Cooking local: Tomatoes and Zucchini Already?

Tomatoes and Zucchini Already?

Photo and text by Greta Hardin

Tomatoes! Well … Cherry Tomatoes! For a town that is used to local tomatoes tiptoeing in at the end of August, this year’s tomato crop looks to be epic. The cherry tomatoes are already showing up willy-nilly and it is time to enjoy the bounty.

Now, with the tomatoes comes its sunshine buddy, zucchini. I confess, I had long been a zucchini avoider, a “barely-tolerater”, someone who would work around or through it, but not enjoy it… until recently.

It is a vegetable (well, fruit – seeds on the inside, but I’ll let it slide this time) that does not improve by sitting around. It gets a spongy and bitter. Those zucchini I’d been dealing with for years from the grocery store, those were the culprit. I have never understood why, other than obligation , someone would, on purpose, voluntarily pay for and eat zucchini. It wasn’t until I was faced with farm fresh zucchini that came in my weekly veggie box that I had to confront this food nemesis and figure out how to make it good.

For me the key was messing around with zucchini long enough to discover that it is one of those foods that can be cooked both too much and not enough.

When it is tiny and tender and sweet and crunchy raw, it should be barely cooked – merely charred on the outside, and the inside should be sweet and crunchy, almost cucumber-like. When these small sweet ones are cooked to softness, it is a pity. So char them and eat them crunchy – that was my first revelation.

The second revelation was the bigger zucchini. They still have that sweetness, but it is buried and must be coaxed out. When not cooked long enough the large amounts of water makes the cooked zucchini somewhat bland and bitter. Incompletely cooked eggplant suffers from this as well. But that is another column for another day.

The answers for larger zucchini: cut them smaller – and use a cast iron or other heavy pan. And cook them longer. The results are almost unexpected; a deep, delicious zucchini tomato sauce you will be proud to share.

Charred Zucchini and Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• zucchini – 2 banana sized
• cherry tomatoes – 1 pint (2 cups, same thing)
• garlic – 2 cloves finely chopped or pressed
• red wine – ½ C
• salt – to taste
• oil – 1.5 tsp and 1.5 tsp and 2 tsp
• water – as needed

Optionals – tasty bread to char or delicious noodles or polenta, and excellent mozzarella (worth it this time). 

Equipment:

• heavy sauté pan – cast iron is best for the charring
• 2nd sauté pan (optional – but it allows you to work on the two vegetables at the same time)
• lid or other splatter guard (optional)
• cutting board 
• knife
• spatulas or stirring spoons

Prep:

Rinse off the zucchini, rubbing off any prickly hairs. Trim off the ends, and cut the sides to square off the sides. Cut into 2 or 3 rectangles so each zucchini is manageable.

You are going for diced cubes.

cubed zucchini

Slice each rectangular box into slices thinner than your pinky (about 4), tip this stack on its side, and do it again so you get sticks. Now cut these sticks into slices so you get cubes (or something like it). The most important part is that you have small pieces about the same size and shape so they all cook pretty quickly. The perfect cube will come with practice.

Smash or chop the garlic and rinse the tomatoes.

Cook:

(Note: if you have two sauté pans, cook both vegetables at the same time – and use the heavier pan for the tomatoes. Otherwise, just follow the recipe. Please don’t “throw it all in together” or the browning will not happen and it will be a very different sauce.)

Heat 1.5 tsp of oil in your heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat with a small piece of zucchini. When the test piece of zucchini is sizzling, add half of the zucchini and about ½ tsp of salt. Let the zucchini sit and cook for about 3 minutes – until a few pieces are starting to get a little browned. Stir the zucchini and continue to cook it until the pieces are getting browned again – and so on. If brown is sticking to the pan – this is good, and part of the plan.

browned zucchini

When the zucchinis thoroughly browned and soft, add ¼ of the wine to dissolved the brown stuck on stuff. If you need more liquid, add ¼ of water. Keep cooking until most of the brown is dissolved. Remove this zucchini sauce from the pan and repeat with the second half of the zucchini. If the tomatoes go here, wipe out any large amounts of zucchini, and move on to the tomatoes.

For the tomatoes, heat up the last 2 tsp of oil over high heat. 

When the oil shimmers – about 4 minutes – add the cherry tomatoes whole. Let them sit for two minutes. Shake the pan to roll the cherry tomatoes. Let them cook until they char and burst.

burst tomatoes with garlic

Add the garlic, about a ½ tsp of salt, and cook it with the tomatoes until it mellows and the juice thickens. 

Turn the heat down to low. Add the zucchini mixture back in, stir it together and taste for salt. Add a little carefully until it tastes just right.

Sauce ready!

I tried eating this Charred Tomato and Zucchini sauce on some grilled bread

grilled bread

and noodles with a little mozzarella. Wow, was it good!

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Saturday June 14th - October 4th

The Shoreline Farmers Market at Shoreline City Hall

Top level of the Parking Structure (Free Parking underneath)

17500 Midvale Ave N, Shoreline

Sunday May 11th - October 26th

The Lake Forest Park Farmers Market will be at LFP Town Center

Lower Level Parking Lot (Free Parking in surrounding spots and in the upper lot)

17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park

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Greta Hardin is a science teacher, food nerd, and the author of Cooking Your Local Produce: A cookbook for tackling Farmers Markets, CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) and your own back yard.

Cooking Your Local Produce now has a CookLocal App for iPhone! A Farmers Market Guide and Shopping Lists for recipes.