Monday, July 26, 2021

SQUASHED

 We had a ferocious thunderstorm hit us for a half hour or more the other day.

It just poured.

Reminded me of movies I've seen of rain like that in the jungles.

The squash and gourd vines took a beating and a day or so later Judy went out to check on them.

In so doing, she plucked a couple of squash.


You can see the plant leaves that did not survived the abuse they took.

And the squash were quite small though usable in the kitchen she said.


She sliced them up and sauteed them with some onions and mini-peppers.

They were pretty bland.

But today there's a recipe in my cooking companion, the New York Times, for zucchini.

(Actually there are a plethora of recipes for zucchini, that most plethorous of plants.)

(I don't know if "plethorous" is actually a word but I think if you've ever grown zucchini you get the picture.)

But getting back to the recipe, it calls for sauteeing planks of the zukes, then a quick bath in some brown butter, garlic and rosemary, before serving them with red pepper flakes, coarse sea salt and a spritz of lemon.

Since our summer squash is a relative of zucchini, both the Master Chef and I think that ought to give them some mouth appeal.

I'll let you know.

(p.s. Apparently plethorous was not a real word. 

Until now.

The Great Google found another word for what I meant: plethoric.

Use whichever one you prefer.)

20 comments:

  1. Otherwise known as 'more than anyone and than neighbors can consume in a season'. I think the summer squash really could use those red pepper flakes.

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  2. 'their neighbors' Ahhhhhhhh!!!

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    Replies
    1. There, there, LL, it's okay. I knew what you meant. 😎

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  3. We had a downpour like that last night, with high winds.

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  4. I like plethorous. I've picked 8 zucchini from the garden already and 3 of them were large enough to stuff.

    Garrison Keillor once said the only time Lutherans in Lake Wobegon lock their car doors in the church parking lot is in August. Otherwise they are likely to come out of Sunday service to find that someone has left a grocery bag full of zucchinis on the front car seat.

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  5. Lana uses the plethorous vine in a number of ways. One is to slice the zucchini thinly, and coat them in a mixture of corn meal and parmesan cheese and either bake them until golden or darker or sauté them. She's used the companion squash as well.
    Of course you can jack up the cornmeal cheese combine with pepper and or other spices.

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  6. If Shakespeare could make up words, why can't we?

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  7. We're already overwhelmed by zucchini here. We have one on the kitchen counter almost the size of a baseball bat. Okay, it's not quite that big, but definitely huge and not one you'd ever see in the supermarket. Your zucchini recipe sounds delish. I think we're going to have to try that. Yum!

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  8. I will skip the P-words and just say that zucchini can go rampant. If you forget to look in a plant, you end up with one the size of a small car.

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  9. I'm glad your squash didn't get squashed by the rain beating it for a half hour.

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  10. Two new things I repeat with zucchini or summer squash are https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/07/zucchini-quesadillas/ and https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/08/summer-squash-pizza/ The quesadillas we eat with salsa.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for steering me to those. They both sound good! 😊

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  11. I'm impressed by any home grown vegetables. I saw the picture for that recipe in the NY Times you mentioned. They looked tasty and since squash is rarely tasty, it looked appealing to me.

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  12. Plethoric is a word? News to me!

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  13. Guy flies in to visit a friend in rural Utah. Goes to open the car door, and it's unlocked.
    "You forgot to lock your door!"
    "Naw, small town, no one will bother it."
    They go to friend's house, same thing.
    "You forgot to lock your door!"
    "Naw, small town, no one will bother it."
    They list friend's small shop in the morning, same thing.
    "You forgot to lock your door!"
    "Naw, small town, no one will bother it."

    On Sunday, they drive to church. As they get out, friend says, "Make SURE to lock the car door."
    Guy says, "Wait, we've been leaving everything unlocked all week, you say it's safe, but as soon as we get to the CHURCH, it's a problem?"
    Friend says, "Well, if we don't lock the door, as soon as we come back out, the car will be full of zucchini."

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    Replies
    1. Visit small shop, not list.

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    2. Everyone seems to know this old joke. 🤣😆😁

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