Egged Fried Zucchini Recipe

It's THAT time of the garden season.

Zucchini and yellow squash are growing rampant amongst my other poor crowded plants in the garden beds. Beyond rampant. I was gone for one week. ONE. I came back to 16 overlarge zucchini and yellow squash. I've barely made a dent in the amount (though most have been grated and frozen in 3 cup amounts for future zucchini bread).

Today I found 7 more fat specimens. When is that "National Give Your Neighbors Zucchini Day?"

Here is a simple recipe I love to use to help absorb the plethora of squash.

Egged Fried Zucchini

Ingredients:

~ washed and sliced (about 1/4" thick) zucchini or yellow squash
~ eggs, whisked until broken apart; 1-2 depending on how many zucchini you are preparing
~ cayenne pepper, just a good sprinkle
~ olive oil

To prepare:

1. Heat a skillet on medium heat. Add olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan.

2. Whisk eggs and cayenne in a flat bottomed pan. I love to use my cake layer pan. It's perfect.

3. Coat zucchini slices in egg mixture and put in hot pan. Let cook without turning at least 2 minutes so the egg batter stays on. Carefully flip to the other side and cook until browned.

4. Place cooked zucchini slices on paper towels to absorb extra oil and moisture.

5. Eat while hot. This is the easiest step, as they are so tasty you won't be able to stop yourself. But beware of burned fingers and tongues!

A Garden Harvest You Won't Believe

Yes. From our two new blueberry bushes, the harvest came up to exactly 1 tiny but incredibly delish blueberry. ONE.

Other crops are producing just fine. Oddly, yellow squash is outperforming zucchini this year. Usually it's the other way around.

The garden layout as seen from the patio.

My experiment of potatoes in a bag is going astray. This bag has a hole. I am fairly certain the kitties have provided assistance in broadening the gap.

Volunteer sunflowers are in full bloom and are attracting families of goldfinch. The kitties have been warned that goldfinch are not on the menu. Starlings, yes. Goldfinch, no.

How is your garden growing?

Zucchini Tugboats

Crispy brown cheese atop juicy tender zucchini tugboats. Just add sour cream and salsa.

It's zucchini time! The time when, just this morning there were no fully grown green garden jewels, and this afternoon, well, surprise -

a lurker the size of a small tugboat.

Stuffed zucchini, one of my favorite summer treats, lends itself well to stuffing. Each year I stuff, bake, and devour zucchini boats. And every year I include different ingredients in the stuffing. Tonight I even had stuffing leftovers, which shall be transformed into stuffed peppers tomorrow night.

Or we could just use up the other discovered tug zucchini and have a repeat. Hmmm. Choices, choices.

Zucchini Boats

Preheat oven to 425.

1 large, overgrown zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise and scooped out (leave end caps on to contain stuffing)

Stuffing:

1 tube spicy sausage
olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, diced
1 grated and blotted red potato (use paper towel to absorb liquids)
broccoli, cut into small pieces, about 1 cup
cauliflower, cut into small pieces, about 1 cup
fresh green beans, broken into one-inch pieces (precooking will make sure they are not chewy like mine!)
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 cup roasted corn
water (about 3/4 cup, just enough to make stuffing a little saucy)
2 T. cumin
2 T. chili
2 T. oregano
1 T. Mrs. Dash
fresh ground black pepper
crushed red pepper flakes

grated cheese (your choice)

Toppings: sour cream and salsa

1. Cook sausage, onion, garlic, and potato in about 2 T. of olive oil. Stir often. Potato tends to stick.

2. Add all remaining ingredients except cheese and toppings. Stir often. Cook until blended and bubbling.

3. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and arrange zucchini boats in the middle. Fill with stuffing mixture. I smash it down and let it overflow. Top with grated cheese.

4. Bake about 40 minutes, or until fork easily pierces skin of zucchini. Keep watch over toppings to avoid burning.

5. Cut in half to serve. Top with sour cream and salsa.

Delish!

Tip: Use leftovers to stuff peppers or a second zucchini tugboat. Sometimes I add brown rice to the stuffing mix.

Zucchini Wars

It took hand clippers, a butcher knife, my shredder, the big measuring cup, a large mixing bowl, and almost 30 zip-quart bags, but I won.

The Attack of the Zucchini Monster was thwarted by stalwart stealth (snuck up on them as they lay there growing larger, fatter, longer, hotter), elbow grease, skinned knuckles (still using the original grater from the beginning of the marriage days), sweat equity, and the upright freezer.

Just you wait, zucchini monster. This winter, when I'm baking the thirtieth batch of whole wheat zucchini bread, I will reflect back and smile.

Zucchini Monster - zero.

Me - 1.

Stir Fried Garden

Another delicious meal, compliments of my garden, God (the Grower), a few grocery store items, and leftovers from a BBQ. Oh, what to do?

Stir Fried Garden Beans & Zucchini
1 zucchini, sliced
1 yellow squash, sliced
10 or so small yellow tomatoes
1/4 of an onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 c. fresh green beans, whole
1 leftover BBQ'd sausage, thinly sliced
Olive oil
Fresh ground black pepper
Crushed peppers (to taste)

Add a few T. of olive oil to a saute' pan. Saute' onion and sausage. Add green beans when other is hot. Let beans begin to turn cooked green and add squash/zucchini. Let cook almost all the way (not mushy). Add tomatoes the last 2-3 minutes of cooking. Sprinkle with black pepper and crushed peppers. Eat warm. (We ate ours with multi-grain pepper jack cheese quesadillas).

C'est bon!