When we think of the bounty of summer, tomatoes, cucumbers, and corn often come to mind. But there is one vegetable that outproduces them all—the humble summer squash or zucchini. The sheer surfeit of them is multiplied by the fact that neighbors, friends, and even perhaps enemies leave them on our doorsteps.
As someone who hates to waste, I used to be frustrated by these deliveries, but over the years I have learned to bake, boil, fry, grill, stew, and sauté them. Marcella Hazan taught me to pierce them with a fork, boil them for 10 minutes, slice them open and let them shed water, and then top them with olive oil, lemon (or red wine vinegar), salt and pepper. At other times, I batter them and use them to make a zucchini Parmesan, slice them lengthwise and hollow them out to bake them with breadcrumbs, chopped tomato, and feta cheese, or simply slice thin circles of them and broil them with salt, pepper, and Parmesan. Whether baked into muffins, shredded and fried into fritters, or stuffed with lamb and rice and simmered with tomatoes, these squash can fill out a menu and, more importantly, not go to waste.
For those of you that think eating their flowers can help with population control, the flowers that are typically collected and stuffed are male, so that does not really lower the number of offspring of these highly productive vines. By the way, the singular of this Italian cucurbit is zucchine, but there is no reason to know it because you will always have more than one.
Kousa Mahshi: Stuffed Lebanese Squash
When Dennis Mareb from Windy Hill Farm gave me some kousa squash (a Lebanese zucchini), I had the good fortune of having a visiting friend who figured out the perfect use for this slightly nutty-flavored summer squash: stuffing them with ground meat and rice and simmering them in a tomato broth. If you manage to find or grow a kousa squash, use it for this by all means, but this recipe also works well with regular green or yellow zucchini. You can use ground beef or lamb, although the latter is more traditional.
This recipe is pretty fast and loose. One could change the mixture to shredded carrot and zucchini if desired, or play with the seasoning, such as adding za’atar, sumac, or the Indian seasonings suggested below. One could even add Parmesan and basil—and serve with a tomato sauce if desired. The batter will appear fairly loose while shaping it, but the fritters will take form as they hit the oil in the pan.
When my mother found a bag of zucchini on her back doorstep (not an uncommon sight on returning home in July or August), she would sometimes grate it and freeze it in 1- or 2-cup bags to be used in the months ahead. My sister has carried on this tradition, and sometimes tops her walnut-and-raisin-laden muffins with a cream cheese icing. As her younger brother, I prefer to swap out her cinnamon, raisins, and walnuts, for cardamom, pistachios, and apricots with a little grated orange zest, and to eat them uniced, but I leave you to choose a side in the sibling rivalry wars.
Lee Buttala is a writer, editor, television producer, and garden designer who lives in the Berkshires. He is the author of two garden books, writes a bi-weekly garden column for the Berkshire Edge, and is the consulting producer for Martha Gardens, a television series starring Martha Stewart.
