Zucchini: Not Just a Humble Vegetable

I love the vegetable zucchini - its green color, the firm flesh, the way it can easily be cut into strips, discs, shredded, etc.

But, I get tired of eating it in stir fry, and my recent zucchini patties turned out mushy and gross, and deep fried zucchini just isn't the proper treatment for such a lovely vegetable - leave that mess to mozzarella or *this is So Southern of me* pickles.

Thus, what does one do with zucchini when you have a crisper drawer full and wishes to fulfill?

This. For Breakfast or Brunch.

Or This. For dessert, or Lunch. (Alright, no Dr. Seuss am I.)

If sweets aren't your thing, do this: use a veg peeler to carve the zucchini into strips. Make a sauce of a teaspoon of sesame oil, rice vinegar, a couple shakes of crushed red pepper, a little sprinkle of brown sugar, and a dash of lime juice. Crush some roasted peanuts and chop a little cilantro (or mint, or Thai basil), and sprinkle over the zucchini "noodles" and sauce it up. This is a crude approximation of a salad I had a couple times at Nashville's City House and it was like, totally OMG, for real, amazing.

Or you can hollow it out, *saute the flesh with some garlic, and stuff it back in with rice or quinoa, chopped tomatoes or salsa, and sprinkle with Parmesan or goat cheese, and run it under the broiler. Yeah, that would be tasty. Zuke boats!

Man, I am hungry. When's lunch? Happy and tasty Tuesday to you!

*P.S. True story - my late Grandmother Coxey loved to talk about how her mother, Mama Culp of Badin, NC, used to say "sashay" or "sachet" instead of "sautee" - "You just sashay it in a little butter, and there ya go." It also reminds me of a friend whose grandmother called a "quiche" a "quickie." Just goes to show that all that fancy terminology goes to waste. I think I like "quickie" better, anyway.