Hey, Zucchini Farmers!

It's that time again! The time when the residents of a certain small town lock their cars, not because they are afraid something will get stolen, but because their neighbors, who have a zucchini plant or two, will sneak a bag onto the front seat of any car that is left unattended!

Don't forget:
Zucchini Cheddar Breakfast Biscuits
Ratatouille
Grilled, marinated zucchini (below) for an Italian Antipasto plate
and best of all: Zapples!

A zapple is what you do with a big, woody zucchini that's too big for any of the other uses, except maybe ratatouille (the diameter of an apple), peeled, seeded, cut into thick slices, and stewed with cinnamon, lemon juice and sugar. I tell you true, you can bake zapples into a pie, strudel or tart, and no one will know the difference. Also makes lovely zapplesauce and zapplesauce muffins. All courtesy of Andrea Chesman's great book The Garden Fresh Vegetable Cookbook.

To grill zucchini, eggplant or radicchio for antipasto, cut into manageable slices (for zucchini and radicchio, quarters lengthwise usually work, eighths for larger specimens. Thick slices for eggplant, also lengthwise. Marinate in olive oil and balsamic with a sprinkle of salt, grill until just tender, then put the warm vegetables back into the marinade to come back to room temp before serving. Salt more or add fresh chopped garlic or herbs to taste if desired.

Mike and I made some delicious burritos the other day with barbecued chicken, grilled zucchini, sour cream, homemade salsa fresca, lime and cilantro. We were using up leftovers, so we were both pleasantly surprised by how delicious our healthy meal turned out.

Berry Buttermilk Cake

This recipe is from the July issue of Bon Appétit magazine, originally for Blackberry Buttermilk Cake. I used blueberries and raspberries, as the blackberries from the garden have already come and gone.

If you read the comments on the recipe link, you'll see that there was a wide range of results, from overcooked to raw. I used a 10", glass-bottomed springform pan, set slightly higher than the middle of the oven. At 1 hr, the top of the cake did look quite brown, probably due to my poor positioning of the oven rack, so I covered it with a loose piece of foil, and it turned out just right when checked at 1:20.

As I sometimes (but not always) do when trying a recipe for the first time, I followed the recipe almost to the letter, including the double-sifting of the cake flour. (I did leave out the orange zest.) All ingredients were at room temperature. The sugar was a slightly coarser grain than my usual baking sugar, but as I said, it seemed to turn out just fine. The cake was moist and had a nice, creamy flavor, and the raspberries added just the right tang to the sweet blueberries. (About 3/4 blueberries to 1/4 raspberries).

When I do this again, I don't see any reason to use a springform, rather than the upside-down cake method (Plum or Pear) in a regular pan, as long as your pan is both wide and high enough to hold this amount of batter. A thicker pan will transfer heat more evenly than a thinner pan, so use a good quality cake pan.

I found the sequence below of, "Remove pan sides. Invert cake onto rack and remove pan bottom; peel off parchment." to be unnecessarily complex, not to mention awkward with a warm cake. (We had a bit of a fail on this part, which didn't affect the deliciousness.) Much easier to invert a single cake pan onto a plate, allow to cool further and remove, or, if you've used a parchment circle, cool, invert, de-pan, remove parchment. If you do use a springform, I'd recommend loosening the edge with a knife, then inverting onto a plate, then removing the sides, then the bottom, then the parchment, rather than trying to get a rack involved.

All that said, this is a very tasty cake. I may just adapt my normal USDC recipe and use sifted cake flour and buttermilk to get the flavor without the fuss.

Berry Buttermilk Cake

Ingredients

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan and parchment
2 1/3 cups cake flour (sifted, then measured) plus more for pan
2 1/2 cups (10 ounces) fresh blackberries
1/4 cup plus 1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
Powdered sugar (for dusting)
special equipment:

Use a 9"-10"-diameter springform pan
Preparation

Position a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350°. Butter pan; line bottom with a round of parchment paper. Butter parchment. Dust with flour; tap out excess. Arrange berries in a single layer in bottom of pan; sprinkle evenly with 1/4 cup sugar.
Sift 2 1/3 cups flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a medium bowl; set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat 3/4 cup butter and remaining 1 1/3 cups sugar in a large bowl at medium-high speed, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and zest. Reduce speed to low; beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating just until incorporated. Pour batter over berries in pan; smooth top.
Bake until cake is golden brown and cake bounces back when pressed gently with fingertip, about 1 hour 25 minutes for a 9" pan and about 1 hour for a 10" pan. Let cool in pan set on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then run a thin, sharp knife around the edge of the pan to loosen. Remove pan sides. Invert cake onto rack and remove pan bottom; peel off parchment. Dust top generously with powdered sugar and let cool completely.

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/07/blackberry-buttermilk-cake#ixzz1TuJ47OSM