Battle: Zucchini

I don't know if you remember the humongously giant zucchini I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. Well, we had another one-- gosh darnit if those things don't triple in size when you're not looking. It served as a sculptural piece on our dining room table for a couple of weeks, and tonight I finally dismantled and cooked it. It was at least a foot and a half long, and at least 10 lbs.

Now it is zucchini pancakes and zucchini casserole. The casserole was made without a recipe by scooping out the central seedy bits and cutting the remaining flesh into wide sticks, then shredding them in the food processor with a little bit of torpedo onion. The shredded zucchini went into cooking-sprayed aluminum pans, was sprinkled with shredded cheese (whatever I had in the cheese drawer, which was ends of parmesan, gouda and smoked gouda- good!). Then a mixture of egg, milk, salt, pepper, flour and a pinch of baking powder was poured over it. It's baking now, at 350. I'll let you know how it turns out. Smells good now.

The rest of the zucchini was shredded, mixed with 1 egg, flour, s&p, baking powder, per the instructions in this month's Food and Wine for Wolfgang Puck's Potato Pancakes, except with the zucchini substituting in for the pancake. Pretty damn good. That was dinner.

Tomorrow morning, when the white peach pie cools, and the casseroles are out of the oven, I will give you a picture. For now, here's the recipe for the pancakes. I'll bet they'd be just as good with potatoes, but when's the last time you had a ten pound potato to use up?

Wolfgang Puck's Potato Pancakes
2 medium baking potatoes (1 lb.) peeled (or shredded zucchini!)
1 small onion
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil

1-In a food processor or box grater, coarsely shred the potatoes and the onion. Transfer to a large, clean kitchen towel and squeeze dry

2- In a medium bowl, mix the shredded potatoes and onion with the egg, flour, baking powder, 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of black pepper

3- In a large nonstick skillet or on a griddle, heat the vegetable oil until shimmering. Drop 2 tablespoons of the potato mixture into the skillet and flatten with the back of a spoon to make a 3-inch round. Make about 5 more pancakes and cook over moderately high heat until golden on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden, about 2 minutes longer. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining potato mixture. You should have 12 pancakes.

4- Arrange the potato pancakes on a platter. Serve warm, with dill sour cream or creme fraiche, smoked salmon and caviar.

Five other ways to use an overabundance of fresh zucchini:

1. Toss with balsamic and olive oil, roast in the oven. Store refrigerated. Today I had a panini sandwich with roasted eggplant, zucchini, pesto and provolone for lunch, and it was deeeelicious.

2. Dice and add to corn-tomato salad. Its flavor is so neutral that it blends into any salad.

3. Julienne and marinate with thinly sliced red onion in rice vinegar and olive oil. Add to chilled cooked angel hair pasta with halved cherry tomatoes from the garden or toss with parmesan and top a green salad.

4. Cube marinated, roasted zucchini and mix with goat cheese and fresh herbs. Stuff small zucchini or eggplant with the mixture, top with parmesan and bake. Excellent vegetarian entree.

5. Ratatouille! Thank you, Disney, now everyone can pronounce it. I will post my ratatouille recipe later this week, as we have just gotten our first eggplant and peppers in the veggie box. It's a good one. Go buy some herbes de provence, and I'll meet you back here. Ratatouille is a great topper for risotto, pasta, a filler for sandwiches, and it freezes well enough to bring back a bit of summer in the middle of winter. Plus, it's great with rose!