Breaded zucchini slices in butter with selection of spices and tomato sauces

Photo by Ken Korczak

By KEN KORCZAK

Now lets take a look at what one can do with zucchini from the garden!

Pictured here are a couple of slices from a large zucchini squash about 1/2-inch thick. I coat them in beaten eggs (my own free-range produced eggs, of course) then coat them in a mixture of flour, a touch of cornstarch -- and then a selection of spices -- pepper, salt, garlic, spice-berry (foraged),and just a tad of paprika.

The centers of these are actually hollowed out to remove the seeds. This provides an opportunity to fill the centers with the remaining eggs.

Next, melt a generous amount of butter in a black, cast-iron skillet and fry till slightly crispy on each side. Top with some Parmesan cheese and put in a 350-degree oven until the cheese melts on top. You might want to take care not to overbake if you don't want the zucchini to get too mushy. Out of the oven, it's time to top it off with some fresh tomato sauce. I never make my tomato sauce quite the same way every time -- in this case, I used fresh basil, cilantro, garlic, oregano, salt, black pepper, a touch of brown sugar, onions -- and I think that's about it.

You can either overdo the tomato sauce or not. I like just a hint or light touch of sauce.

This is a simple recipe -- yet complex in that one can experiment widely with spices and flavorings to get the specific taste you want -- exotic or simple.

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My recipe for zucchini bread!

Photo by Ken Korczak

KEN KORCZAK:

As anyone who has ever planted a zucchini plant knows, you get a lot of zucchini. And so begs the question: What do I do with all of it? One excellent way to make good use of this marvelous squash is to make zucchini bread -- and so now I will share with you an excellent recipe.

This recipe is not only good, I don't think I have ever screwed it up. It comes out right every time. This zucchini bread is moist, extremely flavorful -- it's terrific. And rumor has it that it wil increase your lifespan by 7.3 years, on average, according to some top scientist somewhere, I'm sure.

I hope you try it:

Ingredients:

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup of vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

2 cups shredded zucchini

3 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1.2 tsp baking powder

3 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup walnuts

Instructions:

This is not rocket science. Just mix together all the ingredients in large bowl. As for the zucchini, I like to blend mine in a food processor till it gets just mushy. I use the Vita-Mix. But just as often I use an ordinary cheese grater, and that works perfectly.

Makes two loaves. Use regular-sized bread pans. Fill them about 3/4 to the top.

Bake at 350 to 375 for 35 to 40 minutes! Ta-da! You're done!

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