what on earth should i do with this much zucchini?

My friend Emily has a bountiful garden and every summer she is faced with the same dilemma: what to do with the abundance of fruits and veggies.  (I know, sad story, hm?) Well, this past weekend she gave me one of her zucchinis.  She gave me one not because she’s stingy - she gave me just one because this zucchini is the zucchini that dwarfs all zucchinis, vegetables and most other edible objects.  

Check it out:

I’m open to suggestions guys!  I figured there’s no better people to ask than fellow food bloggers. What would you do with it?!

Are you a food blog junkie? Do you stop your friends from eating your culinary creations before they’ve been thoroughly photographed? Do you wake up and check your feed for new posts from your fave food blogs?  Most importantly, have you made online foodie friends?

If you’ve answered yes to these questions, it must come at no surprise that you’re a foodie.

Last week, Diane and Todd from White on Rice Couple sent me the best graduation gift a foodie could ever ask for.  It was a care package filled with a bottle of epicurean extra virgin olive oil, a hand-crafted wooden serving platter, exquisite dark chocolates, Vietnamese goodies and pretty party napkins that made for excellent shock absorbers during delivery. The gift also came right after they inspired me to plant my own herb garden (READ: 1 basil and 1 rosemary plant).  This week, as you can tell, my basil plant is out of control.  I pluck and it just keeps growing!  So to show my thanks, I’ve decided to write a post using my homegrown basil and a couple of their gifts. 

When I opened the bottle of extra virgin olive oil they sent, I was immediately taken aback by its bold fragrance. It was like sticking my nose up close into a big bowl of Mediterranean olives. This kind of oil is certainly not meant to go anywhere near heat and is perfect for salads and dunking bread.  I opted for the latter choice, and went with a warm baguette from my local baker.

Infused oils is something my mom always makes for when guests are coming over. It’s extremely simple and tastes even better when made a day in advance. This recipe is for a spicy basil-infused olive oil and it is by far my favorite variation from my mom’s collection. 

The oil is out-of-this-world! The minty subtleties from the basil play really well against the robust flavors of the unfiltered olive oil.

After the oil has had about a day to rest (overnight if you’re too impatient), there’s probably not much that wouldn’t taste amazing with a little drizzle of this concoction.  Seriously, drizzle this over some grilled chicken, spread some inside your sandwiches, heck, go at it with a spoon? OK, maybe that’s a bit much, but that’s not to take away any of its awesomeness.

Thanks again, D & T for the amazing gifts!  I’m looking forward to using the rest of the oil and the other treats you guys included.  The chocolates were gone by the second day, but that was to be expected.  You guys are the best!!

As a blogger, I spend a substantial amount of time perusing other people’s blogs.  Being that I blog about food, I confess that I frequent the token food porn sites on occasion (read: tastespotting).  Who can resist?! Perfect scoops of ice cream,  decadent cakes, oh my!  This weekend, however, I did - I resisted.  I stepped away from my computer and celebrated the 4th of July with the rest of America.  

Once the 4th was over, I decided to continue enjoying the rest of my patriotic weekend outdoors.  In fact, just the other day Peter, at Kalofagas, posted an entry that showcased his garden and the stunning array of herbs that he has at his disposal.  Not only him, but Todd and Diane (aka White on Rice Couple) also have an outrageous garden that I swear has more fruits and veggies than my local farmer’s market. Drawing inspiration from two of my favorite bloggers, I decided that this weekend I would start my very own garden. And without even signing on to my computer, I set out to buy my new plants.

OK, so I don’t have a full garden just yet, but I did start my mini-paradise with some sweet basil and upright rosemary.  I’m not sure if using chemical plant food is absolutely necessary (or actually good for the plants), but the staff member at Home Depot convinced me that the plants wouldn’t survive without it. So if anyone has any opinions about this stuff, I’d love to know. 

The fragrance that was coming from the herbs was intoxicating.  Immediately after I finished my little project, my stomach was craving for some attention of its own.  Since this was the 4th of July weekend, I had extra hot dogs sitting in my fridge that were screaming my name.  And yes, I do eat hot dogs!  Or at least doctored-up hot dogs…

I gently plucked a few leaves off my new basil plant and went straight to the kitchen. I chopped up some onions, tomatoes, a clove of garlic and a spotty avocado I had laying on the counter. Everything came together with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil a tiny bit of lemon juice.  Some grated mozzarella completed the production and made for some killer dogs!

Click on the stamp to find out more information about this event and how to enter to win this month’s prizes!

event: A Taste of the Mediterranean

deadline: July 15, 2008

recipe: Hummus

It’s getting close to graduation and I can’t get myself to start packing all my food stuff for the big move this Sunday. Each time I told myself to focus and pack, my ADD kicked into high gear and the cardboard boxes and bubble wrap took a back seat to my distractions. Yesterday I decided to procrastinate with good taste and make wine-braised mushrooms with a goat cheese and mascarpone topping. What, what? I still have 4 more days until the parental unit gets here and starts complaining about how unproductive I’ve been this past week.

Anna, my host mom from Italy (and my friend Francesco’s actual mom), came a week early to spend time in Ithaca before the big day. Since I’m a believer that not every dinner party has to be an 8-course, 20-guest ordeal, I called up Francesco and invited him and his mom over for some wine and appetizers. I made her biscotti recipe and whipped up a batch of my wine-braised mushroom cups.

Puff pastry is key for this appetizer; and if you haven’t already discovered Foodbeam, Fanny offers a brilliant step-by-step crash course on this classic French dough. Can you make do using the store-bought stuff? I guess. But only if your foodie conscience actually allows you to pick up the pre-packaged dough that has been sitting in the frozen isle of your local grocery store for who knows how long and has been stamped with a generic 2-year window of expiration… sigh.

Braising the mushrooms is a walk in the park. All you have to do is sauté them over high heat, deglaze the pan with balsamic vinegar and red wine, and lower the heat until most of the liquid evaporates.

Click on the stamp to find out more information about this event and how to enter to win this month’s prizes!

event: A Taste of the Mediterranean

deadline: June 15, 2008

recipe: Pesto

ATOM: A Taste of the Mediterranean

If it weren’t for the whole making-a-living part of life, I would spend all my days traveling the world without even giving it a second thought.  Unfortunately, making a living seems to be one of the cruel prerequisites to my globe-trotting dreams; so, until then, I travel when I get the chance and often resort to cooking to fulfill the rest of my curiosity.

This past month I thought of an idea that would be awesome to do with all the fellow food bloggers out there.  Let’s travel around the Mediterranean!  I know!  Why didn’t I think of this before?  My type of travel doesn’t require any sort of luggage or even a passport, just a hearty appetite for Med deliciousness.  We’ll taste it all; from the Portuguese influences present in Spanish cuisine to the earthy undertones unique in North African fare. 

The project has been appropriately titled, A Taste of the Mediterranean.  Each month I will feature a different culinary region from the Mediterranean (French, Greek, Italian, Middle Eastern, North African and Spanish) along with an appropriate regional recipe.  This is where the traveling comes in.  The challenge will be to blog about your own spin on that particular recipe (or technique) for a chance to win that month’s grand prize.

Each challenge will also come with a unique stamp that all participants can use to decorate their blogs with!   If you need a smaller version of the stamp for your blog, click here.  Participate each month and collect them all!

Pesto with my Italian Double

What better place is there to start our Mediterranean excursion than in Italy?  The challenge for this month is based on the classic Pesto Genovese!  The sky’s the limit on the type of pesto you choose to make, so long as it follows the basic nut-cheese-garlic-oil combo.  All entries must be submitted (i.e. posted) by June 15th in order to be eligible to win that month’s prize. 

In the mean time, I leave you with a Pesto video I made with my Italian Double, Paolo.  I look forward to reading all the amazing pesto ideas everyone has to share!

Cheers,

Tony

All the rules & regs are posted here.

These are a couple of my favorite pestos: 

• Spinach Walnut Pesto (aka Pasta alla Zarina)
• Avocado Pesto