Friday, August 31, 2018

Recipe Revisit: Summer Squash Casserole


 
I’d like to say that I went back to this summer squash recipe in order to make it lighter, more virtuous, healthier. With a reduced cream to squash ratio, that may have been the end result, but the real reason I did what I did is that I had two large zucchini and the original recipe only called for the weight of one of them. Thus, a double-volume, but not double-calorie recipe came to be.

I published this recipe in its original form in the first few months that I was writing this blog. It needed an update, and I was just going to snap some new photos, tell you it was just fine made with all zucchini as well with a mixture of summer squashes, and move on to more zucchini recipes. 



That second squash, however, compelled me to plump up the casserole. I doubled the squash content, but I didn’t double the rest of the ingredients, with the exception of the onion. Instead, I only slightly increased the cream volume and left everything else the same.

The casserole is still delicious! In fact, I think it has a cleaner, greener taste now. The basil and onion are great flavors with the zucchini, and the cream and Parmesan are enhancers rather than dominators.


Another quantity I did increase in this recipe is the time the grated zucchini and onion spend draining. There’s a step in which the salted vegetables get a chance to release some moisture and I think this is an important step for keeping the casserole from being too watery and soggy. The greater volume of squash needed longer to properly drain than the time allowed in the original recipe, and I reflected that in the updated recipe below.

I may not have set out to create a more virtuous recipe, but I do really like this inadvertently lightened version of summer squash casserole. And at least I can say that the zucchini isn’t hidden like it is in the cake I put in the last post. Perhaps they can balance each other out in these zucchini-loaded days.


Summer Squash Casserole with Basil and Onion

2 pounds summer squash (zucchini, yellow crooked-neck, patty pan, or a mixture)
1 medium yellow onion
1 teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt
½ cup chopped fresh basil
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons butter

1. Grate the squash and onion using the shredding blade of a food processor or by hand with a box grater (largest holes).

2. Toss the grated squash and onion with the salt in a colander. Allow to stand and drain in the sink for 30-60 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Spin the squash mixture dry in a salad spinner, or squeeze it out with a clean towel and pat dry. You want to get as much of the moisture out of the squash as you can without completely destroying it.

4. In a large bowl, mix the drained squash mixture with the basil, Parmesan and garlic. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish and pour the squash mixture in. Pour the heavy cream evenly over the squash mixture.

5. Melt the butter and toss the breadcrumbs with the melted butter until completely moistened. Spread the breadcrumb mixture evenly over the squash mixture.

6. Bake at 400F for 25-30 minutes or until the topping is well browned, the cream has been absorbed, and the casserole is bubbling.

Makes 4-6 main dish servings, or at least 8 side dish servings.



One year ago: Barley Flour Scones

Monday, August 27, 2018

Chocolate Zucchini Coffee Cake


 
I actually feel a bit guilty presenting this cake as a zucchini recipe. It’s a bit indulgent for an over-abundant vegetable vehicle. The zucchini is rather well-hidden, in fact. There’s so much chocolatiness and richness and cake-ness that the two whole cups of shredded zucchini can be your little secret.

This coffee cake is a simple adaptation of this Chocolate Zucchini Quick Bread. Quick bread batters, such as those for muffins, quick bread loaves, and coffee cakes, can usually be interchanged; baked into each other’s shapes, if you will. For example, I recently baked this zucchini bread recipe into 24 muffins instead of two 8-inch loaves. I guessed that the batter for the original chocolate zucchini bread loaves would fit in a 13 x 9-inch rectangular cake pan, and it worked so nicely, it made me look like I really knew what I was doing!


I also borrowed from another Archive recipe, this cappuccino coffee cake, for the crumb topping. It’s a sweet and chocolatey addition to an already sweet and chocolatey cake. The crumb topping works really well here, but you could make the cake without it. If you don’t top it with crumbs, you could frost your cake with something like the cream cheese frosting in this carrot cake recipe.


Despite having two cups of wholesome vegetables in the batter, this recipe doesn’t exactly make a virtuous dish. This is definitely a rich, sweet treat, made moist by some of that surplus zucchini. It’s certainly dessert-worthy, and is great on a coffee or tea break, but I’m here to tell you that it makes a delicious, if indulgent, breakfast, too! Just as a coffee cake should!


Chocolate Zucchini Coffee Cake with Chocolate Crumb Topping

For the crumb topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon fine salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

For the cake:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup canola oil
¾ cup plain yogurt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. In a small bowl, combine all of the topping ingredients, except the butter. Stir together to combine well.

2. Cut the butter into small pieces. Work the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, a fork, or with your hands until the butter is in very small pieces that are well-coated with the flour mixture. A clump of the mixture should hold together when squeezed. Cover and keep refrigerated until ready to use.

3. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter or spray with cooking spray a 13 x 9 inch baking pan. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk or sift together to combine well.

5. In another large bowl, beat the eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together with a whisk until the mixture is smooth and pale. Beat in the oil, yogurt, and vanilla extract, continuing to whisk until very smooth.

6. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until the dry mixture is moistened. Stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips.

7. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth out the top. Squeeze the crumb topping into clumps and distribute it evenly over the batter. Bake at 350 F for 50-55 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out without any wet batter clinging to it. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

Makes 26-20 servings.



One year ago: Lemon Layer Cake


Friday, August 24, 2018

Friday Night


 
It’s a gloomy Friday night, but I’m willing to give that a pass, since we so badly need the rain. Days like this remind me that fall is on its way, although we certainly have many, many warm days in our near future. Still, I pulled out my overstuffed file of clipped recipes featuring apples a pears in hopes of being ready when the time comes.

Until then…

**Tomatoes and cucumbers. Happily, they come together in my little backyard garden. (Literally, the vines are heavily intermingling with each other.) And whatever voracious nocturnal rodent is treating the garden like its own personal buffet is still leaving enough of each to make lots of Gazpacho.

I also like to toss together chopped tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes with chopped cucumbers, a bit of salt and olive oil, and whatever fresh herbs I feel like. Lately I’ve been going a bit less traditional with lemon verbena, borage leaves, and summer savory, and then drizzling the whole thing with a lemon-infused olive oil. It’s delicious!

I finally got a Roasted Cherry Tomato and Olive Galette on the table, but instead of waiting until I had time to make a pie crust, I baked it on puff pastry. I also added some feta cheese. Both new additions to this recipe were more than welcome!

**Zucchini. Oh, there’s still so much of it! This week, I revamped this casserole recipe, turned this chocolate zucchini quick bread into a big, indulgent coffee cake, successfully converted this zucchini bread into muffins (just portion into muffin pans and reduce the baking time to about 25 minutes), and made a loaf of Zucchini Wheat Bread for my frequent tomato sandwiches.





**Seasonal fruits. I’m still looking for ways to use them before I get distracted by first apples, then pumpkin. I like Seasonal Fruit Desserts by Deborah Madison for ideas, such as this tart/crumble hybrid I posted long ago. Actually, I recently made a cookie based on a recipe from this book. It might not look like it has anything to do with fruit, because it doesn’t. More on that recipe soon. (Assuming I don’t eat them all before I get a chance to photograph them!)



Reading…

**Fahrenheit 451by Ray Bradbury. I started this one today because the, “You haven’t read that?” part of the conversation I had yesterday had a little too much déjà vu in it. Time to finally read that book!

**The Scar by China Mieville. I’m almost finished reading this, but I’m stalling because I don’t want it to end. I love this guy’s stuff that much!

**To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams. I already know I love this book, so I don’t feel so guilty about setting its giganticness aside for a while.


Looking ahead…

**The day job. I refuse to look ahead. It could be that bad. Next…

**New recipes. I’ve got lots of tomatillos ripening (seriously, these are really a fun and easy veggie to grow), so I want to make a grilled tomatillo and chile pepper salsa. The rain today kept me from getting everything grilled. Maybe tomorrow. I’m also planning a puff pastry tart and more salads that can take on some of that lovely zucchini that just keeps coming!

And then there are these potatoes at Epicurious and these tacos at Food52. So many good things to eat!

Enjoy the late part of summer! There’s still lots of it there!