Still Dealing with Zucchini: Garlicky Zucchini Bruschetta

This week's box contains:

• Lacinato Kale
• Bacon Avocados
• Parsley
• Mystery (more summer squash and ZUCCHINI!)
• Strawberries
• Lettuce (traded for more parsley)
• Mystery (Red Norland potatoes)

Oh yes, more zucchini. Well, more green summer squash. While technically different I suppose, to me at this point they are all the same.

The themed dinner idea worked so well for us this time we repeated it this week.  Flipping through my cookbooks I stumbled upon "Garlicky Zucchini Bruschetta" in The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook by Jack Bishop and Ann Straton. Given the capability of this recipe to work through another 2-3 zucchini, I was sold.

Italian was the theme, here was our menu:

Appetizers:

• Garlicky Zucchini Bruschetta
• Vegetarian Bagna Cauda with Bread, Carrots and Asparagus

Main Course:

• Grilled Hot Italian Sausage ("regular" and Field Roast)
• Pasta with Zucchini, Lemon, Pine Nuts and Herbs
• Kale Salad with Sun-dried Tomato Dressing
• Giardinera

Dessert:

• Strawberry Shortcake with Meyer Limoncello Spritzers

The meal worked incredibly well.  Caution: there were lots of leftovers from the bagna cauda.  However, we found a fantastic way to use them up: panzanella.  We cubed the left over bread, chopped the leftover carrots and asparagus into bite sized pieces, added a pint of cherry tomatoes (halved), and tossed with the left over bagna cauda.  Amazing!

Vegan Bagna Cauda

1/2 cup large salted capers, drained and rinsed
10 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 bunch whole carrots, cleaned, trimmed and quartered length-wise
1 bunch asparagus, cleaned and trimmed

In a saucepan, combine the capers, garlic and oil. Simmer over moderately low heat until the garlic is very soft but not colored, about 30 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a blender and let cool for 10 minutes. Add the butter and lemon juice and puree until the bagna cauda is smooth. Place into serving dish and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add the carrots and cook until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate and let cool. Repeat with the asparagus.

Slice loaf of crusty Italian bread and serve alongside the bagna cauda and blanched vegetables.

We were able to work through the Lacinato kale, zucchini, strawberries at dinner. as for the rest of the box contents:

Bacon Avocados: eaten out of hand. I literally sliced the avocados in half, removed the pit, salted them heavily, and ate them with a spoon. Incredible!

Parsley: made two batches of parsley-walnut pesto for the freezer.

Red Norland Potatoes: roasted and tossed with, you guessed it, parsley-walnut pesto.

Waste Not ~ Want Not

Dealing with leftovers can be challenging and is often boring at best.  Eating the same thing day after day can be trying regardless of how fantastic the original meal.  Sometimes the opportunity presents itself to make a new dish from the remnants of another, which is what we did today.  The leftover grilled asparagus from last night's dinner was the centerpiece of a spectacular spring risotto.
 

Lemon Asparagus Risotto
Serves Four

2 T olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 cup arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
~5 cups vegetable stock
 1 bunch asparagus, grilled, chilled and diced
1 T freshly grated lemon zest
1/4 cup Parmesan, finely grated
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat; add onions and saute till golden.  Add rice and stir till well coated.  Add wine, stirring frequently, till all the liquid is absorbed.  Add the stock one cup at at time, stirring frequently, till all the liquid is absorbed with each addition.  After you've added 3 cups of stock, stir in the lemon zest, the Parmesan and the asparagus.  Continue adding stock (stirring frequently, etc.) till rice is al dente.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot topped with shaved Parmesan.


This recipe is loosely based on Risotto alle Punte di Asparago from Riso: Undiscovered Rice Dishes of Northern Italy by Gioietta Vitale, page 74.

We paired this risotto with a 2007 Trimbach Riesling ~ gorgeous.