Summer is in full swing! For those of you with a garden, a farm share, or a farmers’ market down the street, you know what that means: an abundance of zucchini! I love the humble zucchini – the lovely texture, simple taste… it’s a wonderfully versatile vegetable.
And, it’s also a great veggie because you don’t waste parts of it (except for the top, which I give to my chickens). Tired of the same old zucchini sauté? Instead of scouring the internet for recipes, take a look at your kitchen gadgets for inspiration. This can really work for any ingredient. If you let the kitchen gadget be your guide, you can learn a new technique and eat the same ingredient in so many different ways.
Today, I’m going to talk about zucchini five ways by highlighting kitchen gadgets that you can use to add variety to your cooking repertoire.
Kitchen Gadget #1: Food Processor.
With a food processor, you can chop, puree, and grate to your hearts content. One example of a dish made by food processing with zucchini is this lovely zucchini salsa verde. Use it in tacos, as a sauce for enchiladas, or as a simple afternoon snack.
Kitchen Gadget #2: Spiralizer.
Oh, the possibilities! A spiralizer lets you make many different pasta-like shapes with your zucchini. All you need to do, once you’ve made your zucchini noodles is cook lightly and add sauce. If you want to get fancy, try this recipe for zucchini noodles with avocado pesto and shrimp.
Kitchen Gadget #3: Mandoline.
Ah, the mandoline. It sounds like a melodious musical instrument… but in fact, it creates beautifully thin slices of zucchini (or any vegetable, really). Warning: be careful! This is one sharp kitchen gadget. You can be easy to get carried away with your thin slicing. In an ode to one of my favorite Disney films, here is Ratatouille’s Ratatouille. It’s an elegant take on a French staple. The thin vegetables cook beautifully with the piperade (sauce). Lovely.
Kitchen Gadget #4: Grill.
The grill can add a lovely, caramelized char on the zucchini. And when mixed with other veggies, grilled zucchini adds a juicy texture to any dish. I like mixing zucchini with mushrooms, onion, red bell pepper, and eggplant, then misting with olive oil. Once the veggies are grilled, I top them with a squeeze of lemon and chopped basil.
Kitchen Gadget #5: Immersion Blender.
Saved the best for last. Blending veggies with an immersion blender in your soup adds a creaminess (and you don’t even need cream!). Instead of a hot soup, try a cool summer soup like this zucchini gazpacho.
What kitchen gadget do you like to use?
Let me know by commenting on this post.
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