Zucchini-palooza
Must-try zucchini recipes
By this time of summer, zucchini is everywhere and it’s about as fresh, bountiful and inexpensive as it gets. Whether you have a vegetable garden, a share in a CSA (community-supported agriculture) or you are just trying to make the most of what’s at the market, you are probably wondering what to do with an excess of the vegetable. These recipes will help you take advantage of it in ways so different from one another—cooked in savory pancakes, pureed in a refreshing, creamy soup, and raw in a summer-y salad—you’d never know you were eating the same vegetable in each of them. It’s a full-on zucchini-palooza! Enjoy!
Zucchini Pancakes with Yogurt-Feta Sauce
Photo by Randi Baird, food styling Suzanne Lenzer and prop styling Maeve Sheridan for Whole in One
The pancakes are made with shredded zucchini that is squeezed of its liquid, an essential step for keeping these light and crisp. The zucchini is held together with egg and a little whole wheat flour and simply seasoned with onion and salt, then pan-fried in olive oil until they are soft and tender inside with a supple crispness outside. Served hot with a generous, cool dollop of creamy yogurt-feta sauce perfumed with fresh dill, I’m willing to bet that, like me, you will start plotting to make these again as soon as you have your first taste.
Chilled Zucchini Avocado Soup With Basil
Photo by Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post
This green goddess of a summer soup incorporates heaps of sliced zucchini that is simmered with sauteed onion and garlic in chicken broth (you could substitute vegetable broth to make it vegan) until the vegetable is tender. The mixture is blended with avocado and fresh basil, then brightened with lemon juice and zest before it’s chilled.
Cool and light, but creamy with the velvety richness of the avocado, it is a soup that is as refreshing as it is fulfilling. Not to mention, it makes a good dent in that supply of zucchini.
Zucchini Carpaccio Salad
Photo by Sreal Boruchin
Using spiralized zucchini gives this simple but scrumptious salad a dose of fun, but you could absolutely just slice the vegetable thinly instead. While the zucchini is served uncooked, it doesn’t taste raw per se — a sprinkle of salt and a half hour draining in a colander transforms it, concentrating its flavor and softening it to the texture of al dente pasta. Served topped with parm, pine nuts and basil with a lemon olive oil dressing, it’s both modern and classic at the same time.