This year we planted one zucchini plant, kept it covered in the hoop house until July and when we opened it up it was the most giantest plant EV-er. It bullied the broccoli plants out of its way and took over the whole end of the garden. By mid-July we started plucking 5-8 lb vegetables off the plant every week. Thus began the season of the zucchini! What to do with all this zucchini? Roasting them on the grill is the quick and easy route to go but that gets boring quick. My other stand-by is to grate the zucchini, put them in ziplock freezer bags and throw them in the freezer. I can make use for them over the winter for breads and muffins. After storing 18 lbs of shredded zucchini I needed some new ideas so I started asking around.

My friend Juliette was raving about this gluten-free appetizer so I asked her to send me the recipe. It calls for zucchini cut into long thin strips. I sent my husband down the road to my friend, Cynthia's, house to borrow her slicer. She bought this cool slicer that spins the vegetables against a cutter head so you can make everything from curly fries to long strips of zucchini that look like spaghetti. If you don’t have a Cynthia or a cool slicer of your own use a grater or vegetable peeler. Note to Juliette: I did veer off the recipe you sent me- just a bit :)

Step 1: Ingredients

Serves 4

Ingredients:

10 c zucchini – peeled/sliced into long thin strips

4 tbsp almond butter

4 tbsp tamari

2 tbsp anchovy fillets minced (or umiboshi plums for the anchovy dissenters)

2 tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped (you can substitute basil if you have it fresh)

4 tsp curry powder

1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (I used dried and it was awfully pokey- next time I’ll skip it if I don’t have it fresh.)

Step 2: Getting It Done

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. I found it best if I added an ingredient and stirred, added the next, etc,… If you are using a slicer the pieces can become very long. I cut mine in half before I combined everything together.

If you like this recipe come on over to my blog where my husband, Mike, and I tinker around our mini-farm (AKA Our backyard).