ZUCCHINI, LOVE YOU FOREVER!

This is not quite true. We love you forever, because you were our first experience with squash as we know it now. Before then, the only squash I had experienced were the little white summer squash, boiled, which I found tasteless and yucky. In 1966, Mike and I bought blue berry bushes from a local farmer to transplant to our newly purchased “homestead,” near Seattle. The farmer gave us some zucchini and told us how to cook it with Monterey jack cheese. Reluctant to try a vegetable with the squash name, but hoping at the same time, to impress my New York born husband on one year, I tried the recipe. It is the dish we make every year when the first zucchini of the season makes is way to our kitchen. Sometimes this is difficult, because some years Jeremy, the Chef from Atlantica, who visits regularly, almost daily to sniff out the first veggies of the season may have his eye on it before it is officially pick and waiting in the chill room.

YOU SAY ZUCCHINI! I SAY, ITALIAN LARGO!
Of course, you know that by now, there are all kinds of wonderful summer squash. Many of these are grandchildren of zucchini, in the form of hybrids or cousins. If you have been in the Veggie Coop for awhile, you may have had, eight ball, which is uniformly round zucchini; ,Onyx, a straight cylindrical squash that grow about 7 to 8 inches and has similar taste and cooking qualities to zucchini, golden dawn III, which is basically a yellow zucchini and magda, a light green, tender skin squash which is known as Lebanese zucchini. All of these squash will respond well to this pan fried, zucchini recipe. There is another cousin to zucchini, Italian Largo, which is an absolutely wonderful squash. The outside skin is thicker and the flesh is firmer. It has dark and light green strips and curves a little toward the top like zucchini. It has a nutty flavour quite different from zucchini. Italian Largo may be becoming my favourite to use in casseroles, coated and layered with cheese, much like eggplant Parmesan. (This recipe will come later.)

Layer in an Iron Skillet.
The garlic is optional. I didn’t have easy access to fresh, organic garlic in 1966. Start with a small amount of margarine or olive oil to cover bottom of pan. Turn heat on low. Slice the garlic thinly on bottom of pan, followed by thinly sliced onion, then layer slices of zucchini over the onion. The farmer did not tell us how much of anything; I would estimate 2 or 3 garlic scapes or one clove, one large onion and 2 or 3 medium size zucchini. If I have one, extra large zucchini that needs to be cooked, I may use that, but prefer medium size.

Cooking Time.
A heav iron skillet that will retain heat after the stove has been turned off works best. Cook as little as possible until the zucchini is translucent but not over-cooked. I usually start the onions on medium heat and reduce to slow. Simmer is the right word, but keep an eye on it. Don’t go off to watch a tennis match on TV. Thinner slices, maybe l/4 to l/2 in. are better than thicker slices. Cook with a lid on, to retain the liquid and lift gently and turn from the bottom, with a large spatula, at least once, about 2/3 of the way through ( 15-20 min.) When the squash is translucent, but still firm, cut the cheese over it while it is still simmering, replace lid and turn the heat completely off. How much cheese depends on your personal taste. We like a lot, probably 6 - 8 ozs. Serve immediately because the cheese will coagulate again as it cools.

Perfect For Potlucks!

This dish can be prepared in advance and placed in a ceramic or glass dish before the cheese is added. Then, when it is returned to a warm oven or microwave for reheating, the cheese will melt, forming the cheese sauce. This is a great way to introduce squash to people like me, who think they don’t like squash. And this is one of ways we impressed an Elder from Sheshatshiu..

Impressing Our Elders!!
I am a Social Worker and worked with children and families for many years. One summer, our agency, Daybreak Parent Child Centre had a contract to work with the Band Council in Sheshatshiu to assist in the development of a head start program and talk with the Community Health Nurse about our local pregnancy support. There were three woman involved, Mary Dyke, the newly hired Director of the Head Start program, the Community Health Nurse and an elder, who had gone to school in Montreal as a young woman. When they came to visit our agency in St. John’s, I convinced them to come to dinner. We probably had meat. I can’t remember what, but the zucchini dish was one of the main dishes. This squash dish, with white cheese melted in a haphazard manner over the top must have been a strange sight. The elder refused to try it; The other women tasted it and then eventually convinced her to have a bite. “A little or a lot,” I said, as I put some on her plate. A little she said, with firm voice; perhaps feeling she was being bullied. The pan was sitting in the middle of the table, within her reach. After the first taste, she took more and then seconds, until the dish was empty. She seemed very satisfied with herself for trying this new fangled food. We gave her some zucchini and Monterrey jack to take back to home. .

Melba Rabinowitz
August, 2008