Wednesday 26 August 2015

Chocolate Zucchini Bread



       Zucchini is trending right now. Or at least we're pulling it from the garden in bushels full. Now as much as we try and harvest the zucchini's regularly so they don't grow to the size of a small child, there are always a few that you miss. Now when you have an irregularly large zucchini, there are a couple things you can do with in:

  1. Let it keep growing! and keep it for seeds. That is of course if it's the only squash you are growing (wouldn't want any cross pollination of summer squashes)
  2. Make some zucchini pizza (but you might want to remove some of the seeds)
  3. Make Zucchini Bread, my favourite version is a super moist chocolaty recipe that you can hardly call bread.
       There has been a bit of controversy over the title of this recipe. Now I am a firm believer that this is zucchini bread, a little sweeter than the traditional zucchini bread , but zucchini bread never the less. My coworkers unanimously decided that it was closer to a brownie (have the ever had a brownie?!). And then I get a 7am text from Ryan exclaiming that "It's cake! Best breakfast ever!" So we haven't really come to a firm agreement on what exactly the chocolate zucchini dessert/breakfast/snack is but nevertheless, it's delicious!


Serves: 2 loaf pans
Time: 30 minutes + 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp (or 1/2 Tbsp) baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (optional)

  • 2 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 500g (about 3 cups) grated raw zucchini

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. 
  2. In a food processor equipped with the grater or using a medium grater, grate a large zucchini.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients, including flour,cocoa powder, leavening agents, salt. Stir in chocolate chips if using.
  4. In another large bowl, mash banana, and whisk in oil. Cream oil and banana mixture with brown and white sugar and vanilla. 
  5. Add the zucchini to the wet mixture and mix well.
  6. Mix the wet and dry mixtures together, stirring just until combined. 
  7. Scrape the batter into two 9x5x3 loaf pans (I don't usually grease them, but mine are well seasoned). Bake in a 350°F/175°C oven until the bread has risen and a toothpick/chopstick comes out clean, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
  8. Remove from the oven and place loaf pans on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pans and letting cool completely. 

Monday 3 August 2015

Zucchini Pizza



       This is one of my all-time favourite pizzas. It’s a classic in our house and is a great way to use all those zucchinis. It you grow zucchinis at home, you know what I mean. Once they start, you’re eating zucchini 24/7.


        This type of zucchini pizza is rift off of a traditional Italian pizza, but you know, veganized. We add sesame seeds and bread crumbs for a little bit of crunch to an otherwise deliciously soft zucchini filling.

Look at all those zucchinis Rye's HomeGrown is selling at the market!
Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

  • 1/3 pizza dough recipe, rested
  • 1 medium-large zucchini (large in grocery store varieties, otherwise medium from the garden)
  • Scant ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup vegan shredded cheese, such as Daiya
  • 3 green onions, chopped thinly
  • ¼ cup fresh basil, sliced into ribbons
  • ½ tsp dried oregano
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced paper thin or minced
  • Fresh cracked pepper to taste
  • 2-3 Tbsp sesame seeds
  • 1/8 cup bread crumbs


Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 550°F, with the pizza stone positioned on the center rack. If not using a pizza stone, see my recipe for the pizza dough recipe for how to prepare this recipe using a metal baking tray.
  2. Use a food processor with a grater attachment or a box grater to grate the zucchini (large grate).
  3. Toss grated zucchini in a bowl with salt. I know it seems like a lot of salt, but most of it will be lost in the liquid! Let stand for approximately 20 minutes, until the zucchini has released a good amount of water.
  4. Transfer zucchini to a colander. Discard any remaining liquid. In small batches, squeeze out the zucchini and then transfer back to the bowl.
  5. Loosen up the zucchini with a fork. Mix in cheese, green onion, basil, dried oregano, garlic and black pepper. Taste and season if needed.
  6. On a floured surface, stretch out the dough and transfer to a floured pizza peel with cornmeal.
  7. Depending on how wet your dough is, you can choose to make the pizza on the pizza peel or directly on the pizza stone. We make ours on the pizza stone after we had to turn our pizza into an extra-large calzone one too many times. But it’s up to you! Either way, you want to slowly slide the pizza/dough onto the stone.
  8. Bake at 550°F for approximately 10 minutes, then switch to broil and broil for 2 additional minutes. These times are based off of an electric oven, if using gas, less time will be needed, so adjust accordingly.
  9. When the crust and the bread crumbs are golden brown, remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack or cutting board. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.