A Mess of Courgettes
It’s zucchini season. Not just in the Pacific Northwest, but all across temperate North America. It’s also zucchini season across the pond, but they call it courgette season and I’m a bit jealous of the exotic sound of that.
Zucchini’s are markedly un-exotic, after all, so they could use a bit of help in the glamour department.
Like many gardeners, I’ve found that zucchini seem to thrive without any help from me. In fact, I’m a bad zucchini grower. I start a few seeds indoors, and it’s always a few too many for our needs and space. I used to start them in the ground, but my current site is quite marshy until late May and the seeds would sometimes rot.
I can never bring myself to dispose of any of those hardy little seedlings, and most other growers I know have more than enough of their own. So each and every one of them ends up tucked into the ground. And each and every one of them thrives.
By late July we are drowning in zucchini. I give them away to my neighbors that don’t have gardens of their own. I ask if anyone wants a few in my local Buy Nothing group.
And I preserve them.
I’m not as prolific with cucumbers as I am with zucchinis, so I substitute zukes for cukes when making my signature spicy-sweet pickles. The rest end up shredded or diced, blanched, then dehydrated until crispy.
Their final destination will be in stir fries and soups, breads and cakes, and quite a few will be the star ingredient in my favorite zucchini and corn stuffing.
Recently I read about zucchini flour, which can be used to replace part of wheat flour in baking. Another project for this year!
I like zucchini, both as a vegetable and simply as a plant. The giant leaves on stalks that can reach up to my shoulder make me feel as though I am walking next to dinosaurs. The bright yellow blooms bring sunshine to the cool understory beneath the foliage (and also taste delightful when lightly breaded and fried).
The fact that it just keeps on fruiting and fruiting, even when there is a zucchini as large as my arm already on it, makes me feel secure. We won’t starve, not as long as there is a zucchini growing nearby.
And the versatility! Did you know you can make a pretty convincing mock apple pie from zukes? Mock lemon curd as well. There’s very little that can’t be done with this mild and unassuming vegetable.
I feel akin to the humble zucchini. Yes, I can be plain and easily overlooked. I grow best when hidden underneath leaves, safe from those that would pluck me too early. I am sun-powered but bloom best in the shade where my full potential can be underestimated but not soon forgotten.
Like the zucchini, I am steadfast, generally agreeable, and I insist upon thriving wherever I am planted. Even when trying to be exotic, there’s simply something too cozy and quaint about me to truly stand out.
I like being a zucchini. There are worse things one could be, after all.
Zucchini Apples (a.k.a Courgette Tree Potatoes)
You can use any size of zucchini, but generally I save “apple” making for those known as marrows – zucchinis of unusual size that can double as a baseball bat in a pinch.
Much of this recipe lies in the power of illusion, so pay special attention to your cutting and peeling.
Ingredients
1 zucchini, a foot long (or about 3 cups prepared)
2 TB lemon juice
½ cup brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp nutmeg
2 TB flour
Up to ¼ cup water
Begin with the slicing and dicing – peel your zucchini and cut it in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out the seedy pulp in the center. If your zucchini is exceptionally large, you can cut each half in half again to get quarters.
Now slice your prepared zucchini halves (or quarters) into ¼ inch slices. They should resemble slightly greenish apple slices at this point – yes you may need to squint to see it.
Toss your slices with the lemon juice, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Toss in the flour and stick it all in a saucepan. Slowly heat over medium-low, stirring. Liquid should come out of the zucchini, but if the mixture is a bit dry you can drizzle in a bit of water. The goal is to heat the zucchini through while turning the sugar and spice mix into a sort of glaze. You know, like apple pie filling!
Ta-da, you have zucchini apples. Or courgette tree potatoes if you prefer. Eat them with a spoon, stick them in a pie, bake them in a cobbler, or make a perfect crisp. I’ve even whizzed them into apple butter and spread them on toast!
Garden Updates
I’ve been working in the garden every day this week. I’m a bit excited, to be honest, which has led to renewed gardening vigor.
The last few years I’ve spent more time living for “some day” than I have in the here and now. Some day we’ll afford that house on a bit of land. Some day I can have a little herb and vegetable farm. Some day I won’t have to listen to the car alarms from the parking lot next door, listen to my neighbor’s poor taste in music, or listen to the whine of the leaf blower brigade. Some day, some day, someday.
I don’t have time for some day anymore.
No, I’m not giving up on my dreams or setting aside the work we have been doing to get there. What I am going to do is start treating today as some day as much as I am able.
I don’t have a small mini-farm yet, but I do have a 200 square foot garden, which I can increase this winter to 300 square feet for an additional $20 in annual rent. I do have a large balcony that receives plenty of early day sunlight and enough planters and deck rails to grow quite a bit (I already do, after all). I also have a small empty corner, an indoor greenhouse, and plant lights.
In other words, I can set up a micro-farm right now.
Which brings me back to the garden update. It’s the beginning of august and some crops are coming to an end:
Harvested and pulled the last of the snap peas.
Dug up the potato crop.
Cleaned out the radish and turnip bed – still a couple of turnips to harvest next week.
Started cleaning out last year’s kale.
I have two empty beds right now, and I need to decide what to put into them. Which means lots of research.
You see, I’m going to grow a small market garden. I’m thinking of a CSA, which stands for community supported agriculture. It’s kind of like a subscription box for produce. With my small space and my goal to get it rolling around February, that means I need something I can supply weekly or bi-weekly in great enough quantity year-round.
I’m going with salad vegetables and herbs. Who wouldn’t love a small box of salad and herby goodness each week?
On my short list, although seasonal variation will definitely be a thing:
Microgreens
Lettuce of all stripes
Leaf mustards of all stripes
Kale
Green onions
Chives
Various mints
Savory
Tarragon
Parsley
Sage
Rosemary
Salad burnet
Cress
Edible flowers, like violets and nasturtiums
Arugula
Snap peas
Cherry tomatoes
And probably a few more that I will rotate in and out seasonally.
You see, today I found out that AI is taking my job. Yeah, I’m pretty devastated. I don’t love my job, but I needed it for a bit longer so I could save up for our land and home. Now we are screwed. Or not. We’ll see.
But I refuse to give up. Maybe this little micro-farm garden and CSA will be the ticket. All I know is I can’t wait to live my dreams anymore or they will be taken from me.
Daybook
Weather~
Cool, then hot, then cool again. Hot being relative – we nearly made it to 80 F midweek. The sun was out all day, although by the weekend a marine layer would cloud the sky in the morning. Gruesome cloud was hanging over Mt. Baker (Kulshan), though, as a fire raged in the North Cascades.
Moments of Joy~
Long mornings in the garden and lazy afternoons on the porch communing with the chickadees. I found a book of Mary Oliver poems in a free pile, which is exciting! Oh, and I can’t forget spending a day with my eldest son, walking beaches, perusing a festival, and enjoying conversation in a beer garden.
Sticky Wickets~
I lost my largest writing client, they are replacing me with AI. A sign that it’s time to move on from soulless gig-work, I do believe.
On the Homefront~
So many good things, thrifty things and valuable things!
Lots of long walks along the seaside.
Nearly every dinner outside on the patio (often with a cold beer in hand).
Scored free mulch for my garden paths.
Too many library books to count!
Heavy harvests are coming in – sorrel, turnips, the last of the snap peas, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, runner beans, kale, parsley, tarragon, nasturtium pods. I’m sure I'm missing something!
A couple of nice free pile discoveries. Books, clothing, a garden table, a nice webcam, a backpack, some stationary, and wooden silverware organizers.
A beachside picnic with my eldest, along with a day at a festival. We only spent a few dollars at the beer garden.
Dining at home, al fresco, all week:
Orange chicken, zucchini, and turnips over rice.
Breakfast burritos and cauliflower cheese.
Chicken paprikash served over leftover rice, with tomato-cucumber salad on the side.
Chicken sandwiches with mountain potatoes and green beans.
Fried rice with zucchini-turnip fritters.
Zucchini and chicken fajitas with roasted potatoes.
Homemade pizza with fresh mozzarella- yum!
(Yes, there is a theme here– zucchini’s are being harvested almost daily!)
The trouble is, you cannot grow just one zucchini. Minutes after you plant a single seed, hundreds of zucchini will barge out of the ground and sprawl around the garden, menacing the other vegetables. At night, you will be able to hear the ground quake as more and more zucchinis erupt. - Dave Barry
Fondly yours in love, peace, and gratitude,
Jenny Wren
It's totally zucchini season! I've got my surplus zukes sitting out on the roadside vegetable stand, ready to be mostly ignored by passersby. (Tomatoes go like hotcakes; zukes not so much). But like you, I love this veg. Whether simply sauteeing in a cast iron pan (with lots of pepper) to add to pasta, to just eat as a side, or my wife baking zucchini bread, I dig it. Like you say, there's this feeling of abundance that comes with it. Thanks so much for this post and all the info.