Scary Huge Zucchinis: Part 4: Frozen Shredded

The fourth and final thing we did with our plentiful bounty of alien like Zukes was to simply shred and freeze them.  This allows us to pull them out of the freezer at any point during the winter when we want to make bread, zucchini cakes, stir fry, what-effing-ever we want.  With the effing huge zukes, you definitely want to peel them and de-seed them (saving the seeds) because the skin is basically impenetrable and the seeds will destroy your shredder.  Next, quarter them and use a cheese grater to shred them.  If you have a food processor with a shredding attachment like we do -

- it's way easier and takes half the time, but it's up to you.

Before freezing the shredded Zukes you are going to want to blanch them.  I throw the shreds in boiling water for approximately 3-4 minutes, and then lay them on a paper towel to dry.

Once the shreds are completely dry, portion them into pint sized zip top bags.  SG normally potions them in 1 1/2 cup servings.  Place all of the smaller sealed bags into one, large freezer bag, and you're good to go for the rest of the winter.

There are few breakfasts that I look forward to making more than Zucchini cakes.  So effing easy too.

Zuke Cakes Recipe:

1 1/2 Cups shredded zucchini

1 egg, beaten

approximately 1 tablespoon of flour (i never measure for this)

pepper and salt to taste

fresh (or dried) chives to top

Mix everything but the chives in a bowl.

Heat butter and a little oil in a skillet.

Drop batter mix onto the skillet, flatten slightly, and cook until golden brown.

Top with chives and destroy them.

Now THAT tastes effing awesome.  I'm hungry.

UPDATE:
...so hungry that I woke up the next morning and made them for breakfast.  Ahhhh.  Satisfied.

Scary Huge Zukes: Part 3 - Zucchini Bread/Muffins

The third batch of effing huge Zuke recipes involved a classic Zucchini bread recipe, that has been passed down within Super Greenie's family for years and years.  Also, because we had 300 pounds of Zucchini, Super Greenie (SG) also made up some Zuke Muffins for her fellow teachers.   

Personally I prefer the gold ole' bread, but this turned out pretty well.  This recipe has been passed down by SG's Aunt Tam, who is a wonderful baker/cook herself.  I'm not much of a baker, so sharing the recipe is pretty much the extent to which I was involved in the endeavor.

Here's the Recipe for the bread:

AUNT TAM'S ZUCCHINI BREAD

3 Cups Flour

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 Cup oil

1/4 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 Tbs. vanilla extract

3 Cups grated Zucchini

Mix flour and dry ingredients together.

Beat eggs well, add sugar and oil to eggs.

Add vanilla to the wet ingredients, and then mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients.

Stir in the Zucchini.

Pour into two greased loaf pans (or muffin pans).

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

 Here's the recipe for the Muffins:

Zucchini Muffins
3 Cups Grated Zucchini
2/3 Cup melted butter
1 1/3 Cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking soda
3 Cups Flour
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 Cup walnuts
1 Cup raisins or craisens

Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Combine sugar, eggs, vanilla.  Stir in grated zucchini and then the melted butter. 
Sprinkle in baking soda and salt and mix again.
In a separate bowl mix flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon.  Stir into wet mixture, then add the nuts and raisins. 
Bake 25-30 minutes, makes approximately 12-14 muffins.

SG did state that with the effing huge Zukes you may want to add a little honey or extra sugar to the mixture because of the large zukes being less sweet than the normal sized ones.

I like my zuke bread sliced and warmed with a little melted butter on top.  Tastes effing awesome.

Scary Huge Zukes: Part 2 - Roasted Zuke Seeds

When you're dealing with gargantuan zucchinis, you're going to have large seeds to contend with.  If you saved all of the seeds from making your Zuke Soup, you're one step closer to a simple, tasty treat. 

You are going to lose some seeds if you quarter the zukes like in the picture below.  It's almost impossible to cut your zucchini without slicing some of the seeds in half.  The good thing is, even the halved seeds are yummy when roasted.

After separating the seeds from the zuke gunk, boil them in salty water for approximately 10 minutes.  This will aid in completely removing all of the gunk, as well as softening them for a nice toasty roast.

Lay the seeds out on a paper towel and allow them to completely dry overnight. 

 

Once the zuke seeds are completely dry, mix them with some melted butter, olive oil, and coarse sea salt.  I had approximately 1 1/2 cups of seeds, and used 2 Tbls of butter, 1 tsp olive oil, and 1 Tbl of salt. 

Once again lay them on a paper towel to dry the excess moisture.  You still want them to have a nice "sheen" on them from the butter and oil, but you do not want them soaking in the mixutre. 

Once the excess fat is removed, place them on a cookie sheet and then into a preheated 300 degree oven. 

Zuke seeds roast a little faster than pumpkin seeds, so keep an eye on them and remove them when they turn a nice golden brown (usually about 30 minutes).

Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.  If they last more than a few days you will want to then move the container into the refridgerator, but they are nomally gone before you have to worry about that. 

It's a nice way to use those giant seeds, and they taste effing awesome.

 

Scary Huge Zucchinis - Part 1: Zucchini Soup

We have all seen it before.  That one Zucchini (or 3) that grows tucked under those giant leaves, and by the time you find it it's 23 times the size of a normal zucchini.  It scares you when you see it.  "Woah!! Oh my God, what is tha...oh, it's a Zucchini.  I thought for sure I just dug up a petrified dinosaur turd from a Brontosaurus that discovered a field of Broccoli. " 

The good thing is that there is a TON of zucchini meat once you can break through the turd's skin.  The bad thing - or things, are that 1) the skin is rapidly turning to steel, 2) the seeds are no longer the size of cucumber seeds, but more like pepitas, and 3) the fruit is losing it's natural sweet flavor.

Because of those differences with the overgrown Zukes, the same old recipes are not going to taste the same or as good.  We need to make some adjustments.  Tonight Super Greenie and I came home and tackled 3 effing huge Zukes.  We finished the night with 4 varieties of Zucchini.  Here is part 1.

Zucchini Soup (canned):

Recipe (makes 4 pints):

1 1/2 Large Zukes or 4 Normal Zukes - peeled, de-seeded (save the seeds), and cut into 2 inch cubes.

4 Cups of Water.

1 Tbl. canning/kosher salt.

2 Tbl. Lemon Juice

Pinch of ground ginger.

Cook Zukes and water in a stock pot until zukes are soft. 

Blend until smooth with a hand-held blender stick or in a food processor or blender.
Add back into stock pot.

Add Salt and Lemon juice, bring back to a simmer and simmer for at least 5 minutes.

Place into pint jars, adjust two piece lids, and put into a pressure canner.

Cook for 60 minutes at 10 lbs. pressure.

 This soup is awesome by itself (I prefer it with a little more Ginger, fresh if you got it).  It can also be "doctored" up with your favorite herbs and spices, or because it is so simple it can be added to other recipes.  Simple, good, and a nice way to preserve and conserve those effing huge Zucchinis.  Stay tuned for part 2.