3 posts tagged “zucchini”

This meal didn't actually use anything from the CSA, but that's ok, because it was so darn good! Friday and Saturday, there was entirely too much BBQ stuff on Food Network making us hungry, and Seattle has a lack of "good" BBQ joints, so Leah decided to "make her own damn ribs!"  She got recipes and tips from amazingribs.com and she spent parts of Saturday and Sunday making the ribs. She used the Memphis Dust rub for overnight and a Lexington Dip for the sauce. It was a perfectly balanced sauce of spicy, sweet and vinegary. The ribs themselves took about 5 hours to cook in the oven, basting every 30 minutes. While they were cooking, I spent the day cleaning off the deck so we could eat outside and converting the old rusted-out gas grill to a charcoal grill and she made potato salad. It turned out so good, we are planning to try some more recipes soon!

On Sunday, we picked up some King salmon at the farmer's market, so we used some of the leftover Memphis Dust rub on it and grilled it with some CSA zucchini. Leah made a mash from some CSA potatoes and about half a head of cauliflower, with a little cream cheese in it, since we were inexplicably out of butter! The salmon turned out perfect! The seasonings from the rub wasn't overpowering at all, it was just the right amount and sweet and salty to go with the fish.

Ah green beans, we can never get enough of them! I am sure someday they will become like broccoli to me (which I am just tired of eating for the most part), but for now, I still love em and order them in the CSA every week. My favorite way to prepare them is to toss them with olive oil and S&P and garlic, roast them in the oven on really high heat on a pre-heated pan for about 15 mins, so they get browned on both sides at the same time, then squeeze lemon juice over them at the end. It's super easy and so delicious. This time, Leah added a little hot pepper flakes, to make it more like szechuan green beans, since she made another chinese dish: white peppered pork slices.

What better way to use up a whole bunch of carrots than to make a carrot cake? I used up about 2/3 of the carrots from the CSA just for this cake, which I made on Saturday. We just finished off the last pieces on Thursday night. So, this cake has carrots, walnuts, pineapple and giant golden raisins. I also replaced half the oil with applesauce. The frosting is just a standard cream cheese icing recipe (cream cheese + butter + sugar). It turned out pretty good, but I think next time, I'll use crushed pineapple instead of just tidbits to give it a tad bit more moisture. And maybe soak the raisins first too.

Super simple dinner, nothing fancy. We made some easy chicken marsala, steamed some couscous with chopped zucchini and tomato and oven roasted some broccoli and green beans with olive oil, garlic and lemon.

Leah made a little meatloaf using up some of the green onions and garlic from the CSA, paired with beluga lentils and a salad of spicy greens mix, tomatoes and raw zucchini, all from the CSA. The salad mix has some nasturtium flowers in it as well, which are also a little peppery! Leah made the lentils with leftover CSA carrots, green onions, garlic and beef bullion.

We used up the rest of the zucchini for this homemade pizza, which also has garlic, red onions and tomatoes and a mix of mozzarella and goat cheese. The dough was just pre-made from Trader Joes, so it was super easy to just assemble the pizza and bake it. I can honestly say that it was my favorite veggie pizza so far, even with my least favorite of vegetables. I think zucchini is growing on me. I certainly like it better than cucumbers in salads!

We steamed some rice in the rice cooker with a can of diced tomatoes and chopped up "spicy greens" mix from the CSA. Leah made a spicy sauce from roasted tomatillos, roasted jalepenos, roasted green onions, lime, cumin and garlic. She pan fried some onions and halibut and then simmered the fish and onions in the sauce and served it over the rice with avocados and tortillas on the side. The sauce was really delicious and went great with the fish!

Ah, zucchini bread... the best use for zucchini, in my opinion! I'm not the biggest fan of summer squash, so I made this on Friday evening, before dinner. It made a very nice dessert and snack over the next few days.

Even after making the zucchini bread (2 loaves!), we still had a zucchini left. I had to look up online some interesting way to prepare it and found this, which turned out really nice. Just cut the zucchini in half lengthwise, brush with a little butter and sprinkle on some grated asiago cheese (or parmesan) and broil in the oven for about 10 mins, til it browns. The potato salad is boiled fingerlings tossed with a pumpkin-seed oil, dijon and sherry vinegar dressing while still warm.