Monday, July 27, 2009

Iron Chef: Zucchini!

What fun I had today. I decided to use my bounty of zucchini to prepare a meal in true Iron Chef fashion.

I chopped, I cubed and I shredded away in preparation of what was to come.

For my main dish, I decided on a zucchini/ground turkey meatloaf. I added tomatoes, rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, and my signature spice blend along with a bit of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I combined bread crumbs, chopped onion, garlic, a touch of lemon zest, shredded parmesan cheese and some feta to the mix. I baked at 350 for an hour and ended up with a delightfully moist loaf.

Borrowing from ChristineM's post about her Savory Zucchini Muffins, we made our own savory zucchini muffins with what ingredients we had on hand: basic muffin ingredients of flour, baking powder and salt for the dry mix. To that I added my signature spice blend and red pepper flakes. The wet ingredients included a touch of sugar, egg, half and half, "green" Tobasco Sauce, chives, garlic and some white cheddar cheese, and of course, the zucchini. This was the 1st time I "winged it" and went without measuring or using a recipe. They actually ended up pretty decent. It tasted more like a bread than a muffin, however. Next time I'll use more cheese, though.

Our side dish was a roasted zucchini and garden veggie medley that I marinaded in olive oil, rosemary, sage, signature spice blend, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Simply yummy.

For dessert I was attempting a zucchini chocolate banana nut ice cream utilizing the concept of Five Minute Ice Cream from All Recipes. Instead, I ended up with a pretty tasty milkshake.

This was a fun experiment and the family enjoyed the results. The zucchini was never overpowering in any of the dishes and each dish was unique. I do believe I can call this experiment a success!

7 comments:

Lissaloo said...

That is so neat! I loved reading this post, 5th sister is the winner! What a fun meal, it looks beautiful too! =)

thamesarino said...

oh hooray!! it all sounds and looks super yummy!!

ChristineM said...

LOVE the Iron Chef theme! Looks like you had fun AND a yummy meal!

Anonymous said...

That dinner sounds awesome!!! I love your Iron Chef dinner :) lol

St Mark Catholic Homeschool said...

Wow - you are way too cool!!! I love the ice cream recipe - I will try it. When I bought my blender they made spinach ice cream (spinach and pineapple and other fruits - you couldn't taste the spinach at all - but it was green - way cool - I need to make it but haven't figured out how - you have inspired me!!!

3BoysMama said...

Sounds wonderful! I came to check this out after my all-zucchini meal. I never thought of it as "Iron Chef", though. I sure couldn't do it in under an hour!

Jenn Erickson said...

Aha! Brilliant! Everything you made sounds delicious, even the accidental milkshake. I'm going to have to try that meatloaf. Thanks for sharing your adventure in zucchini!
Jenn @ rookno17.blogspot.com

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