Zucchini!

I went out to the garden this morning to pick a couple of zucchini; smallish-medium had turned into medium-largish overnight. And a few other fruits had ballooned as well. What a plant! From a hill of just 3 zucchini plants, I get a seemingly endless procession of these elongated beauties.

Luckily, I love zucchini, cooked every which way. Tonight I'm going to make a pizza with fried zucchini and eggplant, and some cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. My favorite way of making fresh zucchini is from Marcella Hazan, sauteed zucchini with oregano. Start with lots of chopped garlic in a good amount of olive oil in a wide skillet; when the garlic starts to color, add thinly sliced zucchini and cook at lively heat till zucchini is soft and starts to brown. There's also a nice middle eastern recipe which I grew up with, a zucchini pie/omelet. You cook sliced onion and zucchini in butter till very soft, then add eggs and grated hard cheese; I use cheddar, my mother uses muenster. It's baked in a pan, in a medium oven, till brown on top, and served with yogurt.

And of course there's cream of zucchini soup, and zucchini bread (which I'll make when the weather cools a bit and post the recipe) and freezing, and, inevitably giving some away to gardenless friends.