A HARTE APPETITE: GET ZIPPITY-DOO-DAH MEALS WITH ZUCCHINI

"Zounds!" you can hear legions of gardeners exclaim this time of year as they are confronted with zillions of zealously growing zucchini at their zenith. Well, maybe they say something else, but there's no question that zucchini, of all species save rabbits, most resoundingly reject the concept of zero population growth and multiply with zest. Though not given to zany alliteration, perhaps Lucy Chance put it best when she observed in an article in Early American Life magazine that zucchini are "dismayingly prolific."

A typical zucchini plant can yield as much as eight pounds of produce in one season, so it's no wonder that this vegetable can get out of control more quickly than a European soccer match. A single packet of seeds can keep you, and probably your friends and neighbors, awash in the stuff throughout an entire summer. It's enough to make you wonder if it really might be possible to have too much of a good thing after all.

The problem of what to do with surplus zucchini must not be a new one. This plant has ancient origins. Aptly named food historian Waverly Root speculates that squash (zucchini is one of 27 varieties) may have been the first food cultivated by Native Americans.

Pictures of it have been found in 1,000-year-old Incan tombs and archaeologists have discovered squash seeds in graves dating back as far as 9000 B.C. The seeds were presumably buried with the dead to supply them sustenance on their passage to the after world. As Elisabeth Rozin confirms in her informative cookbook, Blue Corn and Chocolate, squashes were among the triad of basic foods which since ancient times have nourished pre-Columbian America. (Beans and corn were the other two components.)

Curiously enough, zucchini is one squash that has become even more popular in the Old World than in the New World where it originated. As the late Bert Greene tells us, the rest of the world thinks of it as Italian squash and, indeed, the word zucchini comes from an Italian word meaning "sweetest." The vegetable has been grown in the Po valley for at least 300 years. In fact, according to Paula Simmons, author of the Zucchini Cookbook, local lore in eastern Italy has it that zucchini seeds were actually first presented by the gods to the people of that region who, after years of jealously guarding them from non-Italians, passed them on to Columbus who brought them over here.

But whatever its origin, zucchini, known as courgette in France, baby marrow in England, and calabacin in Spain, has become an important ingredient in many cuisines around the world, even Japanese. It is an indispensable component, of course, in the classic Mediterranean vegetable medley, ratatouille. Indeed, Greene says that in most Mediterranean households the vegetable is a staple served three times a week, often as a substitute for meat.

This is hardly surprising because zucchini is not only good by itself, it's remarkably versatile. Its unimposing flavor is compatible with just about anything and it can be prepared in dozens of ways, which is fortunate if you're trying to dispose of a bumper crop and have already worn out your welcome at friends' houses with sacksful of the things in hand.

In addition to sauteing, stir-frying, steaming, baking, roasting, or grilling zucchini, you can throw it into a salad, bake it into bread, muffins, or cake, make pickles or relish out of it, fold it into pancake batter, add it to scrambled eggs or a frittata, grate it into ground chicken or turkey and make a burger out of it, marry it in a casserole with other vegetables (such as onion, tomatoes, and corn), batter-fry it, top it with cheese and broil it, form it into croquettes, puree it into soup (either hot or cold) add it to custard pie (whir it up in the blender with the rest of the filling ingredients), flavor ice cream with it (shred a cup or two into the ice cream base, then cook and freeze as usual), or toss it with pasta. You can even use it instead of pasta. Just julienne zucchini into long strips and serve it cooked with spaghetti sauce or slice it lengthwise and substitute it for lasagna or other noodles. And, I almost forgot, you can simply eat it raw on a crudite platter or as a dipper for salsa.

And if these approaches don't bring your harvest under control, you can eat the zucchini blossoms, fried, as a garnish for soup, or stuffed (goat cheese is nice) and nip the problem in the bud so to speak. Whatever you make with zucchini, however, the critical thing is to select relatively small ones, say a maximum of seven to eight inches long. Gigantic zucchini, though they have their uses (as paperweights, doorstops, or weapons) simply aren't as tender and flavorful.

Finally, if you still feel overrun with zucchini you can always freeze it. Sandra L. Toney, writing in Country Living Magazine, points out that zucchini adapt well to this strategy. She simply shreds the vegetable in a food processor and freezes it in one cup portions in small freezer bags. With some recipes she suggests you may want to keep the excess liquid that results from thawing, while for others you'll want to discard it.

So all in all, an abundance of zucchini can be as much a blessing as a curse, as the following recipes, I hope, demonstrate. If you have some favorite or unusual zucchini recipes of your own, please send them to me and I'll pass them along to readers. In the meantime, try these if you're struggling with a stockpile of this savory summer squash and are about to surrender.

Zucchini Bread

This excellent recipe is from Nettie Welty of Cape Girardeau. Though Mrs. Welty grows her own zucchini, she doesn't rely on gardening for exercise. This 85-year-old grandmother works out at the gym on a daily basis. Her recipe does not call for as much oil as others, so it is already somewhat lower in fat than many breads of its type, but I've found that you can successfully substitute applesauce, or better yet apple butter, for half of the oil and cut the fat grams by nearly 50 percent.

Ingredients:

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup oil

2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed

2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini, firmly packed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

Combine eggs, oil, sugar, zucchini, vanilla, and salt. In a separate bowl combine remaining dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry, mix well, and pour into two 5x8 inch oiled loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes until done.

Zucchini Fromage

This outstanding recipe from Bert Greene's award-winning book, Greene on Greens, is as delicious as it is quick and easy. You can put it together in just a little more than five minutes and I guarantee people will rave over it.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

2 shallots, minced

3 medium zucchini (1 pound), cut into 1/8-inch thick rounds

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or 2 teaspoons dried

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

1/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese

Directions:

Melt butter in skillet over medium-low heat and saute shallots for three minutes. Raise heat to medium-high, add zucchini, and cook until just barely soft. Toss in basil, salt, and pepper. Stir in Parmesan and Romano cheeses. Sprinkle Gruyere cheese over top and place skillet under broiler to lightly brown top. Serves 4.

Linda's Zucchini

Things have changed a bit in the 25 years since we first copied this recipe from our friend Linda Richards who, like us, was a young parent living with her family, husband Steve and baby Mark, in Cape Girardeau. The Richards, who visited last weekend, have since moved to Indiana and Mark now has a baby of his own. And these days, in the interests of health, we often omit the butter in favor of a light application of nonstick cooking spray and substitute yogurt for the sour cream in the recipe. But one thing hasn't changed. This is still one of our very favorite ways to fix zucchini. I'm not sure where the recipe originated, so at our house it has always just been called Linda's Zucchini.

Ingredients:

2 pounds cubed zucchini

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons vinegar

dill seed

Directions:

Place zucchini on paper towel, sprinkle with salt, let sit 30 minutes, then saute in butter until tender. Whisk flour into sour cream. Mix sugar and vinegar and add to sour cream mixture. Pour sour cream mixture over squash and heat through. Sprinkle with dill seeds.

Fudgy Orange-Zucchini Cake

This dense cake, featuring that sublime combination of orange and chocolate, would be worth making even if zucchini were scarce. It's from the City Gardener's Cook Book by the P-Patch Cookbook Committee, a group of organic community gardeners in Seattle, Washington. The cake is a favorite at the annual P-Patch harvest banquet.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup butter

2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3 teaspoons vanilla, divided

1/2 cup milk

3 cups grated zucchini

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

1 cup chopped nuts

1 1/4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

Directions:

Sift first six ingredients together. Cream butter and granulated sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and milk. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Fold in zucchini, orange zest, and nuts. Pour into greased and floured bundt pan and bake 50-60 minutes. Cool 15 minutes and remove from pan. Combine confectioner's sugar, orange juice, and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla and drizzle over cake while still warm.

Got a recipe you'd like to share with our readers? Are you looking for a recipe for something in particular? Send your recipes and requests to A Harte Appetite, c/o The Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, MO., 63702-0699 or by e-mail to tharte@semovm.semo.edu

~Tom Harte is a professor at Southeast Missouri State University and writes a food column every other week for the Southeast Missourian.