by JustLynda » March 20th, 2006, 9:30 am
I happen to love zucchini, so don't know if any of this will help. I prepare it several different ways.
1) saute with Pam, garlic, salt & pepper
2) grilled brushed with olive oil & Cavender's seasoning or marinated in Italian dressing (cut in half horizontally & vertically)
3) raw cut into ribbons with a vegetable peeler and tossed with garlic, salt, pepper, dash of olive oil and a dash of lemon juice (great with baked halibut or other white fish)
4) steamed (cut into ribbons again--sometimes sauted) and topped with tomato sauce and/or chicken
5) stir fried with chicken, mushrooms, broccoli, onions, soy sauce (or other asian seasoning)
6) baked/broiled cut into 1/4" strips lenthwise brushed with olive oil and seasonings with eggplant, yellow squash & onions topped with garlic, salt, pepper & fresh chiffanade basil leaves
As you can see, I also happen to love garlic. I haven't tried this, but I imagine you could use Worcheshire (sp?) sauce, balsamic vinegar, chicken broth, etc to season the stir fry if you get tired of soy. To me, zucchini itself has a very mild flavor and can be paired with lots of different sauces and seasonings.
Try experimenting with your favorite herbs and spices. I'm suddenly getting the urge to try a little homemade spice blend with some red chile powder, cumin, cinnamon and, of course, garlic. If you like lemon-pepper, that would probably be good, too (I use that on broiled/grilled asparagus).
I have found that one medium zucchini yields approx 1 cup cooked when I cut it into smaller, measurable pieces. So, I translate that into 1.5 medium zucchini=1.5 cups cooked veg.
You'll notice that most of my "recipes" call for olive oil. I use this sparingly!--literally just a drizzle and then use a BBQ basting brush (actually, a small paint brush from the hardware store) to spread it out.
Start Date: February 18, 2006