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Lock Your Doors

Look at how fresh all of this is. YUM.

There is a joke that floats around in the summertime in Maine: When zucchini season hits, lock your car doors because someone will probably drop some off in your seat if you are not careful.

The joke originates from the fact that even one zucchini plant will not only grow an inordinate number of zucchinis, if left on the vine, those zucchinis become MASSIVE. Here are a few of mine that  I left one extra day by accident:

These things could feed a family of twelve for a month!
These things could feed a family of twelve for a month!

This year I have tried to become as creative as possible in cooking with zucchini. I found this FABULOUS chocolate zucchini cake recipe that I have definitely added to my repertoire. I traded out the walnuts and added chocolate chips, swapped 3/4 C applesauce for 3/4 C of the oil (leaving the other 3/4 C as is), put it in a bundt pan, added a bit of cooking time, topped with a delicious chocolate glaze and VOILA, one zucchini down.

I have also added shredded zucchini to my morning scrambled eggs. I have added it diced to chili. I have thrown slices on the grill. Anything that I could think of to use up this delicious but prolific veggie.

My favorite recipe BY FAR, however, would have to be this Stuffed Zucchini Egg Roll recipe that I threw together in a desperate “What the hell am I going to do with all of this???” moment. While the typical Italian type stuffed zucchini is good, I wanted to use more of the ingredients that I had lying around: freshly harvested garlic, carrots, cabbage, and green onions; frozen ground pork from last year’s pig; fresh ginger left from some Indian dishes that I have been experimenting with. Those ingredients screamed EGG ROLL to me — and why not stuff the filling in zucchini for a healthier treat? Why not, indeed.

The resulting recipe was not only unbelievably delicious, it was also incredibly healthy as our pork tends to be quite lean.

 

Look at how fresh all of this is. YUM.
Look at how fresh all of this is. YUM.

 

Honestly, I'd rather use a potato masher than my hands when mixing. Call me a wimp. It still tasted delicious.
Honestly, I’d rather use a potato masher than my hands when mixing. Call me a wimp. It still tasted delicious.

 

Scoop out the seeds. You could probably add them to the mixture, although that my add more water content. Not sure. I'd love to hear back if you try it.
Scoop out the seeds. You could probably add them to the mixture, although that my add more water content. Not sure. I’d love to hear back if you try it.

 

I'd suggest measuring out your zucchini in your pan first. I had to cut them to fit. I also had quite a bit of leftover mixture. I cooked it up to snack on while waiting, although it would make AWESOME lettuce wraps.
I’d suggest measuring out your zucchini in your pan first. I had to cut them to fit. I also had quite a bit of leftover mixture. I cooked it up to snack on while waiting, although it would make AWESOME lettuce wraps.

 

After 45 minutes in the oven, these babies cooked perfectly. Inside and out. You could add a little dipping sauce of some sort if you felt so inclined, but I thought that they were delicious as is.
After 45 minutes in the oven, these babies cooked perfectly. Inside and out. You could add a little dipping sauce of some sort if you felt so inclined, but I thought that they were delicious as is.

STUFFED ZUCCHINI EGG ROLLS

2 – 3 medium (massive type may not fit in your dish) zucchini with seeds scooped out

1 lb ground pork

1/2 head medium cabbage

2 carrots, shredded

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1″ fresh ginger, minced

2 scallions (mine had started to become onions, so I used the whites, too)

1 Tablespoon oyster sauce

2 1/2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce

1 teaspoon (or so depending on your spice tolerance — I am an “or so” kind of person) Sriracha

Preheat oven to 350º

Cut zucchinis in half and scoop out seeds. Measure out and cut evenly to fit in a 9 x 13″ glass baking dish.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a large bowl. (I used a potato masher) Then fill the zucchini with a heaping amount of the mixture rounding the tops slightly over. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Make sure that the pork is cooked through before eating.

That’s it. Easy. Delicious. And a nice way to use some of that zucchini up.

I see that our gazillion tomato plants are starting to ripen…hmmm, I wonder what I will do next…

 

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