I'm on a mission this summer. A mission out of necessity, resulting from the abundance of certain summer squash I planted in my parents' garden. Four plants. What was I thinking?! One zucchini plant alone could feed a family of four. Every time I stop by my parents' house my mother glares at me accusingly. Actually, she's not the glaring type. It's more like a bemused look that says, "we have a problem, and it's your fault," along with an offer to cook me up some squash (she has an excellent recipe) and a plea to give some to me to take home.
3 days worth of summer squash (and a couple lemon cucumbers) from the garden
So the mission? Come up with recipes that we all like and that use a lot of summer squash. For this I have been experimenting with zucchini bread for the last two weeks. We have a couple fine zucchini bread recipes on the site, but I was hoping for something a little more savory. I tried all sorts of combinations, experiments with cheddar, with Parm, jalapenos, etc. Mom's response to most of them, "good if you toast them and then put sugar and butter on them." Not good enough. Finally I succumbed to the classic somewhat sweet zucchini bread, but seasoned it with rosemary and lemon, so you get a savory note. More than good enough. Really good. My conclusion is that zucchini bread works well with sugar. Here we use 1 1/4 cups for 3 cups of zucchini and 3 cups of flour. So, it's not a lot, but it's enough to make a lovely, lightly sweet bread.
One of the raised beds, with a patty pan and a zucchini
Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 45 minutes
- 3 cups (390 grams) flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 Tbsp minced fresh rosemary
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoons salt (omit if using salted butter)
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
- 3 cups grated zucchini (from about 1 pound of zucchini)
1 Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare two 4x9-inch loaf pans, either coating with butter or spraying with baking spray.
2 In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and rosemary.
3 Beat the eggs in a mixer (or by hand) until frothy. Beat in the sugar. Beat in the melted butter and olive oil. Stir in the lemon zest and grated zucchini.
4 Add the dry ingredients to the wet, a third at a time, stirring after each incorporation.
5 Divide batter/dough into two loaf pans. Bake in a 350°F oven for 45 to 50 minutes. Test after 40 minutes. If you gently press down on the surface of the loaf, it should bounce back, and a bamboo skewer inserted into the center should come out clean.
6 Remove from the oven. Let cool for a few minutes and then remove the loaves from their pans to cool on a rack.
Yield: Makes two loaves. <<via>>
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