LETTER FROM BOBOLINK FARM
ZUCCHINI
By Barbara Tatham Johnson
When I consider everything that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
—William Shakespeare
Pick them small. Pick them small. Pick them small. This is my gardening
mantra when the zucchini plants begin to sport their big golden blossoms.
Although green beans and broccoli will also require picking while they are
tender about this time, late July into early August, the vegetable most
likely to pass through its complete stages of development in a twinkling is
the zucchini. Showers and summer heat spur little zucchini to spectacular
robustness overnight, but for a week, we enjoy the smallest and tenderest
squash the plants produce.
We do, of course, share the largess of increasingly out-of-control growth
with family, friends, and soup kitchens. It seems a shame to waste such
tastiness, even though the zucchini can reach Amazonian proportions.
The zucchini variety we find most flavorful and firm is Costata romanesca.
Will Bonsal of Khadighar Farm in Industry, Maine, is quoted as describing
this zucchini “as the only summer squash worth bothering with, unless you’re
thirsty.” Costata’s flavor is subtly nutty and responds wonderfully to
gentle cooking.
Before breakfast, I gather four or five courgettes, the culinary term for
small summer squash, with their flower blossoms attached, squash just
developing after fertilization. From the row of onions close by, I pull two
swelling new onions an inch and a half or so in diameter. As I pass the
kitchen garden, I take a few leaves of basil.
I rinse the zucchini under the kitchen faucet, careful that I do not
dislodge the flowers, and drain them on a paper towel. I ease the onions
from their outer leaves and stems and slice them into thin rounds. I chop
the basil finely. Then I slice the zucchini lengthwise through the flower.
Now I beat three or four eggs with a little milk, and put a bit of butter in
a pan over a low flame. I add the egg mixture to begin the scramble.
In a frying pan that has a cover, I heat one tablespoon of olive oil over
the lowest flame and place the zucchini/flower pieces in the pan along with
the onion slices, sprinkle with a dash of salt and pepper, and cover the pan
tightly.
In five minutes the eggs will be cooked and the zucchini crisply tender.
Placed together on a warmed plate and served with toast, this breakfast is a
savory homage to the fineness of the earliest zucchini.
For a few more days, I pick courgettes that are delectable thinly sliced on
the diagonal and lightly cooked in a bit of olive oil and sherry, sometimes
with onions, sometimes with a crushed garlic clove and fresh oregano or
basil. Courgettes sliced thinly and marinated in a vinaigrette are
delightful additions to a salad.
In too short a time, courgettes are pushed off the menu. Heat and showers
conspire to rush the squash plants into hyper-production at the same time we
must turn our attention to other gardening pressures. The beets and carrots
need thinning, the basil must be picked to make pesto before flowers form.
The green bean harvest cannot be postponed any longer. I give the zucchini
plants a cursory check as I pass and do not notice squash hidden beneath
enlarging leaves. In no time, one or two zucchini have grown to enormous
size. The possibilities of monster squash loom. A Costata romanesca,
weighing twenty-four pounds, won first prize as the largest summer squash at
the Blue Hill Fair a few years ago.
The zucchini are now in the category of marrow, in culinary terms, fit for
recipes with such names as “Poor Man’s Crab Cakes” or “Mock Roast Goose.”
These very coarse squash, the equivalent of a vegetable cook pot, can be
stuffed with tomatoes, celery, peppers, and ground meat, baked, and served
at the family reunion. These are the zucchini that created the folk warning
to lock your car when you go into town in August.
Oh, large zucchini are edible. They can be grated and added to soups, or
with the help of pineapple, cocoa, or walnuts, made into muffins, coffee
cakes, and the like. With eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers, a big zucchini
can make a ratatouille to feed a crowd, but the vast amount of food a large
zucchini provides deters the cook who has just two people to feed. I do have
a recipe for zucchini pickles that allows me to use many medium- sized
zucchini and spares me a little of the guilt of tossing the caber-sized
zucchini on the compost pile.
Ripening tomatoes and melons full of sweetness grow into the menu. We must
try the new potatoes. The cucumbers are ready to pick. Savory courgettes
become a distant memory in barely two weeks, but they served to hone our
palates for the rush of fresh plenty. Zucchini give us the practice needed for
the spurt of vegetable harvest in late summer when we must stay alert for
early development and ripening. Check often and pick them small, we repeat.
