If you plant zucchini, you will eat zucchini. Every day. For weeks.
You will make zucchini bread, zucchini sauce for pasta, fried zucchini, sauteed zucchini, grated zucchini in eggs, and—around the time you reach the breaking point—zucchini and turkey burgers. Shouldn't you be eating the most flavorful variety?
Costata romanesco is our favorite zucchini. For a lot of reasons. We like the pretty stripes, the nutty flavor, and the big yellow edible blossom on this Italian variety.
Are you groaning under zucchinis this week? Tell us about your favorite zucchini recipe in the comments section below.
Above: Zucchini, broccoli, kohlrabi, and cucumbers from our friend Dee's Garden.
A packet of Organic Zucchini Costata Romanesco seeds is $2.75 from High Mowing Seeds. Pick it when the zucchini is blooming and eat the edible flower, as well.
Low in calories, high in vitamins, and best eaten young (before it develops monster chewy seeds), zucchini has a high water content. After slicing or grating, let it drain for a few minutes before cooking unless you're making a dish to which you want to add moisture. For instance:
Above: I'm currently obsessed with the Spicy Turkey and Zucchini Burger recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi's Jerusalem ($21 from Amazon), wherein adding grated zucchini to the ground meat mixture actually manages to make turkey burgers juicy and flavorful (a first).
For more, see 61 of our favorite Garden-to-Table recipes, including Blender Watermelon Gazpacho and Moroccan Preserved Lemons.