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I have never been a zucchini or courgette fan, so I wasn't super stoked for this challenge, but when having them prepared in a way other than boiling them to mush or baking them for far to little time to develop any flavor, they were actually good and not bitter and awful like I remember. They are even good raw! Just another reminder that boomers extract the all joy from food. It looks like I might even plant some for next year, call me a convert. So thanks Sci for helping me to discard my bias and host a wonderful dinner party! Dish 0 Bubble Tea with Exploding Strawberry Pearls and Syrup, Zucchini and Honey Milk, and Iced Black Tea The inspiration for this creation was cucumber and strawberry refreshing summer drinks. The zucchini came through lightly, but I didn't get the right consistency on the zucchini milk, so if you let it sit too long the zucchini bits separated out and fell to the bottom. The correct response here was to just drink quicker. I wish I was better at layering to get the distinct color separation, some I did better than others, but that's just a visual thing, you stir it before drinking it anyway.  Dish 1 - Appetizer Zucchini Latke Stack Zucchini Latkes here were used like a blini to carry too much stuff. Some zucchini and tomato relish, some sour cream, chives and topped with smoked salmon. I should have cooked these longer to get them to a crispier state to actually carry the load that they needed to. As it was, you couldn't really lift them and take a bite, they were more of a fork and knife app. The flavors came through though, and each layer added something.  Dish 2 - Main Zucchini Rosette with Pork Tenderloin Medallions I wanted to try something pretty with the Zucchini for at least one of my courses, so here is where I decided to do it. It is basically just zoodles with a zucchini-tomato sauce, but presented in a finicky way. The pork is the only component of the meal that didn't really have a zucchini theme, but I felt like it's light flavor balanced nicely.  Dish 3 - Dessert Zucchini Donut with Zucchini Ice-cream There isn't too much to explain here, it says it all on the tin, but good god were those donuts good. The ice-cream decidedly tasted like zucchini, and not in a bad way. Interesting with a positive spin is how I'd describe it. If I ordered it out somewhere I wouldn't be disappointed, and I'd finish it, but probably wouldn't order it again, while simultaneously pushing others to try it.  After Dessert Course Zucchini Liqueur Just steeped zucchini in grain alcohol with some sugar, let down with water to not be 190 proof any more. It was good, the zucchini was lightly there in the end, but not as present as I'd like. If I were to do it again I would use gin as the base as I think the botanicals could pair nicely with the vegetal-ness of the zucchini. It was a nice sipping liqueur, I added it to some coke, but it masked the flavor too much. To get it to come through, I would need to either get more surface area on the zucchini when steeping, or blend it, or just have a really subtle thing I'm mixing with it. (Clear liquid in a shot glass not pictured) Grandicap fucked around with this message at 16:01 on Aug 27, 2023 |
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Aug 27, 2023 15:57
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 15:41 |
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Dish 0 Bubble Tea with Exploding Strawberry Pearls and Syrup, Zucchini and Honey Milk, and Iced Black Tea Step 1: Purchase Exploding Strawberry Boba Pearls in Syrup.  Step 2: Make black tea and chill it over ice.    Step 3: Make Zucchini Milk Select some of the smaller zucchini, those are sweeter than the large ones. I used 2 smaller ones for this. Blend them up with just enough milk to let them blend into a puree. Mix into with some heavy cream you have left over from the ice-cream, and some 2% milk to get the right mouth feel. What is the right mouthfeel you ask? I don't know, wing it. Sweeten with honey. The Strawberry Pearl layer is sweet, the iced tea is not, use the amount of this layer you add to regulate overall sweetness of the drink. Let steep at least overnight, but 48 hours is probably better. Strain out the zucchini chunks using a fine mesh sieve. Smaller chunks getting through is ok, but get the big ones out of there. I have no idea how I got no pictures of this process, but have some food processer-ed zucchini as a consolation. I did take a video of straining the zucchini milk, who knows if linking it is going to work right.   https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1133892016674177095/1145364387616538704/PXL_20230826_151436210.TS.mp4 Step 4: Layer, Mix and Enjoy
Grandicap fucked around with this message at 17:16 on Aug 27, 2023 |
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Aug 27, 2023 15:58
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Dish 1 - Appetizer Zucchini Latke Stack Latkes are a Hanukkah staple at my house, and getting zucchini in there seemed like a win. I decided to use a ratio of 1 medium Zucchini:2 medium potatos:1/4 Large Onion. This allowed the zucchini flavor to come through still, but get the structural integrity of a nice fried potato too. Peel the potatoes, then cut everything into shapes that can be fed into the feeder tube of a food processor.    Food Process it with the shredding blade. You can use a box grater too, which I did for the test cook of this, but when making a lot, the food processor really speeds things up.  Decant into a bowl and mix to homogenize, then transfer to a cheese cloth and get as much liquid out of it as you can.    Return to a bowl, add 2 whole eggs, some flour (like half a cup I'd guess, I eyeballed consistency) and some baking powder for a leavening agent. And then season. I used an Italian marinara blend and some kosher salt but my test batch used Adobo. The world is your oyster here.     Form into patties and fry. Bemoan that your deep fryer is too small and have to make them 2 at a time. Fry until golden on 1 side, then flip and keep frying until it is golden brown too. Keep in the oven to warm, or you can put them in a single layer on a sheet tray and refrigerate for up to 2 days, or freeze for a goddamn long time. If freezing on the sheet tray, freeze until solid and then you can transfer them to a zip-top bag. Bake at like 350o either way until they are warm through when ready to serve.     Apparently I took no pictures of the zucchini and tomato relish either. This one is easy though. Dice some zucchini, eighth some cherry tomatoes (or dice a larger tomato), dice a red onion. Then mix up some distilled white vinegar with an equal part of water, some salt and some sugar to make a pickling liquid. Pour over the veggies in a bowl and let sit for 30 minutes. Then strain out the veggies from the pickle and you have veggies that retain their crunch and are quick-pickled. Throwing some crushed red pepper flakes into the pickling liquid is also very nice, but I didn't do it this time. While the relish is pickling, preheat your oven and rewarm your latkes. They should be done at pretty much the same time. Assemble! Latke on bottom, relish next, a canelé of sour cream next, sprinkle some finely diced chives and top with some smoked salmon. Grandicap fucked around with this message at 17:38 on Aug 27, 2023 |
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Aug 27, 2023 15:58
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Dish 2 - Main Zucchini Rosette with Pork Tenderloin Medallions Pork first because it is super simple and not zucchini related at all. Start with a pork tenderloin, trim it up so it doesn't have a pointy taper, but save it to do something with later (lunch today I think). Roll it in some salt and pepper on all sides. Throw in a vacuum bag with rosemary, and thyme. Sous vide at 140o for 2-4 hours. Remove from bag, discard herbs, pat dry and sear on all sides. Slice into medallions and serve beside the actual zucchini part of the dish.   Let's make a tomato sauce! This freezes super well so if you are going to make it, you can make a huge batch. Start with fresh tomatoes. Score the bottom with a cross then put into boiling water for 30-45 seconds. This makes them super easy to peel. Peel them and then cut out the stem with a grapefruit spoon. Quarter or 8th or whatever, you're gonna blend the sauce later, but it will be easier if you don't have whole tomatoes floating around in there if you are using an immersion blender, but if you are using a regular blender that step isn't needed.         Then take 3ish medium zucchini and food process them with some onion and throw in a few heaping tablespoons of jarred garlic.  Fry that poo poo off in the bottom of your biggest stock pot. (Or I guess depending on the size of your batch, you can scale your pot size but I will judge you if you make a small batch) Don't overcrowd the bottom like I did, do it in batches if you need to for more flavor development.  Once that is fried off, you can add in some umami, this isn't needed because tomatoes are a great source of umami, but I think it lends to a deeper richer flavor. So I used miso and Worcestershire to punch it up a notch.  Collect some fresh herbs from your garden. Keep 'em big and whole and tie them together so you can fish them out later.   Add your tomatoes to the onion, garlic, zucchini base you have going and throw the herbs in on top of that.   Let simmer and mix occasionally for at least 2 hours, but longer is better. I did 4ish.     Fish out your herbs, then blend that fucker.  When ready for assembly (can be up to 12 hours in advance), slice some zucchini thinly on a bias into a large mixing bowl. I used a mandolin (be careful of your fingers). Pour boiling water over and let sit for 45 seconds to a minute before pouring into a colander. This blanches them and makes them more pliable. Put some of your sauce (cold or luke warm) in the bottom of the ramekin, like maybe a quarter inch worth. Arrange in your ramekin in a spiral, putting 1 slice against the wall of a ramekin, and then layering another slice 2/3rds of the way down that slice in a spiral all the way around until it is full. It should look like a flower. Then add some sauce on top too.      Top with parmesan cheese and bake at 350o for 40ish minutes or until bubbling and browned.  Plate that poo poo up.
Grandicap fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Aug 27, 2023 |
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Aug 27, 2023 15:58
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Dish 3 - Dessert Zucchini Donut with Zucchini Ice-cream Mise first, this was technically the first dish I made, so I actually remembered pictures.  Peel a Zucchini and then ribbon up the rest with a vegetable peeler. Use the smallest zucchini you have because the younger they are the sweeter they are. Let the ribbons steep in heavy cream overnight, then blend them up in the morning. I tried a candied thing with the peels, but it failed miserably so no pics of that. But that is why there is a picture of the peels.     The next day, pass your zucchini cream (zuccreami?) through a fine mesh sieve then prepare a cream anglaise according to [timg=https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/creme-anglaise-4984]a recipe that came with your ice-cream machine[/timg]. Ignore the sugar and swap for honey(sugar to honey replacement is 3:2, so for 3 tbsps of sugar, use 2 tbsps of honey) and don't use vanilla, this ice-cream is zucchini flavored.    Chill your mixture until cold. It won't ice cream right if it isn't cold. Dice some zucchini finely for later, but add your cold cream mixture to the ice cream machine and let spin for 20ish minutes, then add in the finely diced zucchini and let it spin for another 5-10 minutes. If you add the diced zucchini too early it will not really incorporate right, but if you add it after it's firmed up a bit, you get a nice even distribution.   Place in a freezer safe container and put some parchment or wax paper on top before freezing for at least a day, but it's ice-cream it'll last a while.  Time to make the donuts! Prove some yeast in some milk with some sugar. When it gets frothy you know your yeast is alive, a very good first step!     Use a yeasted donut recipe for inspiration, but ignore large swaths of it and make the dough by feel. It's tackier than a regular bread dough but pretty similar I guess. Turn out into a greased bowl and let rise in the fridge for at least two hours    Form into little balls and then poke a hole through with your finger and kind of work it into a ring shape. I think this is more of a bagel forming technique than a donut forming technique, but it worked. Do it 16 more times and place on parchment paper, wish you had oiled it or something because it was real sticky and sometimes I had to reopen the hole after getting it onto my spatula before dropping in the oil. Let rise again for an hour-ish in the donut shape at room temp.    Fry for 2 minutes per side, then put it right from the oil into some cinnamon sugar and place on a rack to cool. Cry that you can only fry one donut at a time because of the size of your fryer and spend over an hour frying donuts.     These were amazing warm, and very good a few hours later. The zucchini taste was there but not strong. It paired very well with the ice-cream which was more zucchini forward. Best dish of the night, would donut a zucchini again.
Grandicap fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Aug 27, 2023 |
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Aug 27, 2023 15:58
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After Dessert Course Zucchini Liqueur Short and sweet for this one. Put Everclear, some sugar, some zucchini in a container. Let down with water to like a 80ish proof, but measure nothing and just guess (I think I was pretty close). Let sit for like 2 weeks. End of recipe.   
Grandicap fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Aug 27, 2023 |
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Aug 27, 2023 15:59
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The latkes and the rosettes are EXACTLY what I was hoping for from this completion, really creative and definitely something I’m going to try!
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Aug 27, 2023 20:04
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Donuts look good, but I just like donuts. The latkes look great as well. This photo has me thinking of peeling the outside of a zucchini like that and using it as a lattice for like a shepherd's pie or something.
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Aug 28, 2023 02:29
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 15:41 |
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This all looks incredibly awesome. Especially the latkes!
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Aug 28, 2023 04:20
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