Zucchini Time!

 Its that time of the year, where we are blessed to be drowning in Zucchini. I go down to the garden every other day and look for the little courgettes. And sometimes I realize I missed one, and instead, I harvest a giant Zucchini baby, like the one pictured above.
Having a glut of something in the garden is fertile ground for creativity in the kitchen. After we've had our fill of Zucchini bread, and Raw Zucchini noodles topped with Marinara sauce, and then Sauteed Zucchini tossed with garlic, parsley and parmesan over pasta noodles, I've discovered two more ways we like our summer squash.

Korean Zucchini and Shrimp Pancakes

Grate and drain one Zucchini, Salt it as you grate, to draw the water out, reserve that water for later.

Equal portions cooked baby shrimp

A few green scallions chopped

1 1/2 cup flour

1 egg

1tsp baking powder

Seasoning salt

Enough water or milk to make a batter (start with 3/4 cup)

Oil for you pan

Oil a pan and put it on med heat. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, try to achieve a thin but not liquid batter. Once oil on pan is hot, spoon batter out into small puddles on the grill. Let cook for 3 or 5 minutes on the first side, or until golden, then flip and cook on other side. Repeat until all the batter is used up. This is hearty, and delicious served with rice, kimchi and korean sesame black beans.

A great Vegetarian version is to replace the shrimp with onions.

Zucchini Fennel Coconut Soup

2 Large Zucchini's chopped

1 Bulb of Fennel, finely diced

One Onion finely diced

Coconut oil, or just oil

2 Bay leaves

1tsp Celery seed

1tsp dried Basil

1 head of garlic

Broth, or the Reserved Zucchini juice from recipe above

1 can coconut milk

Fresh ground pepper

Salt to taste

Start with the oil and the celery seed, add the onion and the fennel. After about 5 minutes, add everything else, except the coconut milk. Simmer for 30 minutes or more, once you are almost ready to serve, add the coconut milk and bit more pepper and puree with a hand blender.

What do you make in these times of Zucchini Glut?