Zucchini Pie for Zucchini Haters

When I was in fifth grade, my mother made me eat a bite of zucchini. Really-gross-stewed-to-death-like-the-Italians-like-it zucchini. "I don't like it." "Just one bite." "I really hate it." "You have to eat one bite." "I really hate it and I won't eat it." So after a bit of this back and forth, I took a bite but refused to chew it or swallow it. I sat at the table for a while until she needed to go downtown so into the car we went, me still with the zucchini in tow. Once on foot, we saw her banker heading towards us and my mom realized how embarrassing it would be to have an eleven year old with a mouth full of food, unable to say hello. "Okay, you can... Spit. It. Out," she said, under her breath. So I spit it in the gutter and never looked back. No zucchini. Ever. (BTW, that was very therapeutic. Stay with me for the actual recipe...)

And then, a couple of years ago, after 30 years of avoiding the stuff, I had dinner at the lovely home of Michael and Staci, and Staci made a fantastic quiche-like dish called zucchini pie and it was so delicious that I was loath to believe it was, in fact, zucchini. Since then, I've tried. Really I have. Grilled. Raw, shaved onto a salad with lemon and chives. In tempura batter. Not horrible.

But every summer, there it is. A friend has a bumper crop, or it shows up week after week in your farm box, or Nancy Essex shows up with a gift of a giant zucchini in a wine bag and it sits on the counter begging to be eaten. And I wanted to be able to really like it. Here's the best recipe for those times. Even a zucchini hater like me will eat two pieces. I've adapted it only a wee tiny bit from the original Real Simple recipe.

Zucchini pie that would have photographed better with a little green salad or a wedge of fruit.

3 cups zucchini, grated (and peeled and seeded, too, if you really hate the stuff)
1 onion, grated and sauteed
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup grated smoked gouda
3 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil (maybe could get away with less)
2 T. pecorino romano cheese
2 t. good pesto
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. kosher salt
lots of freshly ground pepper
hearty dash of cayenne


Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Pour into a well greased ceramic pie pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350 or until golden brown and a tester comes out clean. Cool 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Adventures with Pesto

Perfect on a radish.

Pesto is a glorious thing and I make it all summer. My Grandma Nance made it and served it with "the homemades" -- big flat ribbons of homemade egg pasta. Pesto is basically a way to spoon summer onto anything you like.

However, when I recently promised Becky I would share my pesto "recipe" with her, I realized I don't actually have one.  I use whatever green I have (basil, lemon basil, mint, parsley, baby spinach, arugula, or some combo of two of those things), and stuff it into the food processor. Throw in garlic, or none, or, once a year, garlic scape if you are lucky enough to have some. Turn the machine on, drizzling olive oil in while the blades work their magic. 

I like pesto quite smooth so the food processor works best.

Then the nuts. Usually pine nuts, but maybe pistachios, or even almonds. And oh, if it's parsley I'm mixing up, lemon zest tastes right. Then I fold in a few heaping tablespoons of pecorino-romano if it's classic pesto (basil, spinach, or arugula.) But I just saw this recipe on Food52 which called for feta...


So basically, you can't go wrong. And if I needed a recipe, I'd start with my favorite guy, Mark Bittman's, with a little less olive oil than he calls for, and then start improvising as soon as you can.

Birthday Dinner, Part One: Cheese Pizza & Crust Recipe

My kids made me a fantastic birthday dinner Thursday night, complete with setting a fancy table and Top Chef style descriptions of the menu. I couldn't be prouder. Charlie chose cheese pizza as his contribution. The broccoli casserole and molten chocolate cake recipes will follow.

Fancy table, including chocolate milk fixins.

Flowers, natch.

Charlie's finished product.

2 cups warm water

pinch of sugar or smidge of honey

teaspoons active dry yeast

2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

5 cups flour (plus extra for handling the dough)

2 teaspoons salt

(corn meal for peel or pan)

1. Measure water into large bowl.  Add the sugar/honey and yeast.  Wait 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the oil.
3. Add 2 cups of the flour and the salt.  Stir with a wooden spoon.
4. Gradually add in the rest of the flour.  Mix with a wooden spoon until it gets too thick, then mix with your hands.  If you need to, add extra flour to keep it from being too sticky.
5. Turn onto a floured work surface.  Knead, pound, and stretch for about five minutes until dough is no longer sticky.
6. Let your dough rest for 1 hour.  Divide and shape into a pizza shapes on a cookie sheet, or pizza peel if using stone.  Dust sheet or peel with plenty of cornmeal.  Top with sauce, toppings, and/or cheese.
7. If using a stone, transfer to pizza stone with a peel.
8. Bake at 500+ degrees for about 8-12 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly. Watch it closely, the time is approximate.

Eulie's Chocolate Snack Cake

This is another one from the Grandma Eulie archives. When you drink about 14 cups of coffee a day, like she did, you might need a little something to go along with it. Hence, her arsenal of not-too-sweet, no-frosting, all-in-one-pan snack cakes. This is a gem. She apparently adapted it from a recipe on the Gold Medal package, sometime in the mid-1970s.

NOTE: You may mix in entirely in the pan, making this a one pan wonder, to boot.

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup cocoa

1 t. baking soda

1/2 salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 t. vinegar

1 t. vanilla

1 cup water

Mix dry ingredients well, then add liquids. Bake in an 8x8 ungreased pan. 35-40 minutes or until a wooden pick (seriously, who keeps wooden picks around?) comes out clean. No temp specified, but I think I do about 350.


*Because this is a "wacky" cake, there is no egg in it.  Vegan by accident. Lovely.*

Charlie's Pumpkin Bread

My son fell in love with this pumpkin bread when we visited his cousins in Connecticut for spring break 2005 and his sweet cousin Maddie Atchue made this for him.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl:

2 ½ c. sugar

3 ½ c. flour (up to one cup can be whole wheat, oat, multigrain, etc.)

2 t. baking soda

1 ½ t. salt

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

1 t. ginger

Mix all wet ingredients in medium bowl:

4 eggs

½ c. oil

½ c. applesauce (unsweetened)

2/3 c. water

2 c. (or 1 15 oz. can) pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix. I stock up on the Trader Joe's organic canned pumpkin each fall and hoard enough for the year.)

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well.  Do not over mix.  Split between two greased, full-size loaf pans.  Bake 50 minutes.

You can also put in muffin tins (use paper liners) and bake for 25 minutes.