I think I’ve finally found THE optimum way to use up surplus Zucchini at summer harvest-glut time. That’s a long way away, yet, I know… But you have to post these tweaks when they’re top of mind or they fall through the cracks and get lost…
Simple, exquisite, sumptuous, luxe Zucchini Steaks!
There may be no more-overused culinary cliché than the ‘boat’. As in Squash boat. Specifically, as in Zucchini boat, at harvest surplus time…
Think outside the boat…
There’s nothing wrong with floating harvest-time – or, for that matter, anytime – ‘boats’. There are many boat-shaped foods you can simply split length-wise and stuff with… whatever ‘goes with’.
But I think many faithful readers would agree with me that the ‘boat’ concept and its associated techniques are so overused they should be considered qualified for retirement.
So who steps up?
Or more correctly, what? I was just musing about that earlier in the week, trying to predict who’s going to plant zucchini in my neighbo0urhood this summer. And how much surplus zucchini there might be going around.
The ideal technique, or method, or formula, or whatever you want to call it, I mused, would involve young, relatively small, tender, thin-skinned zucchini.
Given bushel-baskets full of those, what do you do?
So obvious…
The answer was so obvious, it was embarrassing. The official ‘publicity’ photo was to tantalizing, it made me want to reach into he screen and grab some. And I became aware of something I had overlooked about Zucchini Season previously. The key to dealing with the whole ‘zucchini surplus’ issue is to think outside the ‘boat’.
And the first thing you have to do to achieve that level of culinary transcendence is… Realize that a young, lithe, tender, thin-skinned fruit is a completely different vegetable than the huge, stubby, thick-skinned woody monsters we all think of as zucchini.
The real thing…
A REAL, prime zucchini is not a thing to be scooped out and filled with the same, old ‘savoury’ me-lange of bread crumbs, root veggies and any number of secret herbs and spices. It can be a thing of exquisite beauty… Lounging in the oven or frying pan, in the luxe embrace of a little good cheese, a soupçon of fresh, minced garlic, a flutter of freshly-torn Basil leaves, a pinch salt and pepper, and a drizzle of fine extra-virgin olive oil.
The key…
… Is to envision a sumptuous steak! Then take your cue from the source story for today’s admittedly over-the-top post.
Taylor Ann Spencer, creator of today’s inspirational jumping-off point, says she envisions the perfect slice of garlic bread… With her fave selection of toppings.
I feel it’s especially important to spotlight a couple of culinary techniques Spencer calls for that can make or break this dish. The first is scoring. She explains with exquisite simplicity why we should score the zucchini before dressing and cooking. And she also imparts the secret behind salting the veggie, and allowing some of the water to be drawn out of it, before final assembly.
DO NOT rush, much less skip these simple but vital prep steps!
My take
On top of everything else… Today’s featured creation is grill-ready – some might say optimized. It also takes about as few ingredients as something so good can get along with. And it leverages couple of little-used, yet non-specific techniques that we should all be aware of when using high-water-content ingredients.
And when all is said and done, and tanned to golden perfection, thank Ann for sharing her eye-opening, brain-freshening inspiration!
~ Maggie J.