...Ah the lure of gardening for the cooking aficiando. I get caught-up in it every year. And every year something I plant does really well. I mean really well, actually too well in that I get tomatoes, or eggplant, or zucchini, or cucumbers galore. This year its zucchini and cucumbers. For the past month I've been picking a zucchini or two everyday and about 20 cucumbers a week. I think they are finally starting to slow down. But what to do with all those cucumbers and zucchini? Well if I truly have too much I give excess to food banks such as SecondHarvest. But more often it’s a matter of I'd like to use the food but I'm sick of raw cucumbers.

Cucumbers seem difficult to find diverse recipes for. The best thing I've found to do (other than giving Husband 2 a day for lunch) is to make pickles. Now I'm not talking about canning pickles where they cook on the stove and you have 20 gallons of cucumbers for the year. I'm talking about cucumbers that go directly into the refrigerator. Its quick, easy and they taste great. If you've never done it I highly recommend you try it. Generally the recipes use 5-10 pickles, take little or no cooking and are edible in 12 hours. I make both Dill and Sweet pickles this way.

As for stuffing my zucchini with my cucumbers - I'm sure such a recipe exists out their but do we really want to combine two ingredients that are about 95% water?

Dill Refrigerator Pickles (modified from here)

1 onion sliced or coarsely chopped
2 c. white vinegar
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. non-iodized salt (ie. canning salt)
Several sprigs of dill or 1 tbsp. dill seed
4-6 Cucumbers

1. Place onions through dill in a gallon glass jar.
2. Fill jar 1/4 full with cold water.
3. Shake jar to mix ingredients and dissolve sugar/salt.
4. Wash but do not peel cucumbers. Slice cucumbers and put into gallon. Continue adding cucumbers until jar is full.
5. Fill jar to the top with cold water. Shake jar with above ingredients. Fill jar with cold water to the top.
6. Place in refrigerator. Pickles will be ready to eat in 12 hours. Keep in refrigerator. They generally last 3 - 6 months.

Notes:

• I have found 4-5 sprigs of dill works for our tastes.
• I do the initial 1/4 filling before cucumbers are added to ensure the ingredients get well mixed.
• The cucumbers can be cut into a variety of shapes including lengthwise slices, wedges, and crosswise slices. It’s really just a matter of personal taste.

Sweet Refridgerator Pickles

The sweet pickles recipe I use can be found here. I only use half the amount of celery seed.

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Have you ever eaten arepas ? They are a Venezuelan staple. At first I didn't like the soft mushy center and would have them made very flat with just a crispy outside filled with ham and cheese, tuna or any other number of fillings. After a few months of living in Venezuela, I became like the locals and ate the arepas the way they are meant to, with a soft doughy center.

Arepas are kinda like an English muffin, but with a crispy outside and a softer inside. They are used in place of bread for a sandwich like meal or snack. They can be savory with the fillings I've already mentioned but could also be a sweet with something like guava jam.

It's been many years since I lived in Venezuela and I used to make the arepas for my family in the USA, but haven't in so many years. And now that there is a great Venezuelan coffee house in Palo Alto, Coupa Cafe, that serves probably 20 different arepas, fabulous hot chocolate and such wonderful desserts that I don't have to even mourn my not making arepas anymore.

If you live in the SF bay area and haven't tried arepas or Coupa Cafe, I'd highly suggest it.

Chao Vicki

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How many kids like Fig Newton cookies ? Well as a child they were my favorite. My grandmother would actually send me a box for my birthday. But then again what kid chooses blueberry crumb pie for a birthday cake ? Me.

So now as an adult, having fresh figs is the best. A reminder of great summer days and the better flavors of fresh figs.

A more grown-up version of fig newton cookies Fig And Almond Squares from Cooking Light (September 2006)

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Grilled Zucchini - classic grilled zucchini work nicely as a veggie side for most meals.

2 zucchini depending on size and amount desired.
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 T olive oil

1. Cut zucchini into 1/3" diagonal slices.
2. Mix zucchini and remaining ingredients.
3. Grill zucchini approximately 5 minutes per size until tender.

Zucchini Chips - great to just munch on but also work as a nice summer side dish.

2 zucchini depending on size and amount desired.
1 Whole egg, slightly beaten
3 T water
3 T flour, more as needed.
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs, more as needed.

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Slice zucchini into 1/4" think crosswise slices.
3. Combine egg and water in a breading bowl stirring with a whisk.
4. Place flour in another breading bowl.
5. Place breadcrumbs in another breading bowl. If using unseasoned breadcrumbs add oregano, powdered garlic, salt and pepper to taste.
6. Dredge 1 zucchini slice in flour, dip in egg mixture and then dredge in breadcrumbs. Repeat procedure with remaining zucchini placing slices in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.
7. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes flipping slices after 10 minutes.

Notes

• I highly recommend using the Williams Sonoma breading set for this and any other breaded recipe. Otherwise you can use pie dishes or some other flat bowl.

Zucchini Lasagna (adapted from Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna in Cooking Light April 2001)

Zucchini Chips from 2 large or 3 medium Zucchinis (see previous recipe)
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded, divided
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, finely grated, divided
1 t. oregano
1 t. basil
15 ounces ricotta cheese
12 ounces cottage cheese
1 whole egg
26 ounces tomato pasta sauce.
12 9 whole lasagna noodle, cooked.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

1. Combine 1 cup mozzarella, 3 T parmesan, oregano, basil, ricotta and cottage cheese in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Spread thin layer of sauce on bottom of a 13x9 baking dish. Place 3 lasagna noodle over sauce. Top with half of cheese mixture, half of zucchini chips and 3/4 cup sauce. Repeat noodle layer followed by remaining cheese and zucchini and 3/4 cup more sauce. Top with another layer of noodles, remaining sauce and remaining cheese.
3. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 35 minutes or until cheese melts.

Notes

• You can substitute low fat mozzarella, ricotta and cottage cheese.
• Any ordering of the ingredients within the lasagna works - feel free to experiment.

Zucchini Filled with Corn, Chilies and Smoked Cheese from Fields of Greens by Annie Somerville. Annie is the Executive Chef at Greens Restaurant in San Francisco. This is one of the many wonderful vegetarian dishes she shares with us in her Fields of Greens cookbook. I used home grown Walla Walla onions the first time I made this and liked it much better than with the red onions called for in the recipe.

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