom, chili powder, garlic, cumin and S&P, lemon juice and was roasted in the oven, for about an hour.

[chicgail]

I agree with your method, but I like to sprinkle it with Parmasan cheese just before it goes to the table.

[leanneabe]

I used to do this all the time and then forgot about it. I just made this last week to go with some scallops and my boyfriend thought it was the best ever. I slice the rounds thinly so they cook faster and use less oil. Yum yum!