Two weeks ago, we talked about tomatoes. Last week, we did corn. And so I realized it only makes sense to complete the peak-summer series and tackle zucchini this week. (This little ingredient series has turned out to be my “Godfather” trilogy, my Ring cycle, my “Chronicles of Narnia.”)
While zucchini doesn’t quite inspire the same rabid obsession you see with tomatoes and corn, I do love it, and in summer I always have some in the fridge. It’s delicious grilled and then piled with herbs and lemon. It’s phenomenal shredded and then caramelized in a pan to make a smushy sauce for pasta. It makes amazing muffins and quick bread. If you haven’t thought about it lately, I think you should.
1. Summer Squash Scampi
Zucchini is scampified in this new recipe from Ali Slagle, which means it’s bathed in the garlicky butter-lemon sauce best known for its role in Italian American shrimp scampi. That sauce goes perfectly with juicy fresh zucchini, and all of it can be tossed with pasta for dinner.
2. Grilled Zucchini With Miso Glaze
We’re Hetty McKinnon stans here at New York Times Cooking. She can take something as simple as grilled zucchini and fine-tune it so every bite is perfectly flavorful. You don’t actually need a grill to cook her new recipe — a cast-iron pan or grill pan works well. Add rice and maybe an egg to make it dinner.
4. Zucchini Pancakes
I make these mucver — Turkish pancakes — every summer and eat them for dinner with yogurt sauce and a salad. This version is adapted from the chef Aytekin Yar, and the pancakes are crisp on the outside, tender on the inside and flecked with feta, dill and scallions. If you have a food processor to grate the zucchini, use it (or buy zoodles and chop them up), then get out the biggest skillet you have for frying. Otherwise it gets time-consuming.
