For the second week in a row, there have been zucchini and yellow squash in our CSA box.
When I explained to farmer Debbie Fox of White House Gardens that I always look forward to squash, she told me that was a good thing, because it had only just begun. The Beacon Journal has purchased a farm share (community supported agriculture) from Fox this summer, and for 20 weeks will enjoy a share of her Sharon Center farm’s produce.
Poor, prolific zucchini, always getting a bad rap — people trying to hide it in friends’ cars and sneak it onto neighbors’ porches. Why not embrace it? If there’s a more versatile vegetable I don’t know what it is. Zucchini is at home on the breakfast table in muffins and scrambled eggs, at dinner sauteed and tossed into pasta and even on the grill.
And speaking of zucchini muffins, here’s a healthful recipe from singer Sheryl Crow’s new cookbook, If It Makes You Healthy.
ZUCCHINI MUFFINS
2 large eggs, beaten
⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 cups grated fresh zucchini
⅔ cup canola oil
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup golden raisins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar and vanilla. Stir in the grated zucchini, canola oil, baking soda and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk the flour with the cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the zucchini mix and stir well. Finally, stir in the pecans and raisins.
Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with canola oil. Spoon the batter into the cups to fill them about ¾ of the way. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick or small knife inserted in a muffin comes out clean.
Alternately, spoon the batter into a 8-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until the top of the loaf cracks and a toothpick or small knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for about 20 minutes. Then run a small paring knife around each muffin and remove from the muffin tin.
Makes 12 muffins.
— If It Makes You Healthy, Sheryl Crow and Chuck White, with Mary Goodbody
Find previous installments of This Week’s Harvest and a list of local farmers markets at http://www.ohio.com/lifestyle/food.
