There’s nothing exciting about zucchini. No one eagerly awaits zucchini season. It’s not like asparagus or even butternut squash. Think about that – bulbous gourds are more welcomed than zucchini. But since zucchini are cheaper and more available than a New Jersey prostitution whore, you’d be stupid to not, you know, take advantage, as it were.

Besides, you could combine pesto, bacon and corn with sheetrock and it would end up a better than average meal, so this recipe’s not only a great way to use up some zucchini but also disguise it enough for your kids to eat it. Bacon-flavored veggies over pasta? It’s almost like one of those hide-the-green-stuff recipes from Jessica Seinfeld’s cookbook.

I admit to favoring tomatoey sauces over slick pasta coatings, like pesto, but there’s so much going on here, with tastes and textures, that there’s something for everyone. I thawed some pesto from my freezer, and I might use a fourth ear of corn next time I make it. It was a little tricky trying to combine all the ingredients, as my skillet was no match for the volume of pasta and vegetables. And I take huge issue with Gourmet’s assessment of 10 minutes of active prep time, but maybe their recipe testers weren’t called out to the driveway several times to admire chalk art. 

Makes me feel a little sorry for them.

Zucchini, Corn and Basil Fusilli with Bacon (from Gourmet, August 2008)
Serves 6 

6 slices bacon cut into small pieces
1 pound fusilli
3 ears corn, kernels cut from cob
1 1/2 pounds zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I used four small zucchini)
1 5- to 7-ounce container basil pesto
 
Cook bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, turning occasionally, until nearly crisp. Drain on paper towels. Discard drippings from skillet.

Meanwhile, put a pot of water on to boil. Salt the water and add fusilli, cooking until very al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water, then add vegetables to pasta in pot and cook, partially covered, 2-3 minutes. Drain.

Add pasta and vegetables to skillet along with pesto and some reserved cooking water and toss, carefully! Season with salt and sprinkle on additional cooking water if necessary.

Top with bacon and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper.

For dessert: Blueberry crumb bars from Allrecipes via Deb Smitten Kitchen. The rest of the three pans I made today are either going in the freezer or to friends. I swear.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This tale of great woe is all to explain my deep psychological need to horde ‘n gorge once local peaches start to appear on vinyl-covered picnic tables in gas station parking lots all over the Carolinas and Georgia. What am I saying? I was the same way when I lived in New York and would drive to Niagara County to buy eight-quart baskets, bring them home and hope Chuck didn’t notice the fruit flies in the mudroom. Peaches were my reward for having made it through yet another winter without eating my hair due to seasonal depression. Now I eat my fill of peaches as mandated by the state constitution of South Carolina. That’s me – willing to do whatever it takes to be a good citizen of my new state. Except for the buggery, of course.

This is yet another one of those rustic, not at all fussy, as good for breakfast as it is for dessert, not particularly attractive fruit creations that has its provenance in the sturdy-stock countryside of some European principality that I so adore. (If you’re wondering, I do like chocolate. I even own a pastry bag. Don’t you worry, I’ll get to those desserts soon enough. That’s what winter’s for.) It’s nothing more than a creamy custardy topping over big chunks of unpeeled peaches, baked until your kitchen smells like an orchard. The main ingredients are butter, sugar and mascarpone, otherwise known as $7 cream cheese. Basically peaches baked in a thin cheesecake batter.

I found this recipe in Amanda Hesser’s food memoir, “Cooking for Mr. Latte.” She makes it with apricots, a substitute can you believe I’ve never tried? I’m sure it’s fine. But apricots aren’t peaches, not by a long shot. Her mother-in-law uses peaches. What she doesn’t mention is that peaches are much juicier than apricots, so if you dig into the slump before it fully cools and sets, you’ll have a very runny slump. Even then it might still be runny.

The sugar in the batter forms a thin, brittle layer on top and provides a shard-like sensation under your spoon and teeth. The peaches underneath taste like sunshine.
 

Peach Slump (adapted from Amanda Hesser, via her mother-in-law, via Frances Mayes’ “Under the Tuscan Sun”)
Serves 6, allegedly

4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for buttering baking dish
About 1 pound ripe peaches, pitted and cut into wedges but unpeeled (I usually use 6)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup mascarpone
2 tablespoons flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a large shallow baking dish (a 10-inch pie plate works well). Arrange the peach wedges in the dish, making (roughly) a single layer of peaches.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the 4 tablespoons butter and the sugar. When it’s fluffy and white, beat in the egg and then the mascarpone. Lower the speed and add the flour, or mix in the flour by hand.

Pour the mixture over the fruit and bake until the center is just set, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Secondly, it’s simple. Yeah, there are a few steps involved, but there are no separating of eggs, or creaming butter and sugar until it’s double in volume, or water baths. Lastly, it’s got a rustic gorgeousness that makes you want to dress for the occasion, say in a simple cotton frock made from a tiny floral print and straw hat, which you were wearing when you went to harvest lavender in your garden earlier today.

A clafouti is also an custardy dessert, which also makes me swoon. It’s like a huge baked pancake studded with fruit. And the mix of textures – the eggy part and the cherries that you can bite clear into without being on guard for the pits – is probably my most favorite part. It’s more of a teatime snack than an after-dinner dessert, and if you don’t save some for breakfast, you will missing out on a real treat.

Cherries grow in New York State, where I not only bought them but picked them myself, but I can’t find locally grown cherries here. Which usually means cherries have been too expensive. But have you noticed how cheap they are this year? I’ve been buying them at Whole Foods (of all places) for $1.99 a pound! I should be pitting and freezing like they’re going out of style. Maybe I’ll get on that after I get back from Chicago. If you can buy cherries that cheap where you are, make this today.

Cherry Clafouti (adapted from Chuck Williams’ “Simple French Cooking”)
Serves 4 

1 lb. fresh dark sweet cherries
1 cup milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sifted cake (soft wheat) flour
4 eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure almond extract or 1 tablespoon kirsch
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting 

Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter a 1 1/2-quart baking dish. A 10-inch ceramic pie plate works well.  

Using a cherry pitter, pit the cherries. The cherry juice will splatter and make a mess, so don’t pit without an apron. Arrange the cherries in a single layer in the prepared dish.

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the milk and cream and heat until small bubbles appear along the edges of the pan. Do not boil. Remove from heat and, using a whisk, vigorously whisk in the flour a little at a time until well-blended and no lumps remain. Set aside.

In a bowl combine the eggs, sugar and salt and, using the whisk, beat until light and creamy. Add the milk mixture and the almond extract or kirsch and whisk until blended and smooth.

Pour over the cherries. Place the baking dish on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake 45 to 55 minutes until browned and puffy yet still soft in the center. A sharp-edged knife stuck in the center will come out almost clean. Transfer to a rack to cool. 

Dust the top generously with confectioner’s sugar. Using a large serving spoon, eat the clafouti directly from the baking dish in blissful silence while your family sleeps upstairs, only stopping to save some clafouti for breakfast place two or three spoonfuls on each dessert plate. Dust with more confectioner’s sugar.

Related posts:

1. Peach Slump Two years ago there was a frost one night on...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.