Z

What do you do with a big zucchini

What do you do with a big zucchini

What do you do with a big zucchini

Fresh from grandma’s garden?

Bake it in a pie until it’s tender

Bake it in a cake for sweet-tooth splendor

Whirl it into mush in a high-speed blender

Holy cats, I’m starving!

Plentiful, prodigious zucchini, meet pie, cake, and pasta sauce or soup base.

Zucchini Pie

Modified from my grandmother’s recipe

Makes one 9-inch pie

Note: Crust and filling can both be assembled separately the night before baking.

Crust:

1 1/2 cup walnuts

1/4 cup brown rice flour or sticky rice flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

2 tablespoons coconut oil, solid

Filling:

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 large onion

1 medium zucchini

1 medium summer squash

12.3 ounces silken tofu (firm)

1 small clove garlic

7 leaves fresh basil (or 2 tablespoons of vegan pesto)

1 ½ teaspoons dry or wet mustard

1 ½ teaspoons apple cider or white wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 9-inch glass pie plate (if baking right away).

Toast the walnuts in preheating oven, about 8 minutes (or microwave for one minute).  Set aside.

Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat.  Dice onion and slice zucchini and summer squash to desired size (one-inch square flat pieces or smaller, at a minimum).  Sautee onion for about five minutes, until it begins to turn translucent, and then add the vegetables.  Cook on high until zucchini and squash begin to turn translucent.  Remove from heat and set aside.

In food processor, pulse walnuts to break them into pebble-sized bits.  Then add all the other crust ingredients and process until they stick together when pressed.  Press into pie plate and set aside.

Without wiping out food processor, pulse all ingredients from tofu through flaxseed.  In a separate bowl, combine tofu mixture with zucchini mixture.  Pour into piecrust.  Bake on the centre rack for 45 minutes or until the middle is set and doesn’t jiggle.  Cool in partially open oven for 15 minutes then remove and cool on a rack.  Serve room temperature or chilled.  Store in fridge.

What do you do with a big zucchini

What do you do with a big zucchini

What do you do with a big zucchini

Fresh from grandma’s garden?

Bake it in a pie until it’s tender

Bake it in a cake for sweet-tooth splendor

Whirl it into mush in a high-speed blender

Holy cats, I’m starving!

Plentiful, prodigious zucchini, meet pie, cake, and pasta sauce or soup base.

Zucchini Pie

Modified from my grandmother’s recipe

Makes one 9-inch pie

Note: Crust and filling can both be assembled separately the night before baking.

Crust:

1 1/2 cup walnuts

1/4 cup brown rice flour or sticky rice flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

2 tablespoons coconut oil, solid

Filling:

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 large onion

1 medium zucchini

1 medium summer squash

12.3 ounces silken tofu (firm)

1 small clove garlic

7 leaves fresh basil (or 2 tablespoons of vegan pesto)

1 ½ teaspoons dry or wet mustard

1 ½ teaspoons apple cider or white wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 9-inch glass pie plate (if baking right away).

Toast the walnuts in preheating oven, about 8 minutes (or microwave for one minute).  Set aside.

Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat.  Dice onion and slice zucchini and summer squash to desired size (one-inch square flat pieces or smaller, at a minimum).  Sautee onion for about five minutes, until it begins to turn translucent, and then add the vegetables.  Cook on high until zucchini and squash begin to turn translucent.  Remove from heat and set aside.

In food processor, pulse walnuts to break them into pebble-sized bits.  Then add all the other crust ingredients and process until they stick together when pressed.  Press into pie plate and set aside.

Without wiping out food processor, pulse all ingredients from tofu through flaxseed.  In a separate bowl, combine tofu mixture with zucchini mixture.  Pour into piecrust.  Bake on the centre rack for 45 minutes or until the middle is set and doesn’t jiggle.  Cool in partially open oven for 15 minutes then remove and cool on a rack.  Serve room temperature or chilled.  Store in fridge.