Zucchini Bromance

[A recent conversation that I had at the Borough Hall Greenmarket:]

Dave: Wow, these zucchini look awesome!

Young Farmer Dude: Yeah – I picked them myself this morning.  Totally fresh from the earth.

Dave: Awesome! You guys always have the best stuff.  Everyone talks about this stand.  You have the best stuff by far.

Young Farmer Dude: Thanks, bro! You know…(taking me aside) we are about ready to close up.  I’ll give you a good price if you want the rest of that zucchini.

That was the spark – the instant connection.  He called me ‘Bro’ and offered me produce.  Like a golden yellow flower, my zucchini bromance blossomed…

I brought them back to the kitchen and baked up a batch of Chocolate Zucchini Cake.  This is a great recipe from my Step-Mother, Dee.  It has a hint of cinnamon and a surprising amount of zucchini, and it makes a killer cake.

My folks live way up in the Finger Lakes and their garden produces an overabundance of squash.  This recipe makes good use of that largess.  As a kid we would eat squash almost every night.  The classic recipe in my family is sautéed zucchini with a few grinds of fresh nutmeg.  My Dad has a little nutmeg grinder with a little compartment on the top where you keep the nutmeg.  It is still around and it still gets used all the time.

My squash love connection in Brooklyn had resulted in so much zucchini that I had to find another use for it, so we roasted up the rest of it and put it in the morning frittata for the next few days.  It was so good, that we keep going back for more and more zucchini to add to the breakfast menu.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a long and abundant late summer.

The Farmer Dude has not been back since that day, but his produce is there every Saturday.  Let’s see what this weekend has in store…