I got the first couple of zucchini from my garden last week. A beautiful green fruit about 14 inches long and 5 inches wide. My God, “Its Bigger than Both of Us” as Imogene Coca would say on “The Sid Caesar - 1950’s TV Show”. Most people like these zucchinis about half that size for cooking in casseroles or boiled and served with butter. Although the zucchini was almost picking size four days earlier, I had gone away for a few days and it tripled in size when I got back. It was like the pod people in the movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”.See photos at the link …. http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/ZucCasserole72609
Zucchini plants are so prolific. They continue to flower and produce fruits all summer - (More Pod People). I usually will pick the first few and give them to my wife to cook in various ways. She has a ton of recipes which are all delicious. However, I know she has reached her cooking limit when I see the zucchini green color to her eyes as she imitates “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” and slaps me on the head with her giant green tail. At that point, I give away the rest of the “pod” crop to family and friends to spread the wealth and propagate the “alien” species.
I decided to grow most of my vegetable garden from seed this year and involved the grandchildren. Once the seedlings reached about 4 inches in height, I could plant them in the garden. You need to time this so you can plant them in the garden after Memorial Day and the last signs of frost. However, like most plans and several delays, I eventually planted the seeds in late April in the house and waited for them to grow to maturity. I hoped Bernie Madoff didn’t help produce these seeds.
I gave a bunch of seeds and seedlings to my grand daughter to put in a garden at her house. I also gave her some plastic fencing to put around the plants and keep them safe from “Space” invaders. She put up the fence her self and delicately put all the plants in the ground. She watered and weeded the garden and took special care of the little seedlings. However, “Alien Creatures From Outer Space” in the form of a ground hog ate most of the plants and the garden fell apart.
To make sure that I had a viable garden this year, I also bought some already grown plants at the garden center. They were duplicates of the ones that I was also growing from seed. I was now growing both seedlings and plants of zucchini, squash, tomato, carrot, lettuce, broccoli, pepper, egg plant, cucumber and a bunch of herbs. Nothing like “hedge hogging” your bets. I also moved the plants from the house to a cold frame outside in May.
After Memorial Day, I planted all the garden center plants in my regular garden and almost ran out of space. A few weeks later, the seedlings which I had growing in a cold frame were now ready to plant in the garden. Since I had no more space to put them in the regular garden, I cleared a spot near the compost pile and made another garden. My neighbor also provided some space on an adjoining compost area. We now have a “Farm Coop”. Maybe we should apply for Federal Stimulus Money.
Unfortunately, the area was also home to an invasive bamboo plant that grows like wild fire and is competing for the same space as the seedlings. This reminds me of the movie “War of the Worlds” where the space creatures try to take over the Earth. Will the alien “Bamboo Creatures” win? Stay tune for the exciting conclusion next month. Although I dig out and snip off most of the bamboo sprouts every other day, there deep roots continue to produce more and more alien creatures.
Although my garden is fenced in, I noticed that some of the plants were still being eaten, especially the Strawberry plants and Lettuce and Corn. To help protect the plants, I made a few screened boxes. After using the boxes on the Strawberries which only produce fruit in June, I moved the boxes over the other tender plants (corn, carrots, and lettuce) to protect them. So far they are doing fine.
Yesterday, my wife tried a new recipe for “Zucchini Casserole” with ground hamburg and served it for dinner. It was truly delicious and outstanding. After some pleading, she shared with me her secret recipe which I have described below. However, like Mr. Phelps says from “Mission Impossible” you must destroy the secret in 30 seconds to prevent a world wide zucchini epidemic.
Zucchini & Meat Casserole (Secret Recipe)
Ingredients:
1 zucchini (1/4” slices), 2-3 eggs, bread crumbs, 1 pkg mozzarella cheese (shredded), 1 lb. Hamburg (see meatball cooking instructions below), marinara sauce (make your own).
Directions:
Meatballs (crumbled after cooking) - mix together 1 lb. Hamburg, 1 egg, 5 slices Italian Bread, (wet with water and shredded), Romano cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Make meatballs and broil. After, cool and crumble.
Casserole - Dip zucchini slices in egg batter, bread crumbs and place on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil and bake at 425 until tops crusty. Then layer zucchini slices in casserole dish with other ingredients in following order: 1. sauce, 2. zucchini, 3. ground meat. 4. grated cheese. 5. Mozzarella cheese. 6, sauce. Repeat layering to fill dish. Bake at 350 for one hour.
Remember: “Don’t Tell Bernie”. - Recipe Will Self Destruct In 30 Seconds
