My husband's vegetable patch has gone beserk! I'm running out of ideas for ways to serve up cucumbers! I'm pickling some at the moment...will let you know how they turn out! Any other ideas? Also any recipes involving zucchinis would be greatly appreciated. Lino and I are eating so many cucumbers and zucchinis that I'm sure we're turning green! Lino - Megan -

I don't have any ideas for cucumbers. But we are experiencing a similar glut with zucchini. I'm starting to feel like zucchini is the same as left over Thanksgiving turkey. So I start to approach it in a similar manner. Here are some ideas:

Grill the Zucchini. Save the left overs to use in other dishes such as:
- Pizza. We used the grilled zucchini on pizza the other night.
- Quesedilla. Last night we put it in a mexican dish, Quesedillas. Spead some cream cheese on a Mexican torilla. Top with grilled zucchini, sliced green chili, avocado and a salsa. Spread cream cheese on a second tortilla and cover the first. Warm in a skillet lightly oiled.
- Crepes. Fill the crepes with zucchini and other fillings such as ricotta. Top with a light cream sauce or tomato.
- Lasagna. Use as a filling instead of meat.
- Pasta Sauce. Mix with a marinara tomato sauce and top your favorite pasta.
- Sandwiches. Fresh grilled zucchini makes a great sandwich on a sturdy bread. Use pesto instead of mayonaise. Grilled red peppers and onions are other good additions to the sandwich.
- Curry Couscous. Saute zucchini with onions. Season with garlic and curry powder. Mix in 1 cup of cooked garbonzo beans. Meanwhile cook 1 cup couscous. Stir cooked couscous into squash mixture and serve.
- Enchiladas. Use sauted or grilled zucchini in place of chicken in Enchiladas.

The idea is to start using it in place of chicken or meat in a lot of dishes. It's a way of using a lot of it and not being as tired of eating it everyday. Plus it's an easy way to create vegetarian meals.

The other use is to use it in cakes and quick (sweet) bread.

Good luck.

Marta

When I was a wild and crazy young caterer...

Cucumber sorbet..with vodka and dill!

Puree and add some water, vodka...dill and salt...
freeze!

Here are 2 cucumber recipes:

Raita

Peel and dice cucumbers (1/2 inch dice is good). Add a tomato or several, also diced, and some finely chopped red onion. Mix with plain yogurt. Season with curry powder, salt and pepper; and red chili flakes if you'd like a little spice. You can seed both the cukes and the tomatoes, if you'd like, but I usually omit that step if it's hot and I'm cranky

No name

Peel cucumbers and slice them very thinly. Slice a red onion very thinly. Add yogurt (or part yogurt and part sour cream) and lots of dill, salt and pepper.

Both of these taste better if they sit in the fridge for a few hours.

Marta- the zucchini enchiladas are a great idea!! Thanks!

Maureen

Heehee. Been there, done that. Zucchini baseball, anyone?

For zucchini, I find that I can use up a large volume by shredding them in the food processor. I toss the shreds into a colander, salt lightly, and let drain. I squeeze out the moisture before cooking. I saute with oil, garlic and fresh thyme for pasta sauce; fritatta filling; quiche filling; breads; or top with parmesean for a side dish. A friend of mine freezes the squeezed shredded zucchini in ziplocs for future use.

Stuffed Zucchini:

Split 6 small zucchinis lengthwise. Using a teaspoon, hollow out the middles, leaving some flesh so they don't fall apart. Thow into a large pot of boiling water to cook for 5-10 minutes until softened. (I do this so the zucchini won't need a long baking time and heat up the kitchen) Arrange hollow-sides up in a greased baking pan, and stuff. I either use a mixture of sauteed ground meat, the diced zucchini middle, onion, garlic, tomato, bread crumbs, and lots of parsley and basil that I top with tomato sauce; or a sauteed mushroom mixture with lots of garlic, parsely, dill, and some sour cream. Bake in a hot oven till lightly browned.

Aimee's Mother's Cold Cucumber Soup:

Peel and seed 6-7 medium cucumbers. Puree in food processor in batches, along with 2 cloves garlic, and 1/4 cup mint. Pour into a large bowl, and whisk in 2 cups plain yogurt or sour cream, just a bit of sugar to taste, and some cream if the mixture is too thick. Add salt and pepper to taste, and let sit in fridge at least 2 hours before serving. Whisk again before serving, and garnish with chopped walnuts, diced sweet red pepper, and more mint.

Does someone know how to make that delicious little cucumber salad they serve at Thai restaurants? I think it's just thinly sliced cucumbers with ... rice vinegar? (That's the part I don't know! LOL)

Kos me Krastavek
2 med cucumbers peeled and grated and sprinkled with 1/2 tsp salt
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 pint yogurt

stir together and refrigerate covered for a while. Gets better as it gets older.
Serve with flat bread as a first course/antipasto.

Half Sours

For 2 lbs cukes. Scrub the cukes and place them in a jar or deep bowl. I
prefer to leave them whole but you can half them if desired. Dissolve 1/3c
kosher salt in 2 c hot water and cool. Do not use regular table salt. Pour
over cukes and add 5-10 peeled and smashed cloves of garlic, 1 large bunch
of fresh dill or 2TB dried dill, and 2TB coriander seeds. Add cold water to
cover. Weight the cukes down with a plate to submerge completely. Taste
after 24 hours at room temperature. When pickled to your liking, refrigerate
in the brine to slow down further picking. They'll keep for a week or two,
slowly getting stronger.

Zucchini Hache`

About ½ pound zucchini, cut into quarters then sliced about 1cm thick
1 clove garlic minced
2 tbsp. rough chopped onion
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. dried oregano
½ pound LEAN ground meat (I used veal as that is most available here)
½ cup rough white bread crumbs
Hot water or broth
Olive oil

In a frying pan, heat some oil, then sauté the garlic, onion and zucchini with ½ the salt and ½ the oregano until almost done. Remove to a plate.
Add a little oil to the pan and sauté the meat with the rest of the seasonings until no longer red. Add the breadcrumbs and sauté a bit longer, then add about ½ cup hot water or broth, and stir so that the crumbs soak up the juices. Add the vegetables back in and stir while heating. That’s it. A bit like stuffed zucchini, only no hot oven.

Zucchini alla Pancetta

Pancetta is NOT smoked, but is seasoned with garlic and spices. It’s thinner and much leaner than most smoked bacon. You NEED oil to fry it. If you can’t use pancetta, use lean bacon, but add a clove of garlic to make up for it.
4 thin slices pancetta
2 pounds of zucchini quartered then sliced
½ an onion, chopped
1 tsp. dried oregano
salt to taste
olive oil

Heat a large pan and add a little olive oil if using pancetta. Sauté the pancetta until just crisp and remove from the pan. If using bacon, pour off some of the fat.
Add some olive oil if needed and sauté the vegetables with the oregano and a little salt until cooked and mostly dried. Check for salt and correct. Tear the pancetta or bacon into pieces and add back to the pan, stirring in. That’s it.
I undersalt a bit. Add more if you like.

And here is someone else's fabulous dish from i miei Amici:

Maccheroni alle zucchine

This is a first course, credit to the owner/chef of Amici Miei in C di C. The recipe is enough for 2-3 first course servings.

The biggest macaroni elbows you can find, if you can't find the big ones, use rigatoni or shells. About 1/3 pound.

2 normal sized zucchine, cut lengthwise, salted, coated with good olive oil then broiled, grilled or baked until brown. You can do this as far ahead as you like, and keep in the fridge, then you only have to assemble the sauce at the last moment. Cut into 1 " or so pieces. It is that nutty browned flavor that is everything here.
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
About 3/4 cup of slices of dead ripe sweet tomatoes, cherry, plum or if wet ones, squeeze the juice out and then cut. Ripe is more important than breed.
About 2 tbsp. of sliced fresh basil leaves
really good olive oil
Start the pasta, which will probably cook about 12 minutes.
Heat a heavy skillet and add a glub of oil, and throw in the browned zucchine and the garlic slices. Cook medium heat, stirring now and then, to brown further, but don't burn the garlic! Add the basil and the tomatoes, and stir in, cooking until the tomato skins start to wrinkle --they do not really cook in this recipe. Check for salt. Turn off the heat. Drain the pasta and throw into the skillet and turn to sauce, add another glug of olive oil. NO CHEESE. Serve.

What domestic goddesses you all are! (Has Nigella Lawson reached you?)Thank you all so much! I'm printing out this thread and I reckon it'll be cucumber soup for lunch! Thanks again everyone!

Being from Middle East background, I will share one my mom always made. Slice cukes into about 1/4" rounds then quarter. Add plain yogurt, fresh minced garlic or garlic powder, to taste. Lightly salt and sprinkle dried mint -be generous with it. Let sit for an hour in refridge. Serve as side dish. Goes great with spicy foods-will cool the palate.
For the best mint-buy your own fresh and take leaves off stems-dry on paper towels or brown paper bag til crispy. Crumble and store in ziplock or jar. Great on salads made with olive oil, lemon and garlic for dressing.

I learned this from a college roommate from Malaysia. It's good even with the cucumbers that get away from you and grow very large.

Peel one large cucumber and halve it lengthwise.
Scoop out the seeds with a spoon and discard.
Slice thinly into little halfmoons (mezzalune??).
In a skillet, saute some minced garlic and grated ginger in some plain vegetable oil. Add the cucumbers and stir to distribute the garlic and ginger. Cover and cook on medium low for about 5 minutes, until the cucumber are getting tender. Turn off the heat and drizzle a little dark sesame oil and soy sauce over the cucumbers. Sprinkle liberally with toasted sesame seeds.

Serve hot as a side dish, or cold as a salad. Colleen, I bet you could mix the soy sauce with a little of the Asian/Japanese vinegar to try to recreate the flavor you're after. A few chili flakes would be good, too.

Check out July issue of Martha Stewart's magazine-lots of cucumber recipes.