Zucchini Gratin: Finding Ways to Use All That Zucchini

People really want zucchini recipes right now, and I'm glad to give them one. In the summer, we're all thinking of ways to use up zucchini but not keep making the same old boring zucchini bread over and over. So here are some ideas to help you consume all that zucchini.

If any of you have read the wonderful book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, you know how she writes about finding ways to use their out of control zucchini from their garden. She and her daughter provided some great recipes, including one for really good zucchini chocolate chip cookies and a great zucchini orzo. If you don't have the book, you can find those recipes here on their website.

And over at Spinach Tiger, Angela has posted a delicious looking zucchini chocolate cake that I may have to make soon. And that young food whiz, Tony Tahhan, shows how to make a gorgeous zucchini and goat cheese pizza.

Now, don't you feel better about all that zucchini in your garden?

As for this recipe, I think you'll love the addition of the pancetta to the zucchini, which gives it a nice salty kick. Try making your own bread crumbs and using fresh rosemary. It really makes a difference.

Zucchini Gratin

for a printable recipe, click here

1 large sweet onion, sliced
extra virgin olive oil
kosher or coarse sea salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
freshly ground black pepper
2-3 medium zucchini
10 slices pancetta
1/3 cup bread crumbs *
2 large springs rosemary, minced
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Cut off the ends of the zucchini and slice them lengthwise, about 1/4 of an inch thick until you have 10 slices. Set aside.

In a skillet, saute the sliced onions with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and large pinch of salt until soft. Add garlic and black pepper and saute for a couple of minutes. Place the onions in an oven-proof dish.

Season the zucchini slices with some salt and pepper. Top each one with a slice of pancetta. Layer the zucchini over the onions in the ish, slightly overlapping. in a small bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, rosemary an cheese. Sprinkle over the zucchini and drizzle with additional olive oil.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. You can turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes at the end if you need the pancetta to crisp up some more.

* Tip: Make your own bread crumbs with leftover bread. They are far superior to what you can buy in the store. Just place the bread, with the crusts removed, in your food processor and grind away. Fresh bread crumbs can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for quite a while. I make whole wheat bread crumbs all the time from leftover good quality whole grain bread.

For another zucchini recipe, try my mom's Zucchini Lasagna:

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Radicchio Risotto With Grilled Radicchio

When Brian and I took the boys to Italy, we wanted to eat lunch at a place near the Vatican that a lot of these Italian travelers recommended. It was a lunch we never forgot. We still talk about it and laugh. The place is Dino and Tony's and it is run by two brothers - Dino out front and Tony in the kitchen, neither of whom speak English. When we arrived for lunch, we were not offered menus at all. Dino told us he was going to bring out special antipasti for us and then asked if we like pasta. Well, sure, we said. Before we knew what was happening, he disappeared into the kitchen and then brought out two pizzas, a platter of prosciutto and salami, a platter of grilled vegetables, a platter of potato croquettes, fried olives stuffed with meat and a bottle of Chianti. This was just the antipasti! Then he delivered large bowls of radicchio risotto. "Where is the pasta?" I asked him. "After the risotto," he said. I knew we were in trouble. The risotto was so good, I couldn't believe it. Then the pasta came - Rigatoni Amatraciana. Delicious and perfectly cooked. Dino came to our table again and announced "Dolci!" and presented us with an assortment of desserts and dessert wine. We were all groaning.

That evening, we could hardly eat dinner. I had a small bowl of minestrone soup and called it quits.

This radicchio risotto is like the risotto Dino served us but I have added grilled radicchio, which is brushed with olive oil and herbs. When figuring portion sizes for risotto, allow 1/4 cup dry rice for each person.


Radicchio Risotto

for a printer friendly recipe, click here
serves 4

2 heads radicchio
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons each chopped fresh thyme and parsley
1 tablespoon kosher salt

6 cups light beef broth or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
kosher salt
1 cup arborio or carnaroli rice
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 cup grated Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, herbs and salt. Slice one radicchio head in half and then into quarters. Brush the quartered radicchio with olive oil mixture and set aside. Take the second radicchio head and slice off enough into small strips to make about 3/4 cup. Save the remaining radicchio for another use (you can add this raw to salads).

Bring the stock to a simmer on the stove and keep warm.

In another pot, add the olive oil and onion and saute slowly with a good pinch of salt until onion is soft. Stir in the radicchio and then stir in the rice and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes. Pour in the wine and cook for a few minutes until it has evaporated. Add two ladlefuls of the hot stock and cook, stirring, until is has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock, a couple of ladlefuls at a time, until the rice is tender, about 25 minutes. Regularly stir the risotto. When the rice is tender, remove from heat and add the cheese to the risotto.

Meanwhile, light a grill and over medium high heat, grill the radicchio for a few minutes each side and serve along with the risotto.

For another risotto recipe, you might like Asparagus Risotto

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Slab Pie for the Fourth of July

When  you need a dessert for a lot of people, this is it.  This beautiful pie is baked in a rimmed sheet pan and serves at least 12 people.  It's perfect for the Fourth of July because cherries are in season right now.  If you have even more people to feed,you can even make two pies - one with cherries and one with blueberries for a real Fourth of July look.  

Don't be scared of making this pie dough from scratch.  When I say it is easy, it is very easy - if you have a food processor.  I can make pie dough in under one minute in my food processor.  All you do is throw in the dry ingredients, pulse, put the butter through the feed tube, pulse, and then add the water and pulse until it all comes together in a ball.  Done.



And I have a fool proof tip for rolling out pie dough.   Most people flour their working surface and then roll out the dough and end up getting frustrated.  Lay a piece of plastic wrap on your working surface, dust with flour, place your dough on that, dust dough with flour,  and then place another piece of plastic wrap on top of the dough.   When you roll out your dough between two sheets of plastic wrap, you won't believe how much easier it is.   And if you've adequately floured them, they just peel right off.    The plastic wrap trick also makes it easier to roll up your dough around your rolling pin for easy placement on the sheet pan.  

When I had to pit cherries in the past, I used a handheld cherry pitter and it was a mess and slow and difficult. This cherry season, I purchased the Leifheit Cherry Pitter and what a difference this makes. It's very quick to pit a batch of cherries and I don't have to wear an apron to do it.

Slab Pie

adapted from Martha Stewart Baking Handbook

for a printable recipe, click here

Slab Pie Dough (pâte brisée)

3 ¾ cups all purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons coarse salt
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
½ cup ice water

Place the flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.  Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 seconds.  

With machine running, slowly pour the ice water through the feed tube until the dough just comes together in a ball.  

Divide the dough into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other.  Flatten a little, dust with flour and wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.
Pie Filling

2 ½ pounds (about 6 cups) fresh cherries, pitted, or 2 ¼ pounds (about 6 cups) of fresh blueberries
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
juice of ½ lemon
¼ teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, stir to combine, set aside.  


Glaze:
2 tablespoons heavy cream
¼ cup sanding sugar or granulated sugar

To make the pie:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger piece of dough into a rectangle, a little bit larger than your baking sheet.  The original recipe calls for a 15x10 baking sheet, but I used a 13x10 quarter sheet pan.  To make this easier, place a piece of plastic wrap on your working surface, dust with flour.  Place pie dough on top, dust with flour and place another sheet of plastic wrap on top.  When your dough is the right size, lay your rolling pin on top of the top sheet of plastic wrap.  Start rolling the dough around the rolling pin, leaving the bottom sheet of plastic wrap on your working surface.  Dust the dough around the rolling pin as you go, so it will not stick to itself.  Lift rolling pin over your baking sheet on one end and unroll dough.  Remove plastic wrap from top.  Fit into your rimmed baking sheet, pressing into corners (pastry will hang over sides).  Spread filling into pie shell.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out remaining piece of dough to the size of your pan.  Using same method as above, drape dough over filling.  Fold edge of bottom dough over top dough. Pinch edges to seal  Prick the top dough all over with a fork.  Brush the entire surface of the pie with the cream and sprinkle with the sugar.

Bake until crust is golden brown about 40 to 55 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool just until the pie is still warm to the touch.  Serve warm or a room temperature.  Cut into 12 pieces. Slab pie can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.

make ahead tip:  You can make this pie in the morning and then stick it in the fridge.  When it comes time to bake it, there is no need to bring it to room temperature.  Just pop it in the oven.  



For more Fourth of July recipes from one year ago:  

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Fettunta - or the Best Garlic Bread You'll Ever Have

There are many ways to make garlic bread and I certainly make it different ways.  But this way is by far my favorite.  In Italy, to celebrate the first olive oil of the season, they make this simple fettunta - or "greased slice".   It's simply grilled bread, rubbed with a garlic clove, drizzled with the best olive oil you have, and then sprinkled with coarse sea salt.  You won't believe how great it is.  There is a very unique taste you get if you use a raw garlic clove on a slice of fresh bread.  If you want, you can add a topping to make bruschetta, but this is my favorite way to make garlic bread to accompany dinner.  Many times I buy a whole grain or multi grain loaf to make this with and it's delicious.  As always, with simple recipes with few ingredients you need to use the best ingredients you can - a good, fruity extra virgin olive oil and some outstanding sea salt.*

This grilled bread is a must to accompany dishes that have a nice broth or sauce to sop up, like a cioppino or a ragu sauce.

Fettunta

for a printable recipe, click here

1 loaf good quality bakery bread

1 or 2 whole garlic cloves, cut in half
extra virgin olive oil
coarse sea salt

Have all ingredients ready for the grill.  Slice your bread into 1 inch slices.  Grill on each side. While hot, rub each slice on one side with the cut side of a garlic clove.  Drizzle olive oil over the slices and sprinkle with a generous amount of sea salt. 

Rub the cut side of the garlic clove  on the hot bread.


Brush with lots of good olive oil.

See this wonderful gadget?  My lovely and thoughtful sister-in-law, Deb, gave this to me and I love it.  I used to pour some olive oil into a little bowl and use a pastry brush to apply the olive oil, but now I use this thing.   It's called an Oil Wand and I use it for many things.  It always has olive oil in it and I can grab it quickly when I need it.  Thanks, Deb!

* The salt I use is my favorite salt - it's an Italian sea salt from the Adriatic Coast sold by Casina Rossa.  It's a great finishing salt.  I love good salts - they add so much to your cooking.  Rick Bayless said that most home cooks make two common mistakes:  they don't cook over high enough heat and they don't use enough salt on their food.


 If you love to try new salts, head on over to The Meadow.  The Bittermans sell gourmet salts, exotic chocolates and wine in Portland, Oregon.  Doesn't that sound like a great place?  We are making a trip out to Oregon next month and I plan on stopping by and loading up on salt, for sure, and whatever else we can't do without.  I can hardly wait.  Jump on over there and check out their beautiful web site.

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Chocolate Panna Cotta

Panna Cotta is one of those great desserts that you can make ahead of time.  It's so quick and easy and can be served in any pretty glass.  When I make this recipe, I always have some mixture left over and I pour the extra into small ramekins.  You can also pour this into coffee cups or espresso cups for a really fun presentation.

Panna Cotta means "cooked cream" in Italian and is a very adaptable recipe and  can be flavored with just about anything.  If you want to leave out the cocoa powder from this recipe, you can add some vanilla bean and have vanilla panna cotta.  Or add a touch of honey or a little pureed blueberries.  You really can flavor it any way you like.  

When you cook this, be sure to gently heat the mixture.  Do not let it boil.  Make sure all the sugar has dissolved before removing it from the heat.



Chocolate Panna Cotta

for a printable recipe, click here

makes enough for 6 large panna cottas or 12 small ramekins, with some leftover

1.5 cups whole milk
4 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
4.5 cups heavy cream
good quality cocoa powder, 2 to 4 tablespoons
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt

chocolate and white chocolate bars, for garnish

Put the milk in a medium saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin over the milk. Let it stand for about 5 minutes to soften. Turn heat to medium and stir milk just until the gelatin dissolves.

Add the cream, sugar and salt. Whisk in the cocoa powder until you get the amount of chocolate you like. Whisk over low heat until the sugar completely dissolves, just a few minutes.

Remove from the heat and let cool completely. (I pour the mixture into a 6-cup Pyrex to cool.) Stir mixture frequently during cooling to prevent skin from forming. Pour the cream mixture into 6 martini glasses or into a dozen small ramekins.

Cover and refrigerate. Chill until set. 

With a vegetable peeler, shave small chocolate curls from each of the chocolate bars onto the panna cotta.

Can be made the day before.
For some other delicious panna cotta recipes (White Russian panna cotta, anyone?) check out these sites:

Delicious Days
Baking Obsession

For another dessert served in glasses, try these peanut butter and chocolate pudding parfaits:

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Sgroppino - Italian After Dinner Drink

In Italy, digestivos are commonly drunk after the meal and when we were in Sicily, we certainly had our share of Averna after meals.  But this digestive is drunk in the Venetian region of Italy and is bright, fresh and clean.   A sgroppino is made by whipping together Italian Prosecco, lemon sorbet and vodka.  Sgroppino means "to untie" as in, to "untie your stomach" after a meal.  So you have a great excuse to make these after dinner!   But hey, these are so refreshing we drink them on a hot summer day before dinner.

Some versions of this drink use gelato but most use sorbet, which has no dairy.  When you make this drink, don't use a blender - whisk in the sorbet by hand so that it retains some of its texture.  You don't want it too thick, but you don't want it real thin, either.  

You can certainly buy store bought sorbet, but making your own is so easy.  If you still haven't bought an ice cream maker, think seriously about purchasing one now.  With all the fruits coming into season soon, there is nothing like fresh ice cream and sorbet.  This is the one I use and this is my master ice cream recipe.  But I also use mine to make sorbets.  With some fresh fruit you can make sorbet with just water and sugar.  That's it.  No funny ingredients - better than what you can buy in the grocery store.  And this lemon sorbet is outstanding all by itself. Keep the extra in a plastic container in your freezer.  


Sgroppino

for a printable recipe, click here

1-1/2 cups lemon sorbet
3/4 cups Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine)
¼ cup vodka

fresh mint or lemon slices to garnish

In a small bowl or pitcher, whisk together all ingredients.  Pour into chilled flutes.  Garnish.

to make fresh lemon sorbet:

Lemon Sorbet

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1.5 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Combine the sugar and water in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 4 minutes. Cool completely.

Add the lemon juice and zest to the sugar water. If not making sorbet right away, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Turn on ice cream maker and pour in ingredients. Allow to mix and freeze until desired consistency.

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Bouchon Bakery's "Nutter Butter" Cookies

The last time we were in Napa Valley, I drove by Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery and I couldn't believe the line outside the door.  But that makes sense because anything that Thomas Keller does is going to be wildly popular.  Thomas Keller loves to put his own modern spin on old cookie classics, like the Oreo cookie and this one - the Nutter Butter. 

Bouchon Bakery's "Nutter Butters"

for a printable recipe click here

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons baking soda

1 pound (4 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup coarsely chopped peanuts
2.5 cups quick-cooking oats

For the filling:
1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1- 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar

For cookie dough:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda; set aside.  Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and peanut butter.  Add sugars and beat at medium speed for 4 minutes, scraping down bowl twice.

At low speed, add eggs and vanilla.  Add flour mixture and beat at low speed until well mixed, frequently scraping down bowl.  Add peanuts and oats, and mix well.  Using an ice cream scoop 2 inches in diameter, place balls of dough on parchment lined baking sheets at least three inches apart.  Bake until cookies have spread and turned very light golden brown, about 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool and firm up, 5 to 10 minutes.  Transfer to a rack to cool completely before filling.

For filling:  using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, peanut butter and confectioners' sugar until very smooth.

To assemble cookies, spread a thin layer (about 1/8 inch) on underside of a cookie.  Sandwich with another cookie.  Repeat.

Yield:  24 large cookies.

tip:  Measuring peanut butter in a regular measuring cup can be difficult, messy and not very accurate.  To make the job easier, purchase one of these Wonder Plunger measuring cups that are designed for difficult to measure ingredients, like honey or molasses.  When you push up the bottom of the cup, the peanut butter comes right out, cleanly and accurately.

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