Saturday, June 26, 2010

Yikes Stripes!

Every year we plant a vegetable garden behind our home growing tomatoes, herbs, peppers and squash. It is interesting each year to see what grows. Weather and pests affect the final crops and we adjust our plant choices the next year. Last year the ugly little earwigs kept eating our young zucchini plants and we ended up with a sparse crop. This year instead of purchasing a couple of zucchini plants we grabbed a six pack expecting to lose a few. The weather has been cool this year so the tomato plants are still a little anemic but OMG the zucchini plants are monsters! We didn't realize we had selected Italian Striped Zucchini which has bristly armor-like surface the earwigs can't penetrate. The leaves are humongous and create a canopy of green. It looks like some green alien being has landed with giant yellow eyes staring out at you.
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We already have a crop and I suspect by the end of summer we will be begging our friends and neighbors to take some off our hands. My wife April created a superb pizza from the inaugural harvest. She makes her own dough using a tweaked version of Tyler Florence's pizza dough recipe. April is a true baker and adjusts her recipes according to conditions and availability. The main difference was adding some whole wheat flour and reducing the all purpose flour. The toppings consisted of olive oil, slightly caramelized onions, garlic, fresh oregano and basil, followed by a layer of mandoline sliced zucchini. A combination of mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano cheeses completed the recipe. We paired the pizza with a crisp Sauvignon Blanc (Charles Shaw $1.99) and appreciated our bounty.
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Italian Striped Zucchini Pizza

2 comments:

cookiecrumb said...

Congratulations on your harvest!
We are beset with slugs, so I'm doubtful about the success of our pattypan squash. (And, yes, the tomatoes are anemic.)
What a fabulous pizza bianca. Brava, April!

Zoomie said...

Beautiful with the two-buck Chuck! Fit for a king.

Cookiecrumb, teach the dog to pick slugs - it will give her something to do and it will rid your plants of the slugfest.