fortification fridays -- take my zucchini, please bread

It's that time again. Everyone in the continental U.S. is overrun with zucchini. Everyone, that is, except me. My exotic varieties didn't turn out at all! So I was one of the few people around actually LOOKING to take your zucchini, please.*

Last year, with my bounty crop, I thought I'd perfect zucchini bread. A dozen or so loaves later, this recipe comes pretty close. I've been through internet recipes, my great-aunt's recipes, and even a granola zucchini cookbook written by Oregon mountaineer commune-ists. Based on the famous Sunset magazine zucchini bread recipe of '76, then tortured a bit and doctored for less sugar and oil and the removal of such blasphemies as canned pineapple, le voilà. This makes a moist, non-oily, hearty bread.

Take My Zucchini, Please Bread

A.
4 eggs
2 c. sugar (add up to 1/2 cup more if you want it sweeter -- the texture will change a bit)
2/3 c. veg. oil
2 t. vanilla

B.
3 c. (packed) shredded zucchini with peel. If you have a monster zucchini, core it to remove the seeds.
1/3 c. milk
2 t. lemon zest

C.
1 1/2 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. steel cut oats
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 t. nutmeg
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. ground allspice

D.
1 c. chopped walnuts
OPTIONAL: 3/4 c. raisins and/or 1 grated carrot

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat ingredients in A together until well-combined. Mix in B. In a separate bowl, combine ingredients in C. Just before pouring batter into greased, floured** loaf pans (2 large or 3 medium -- batter should fill pan a bit over half full), add D. To be fancy, add some oats, crystal/turbinado sugar, or a few nuts on top. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until wooden stick comes out clean. You will also see loaf slightly separating from the pan around edges. Invert pan and cool on rack. Good hot, cold, or in between. Good with butter. Freezes well.

*For a large garden zucchini, you will be able to make six or more loaves, so plan accordingly. You *can* refrigerate shredded zucchini overnight and even freeze it, but I found the texture of the bread really suffered with frozen, thawed zucchini shreds. It's much better to bake the bread, then freeze the loaf.

**I sometimes use the Pam oil/flour spray. It really doesn't work well; the bread rises unevenly and not so high as with the traditional method. But when you're baking a dozen loaves in the heat of the summer, reach for the Pam. I forgive you.

kitchen painting done!

And it only took me, what, nine months? The whole kitchen had to be scrubbed down several times and entirely primed. Thank god for Kilz. I had to scrape yet another coat of scum off the ceiling and do more patching and smoothing and cursing for three days this week. Then, I moved out the refrigerator and had to deal with the crap job of mudding the contractor did, scrape off some PO goo on a cabinet that I had missed earlier, and wipe down the oil slick that is still present on the walls near the stove. The spaghetti/soy soyce explosion is long gone, but the oil remains. Sigh.


But it's done. Done, I tell you. The second picture is the 'before' shot, complete with apple border. It doesn't look nearly as bad as it was. The light is too good, like the high school pictures of the ugly girls that were fuzzed over for a romantic feel, they insisted, but it was just really for the pitted skin and mousy hair. You're just going to have to believe me.

Now we just need our chimney hood, a new window over the sink, and a new dishwasher and refrigerator. Donations are being accepted.

fortification fridays -- swings both ways potato carrot salad

Some people are color blind. I am potato salad blind. I don't care for mayonnaise, I'll confess, and I'm not a big fan of boiled potatoes (or any mushy, bland food). My husband couldn't be different, so he is my guide to whether a potato salad is good. I've been trying for years to make a decent potato salad. My favorites are the vinegar-based ones -- I love the German-style potato salad with hot, waxy potatoes in a warm, sweet and sour vinegar-based dressing studded with pieces of bacon -- but I keep trying to make a "normal" American-style cold potato salad that we both like.

The other day, I was faced with a sudden need for a potluck dish, and my larder held only potatoes and a bunch of beautifully fresh, small, sweet, reddish carrots from the farmer's market. I thought about making a classic French carottes rapées salad, grated carrots with a vinegar and oil dressing, but I was afraid it would be too small an offering for the crowd. After finding this delicious, unorthodox recipe for carottes rapées from the stellar food blog Chocolate and Zucchini, I realized I could add potatoes to a grated carrot salad, and furthermore, I could create a potato salad that would be flexible with regards to the mayo. It could hold its own as an acid-dressing (in this case, lemon) salad, and it could be sweetened and thickened up with mayonnaise, as well. You could even make two versions at once, one with and one without mayo! The grated carrots make this salad a pretty color, and they even add some nutrition value, as they replace some of the potatoes. The best thing? Mr. Reluctant gave this his potato salad stamp of approval. It was a big hit at the potluck, too.

Swings Both Ways Potato Carrot Salad

Serves: 8-10 as a side dish
Kitchen Needs: Range or one burner to boil water

4 large red-skinned potatoes
6 medium-sized fresh carrots (the best quality you can find, preferably homegrown, farmer's market, and/or organic)
1 lemon
a few green onions
big handful of parsley, chopped
1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced and chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 T dijon mustard
up to 1/2 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper

Peel potatoes and place immediately in pot of cold, salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until pierced easily with a knife. When cooked through, remove and cube into 2-inch sized chunks, then add to the following.

While potatoes are cooking, peel and grate carrots (ok to use food processor attachment). Add juice of one lemon (can add zest, too, if you're feeling inspired), chopped green onions and parsley, chopped onion, red pepper, and mustard. Season with salt and pepper. You may adjust the tanginess by adding more lemon or white wine vinegar, if necessary. Add some or all of the mayonnaise. Chill for at least an hour. This salad improves after several hours.

Variation: for a Middle Eastern spicy version, add some harissa, ajvar, and/or hot sauce.

storm windows worth saving?

Mr. Reluctant requests advice about storm windows:

Although the mechanical mechanisms
have failed/been removed/broken in
all my wooden double hung windows --
alas, *not* ropes and pulleys, but
some other one I cannot figure out --
the windows are in fair shape. The
frames and sills seem fine, the sashes
are a bit beat up. But because the
mechanicals are failed, they don't
stay up without support. That is the
main problem. I think restoring
them would take too much time, and
probably I wouldn't even be able to
find suitable parts.

I like wooden double hung windows, and I can't
for the life of me imagine replacing them
with vinyl. Theses windows have lasted
for 60 years, and could last still many more
years -- how long will vinyl windows
last -- maybe 10? At the most 20?
It just doesn't make sense. Plus they look
hideous and are environmentally
unfriendly.

One option: replace with Marvin tilt-pac
sash replacements. Probably costly, but
could put on the list of long term projects.

In the short term: what to do about the
(double track) storm windows. Having the storms,
provided they weren't missing panels and other
essentials, doubles the energy efficiency of
the windows, and also protects the sills from
water. But the ones we have were only of modest
quality, and are now quite broken down. I
have looked high and low for replacement
parts for them (e.g. the tracks) but cannot
locate any. I am having panels made for
the ones that are missing entire
panels! But perhaps these storms in the
shape they are currently in are doing more
harm than good: they aren't air-tight, and
so moisture gets in and is trapped, causing
mildew, etc.

My questions:

(1) Does anybody know where double/triple
track storm windows are sold in the
Willamette Valley? I have gone to several
places and they basically just try to sell
me new vinyl windows.

(2) Is it worth it to buy new storms?

--Mr. R

roof color

Why in the world would you choose this color for a roof? It relegates a house to an eternity of browns. I keep trying to convince myself it is terra cotta colored, but in the sunshine, it's as brown as dirt. It just KILLS me that we have to spend money to keep it this color, since we're only due to replace the roof over the small addition on the side of the cottage. And that sets off feelings of hatred toward the POs, who didn't replace the small addition when they redid the other parts of the roof, those cheap bastards.

I'm planning to paint the cottage a dijon mustard color. Will it look awful with the roof?

in ur tree, hangin wif mah homiez

The county fair is in town, which means it is almost in my backyard! We live just a few blocks from the fairgrounds, and we were a bit worried about the noise from the outdoor concerts they hold each year about this time. Last year, we were serenaded with the stylings of Styx on our porch at the old place (domo arigato, free-o concerto), and since that house was five or six blocks farther away from the fair, we were apprehensive.

Turns out the music is only slightly more noticable, and we couldn't even hear it when we shut the door. I did wave an imaginary candle in the air in my yard during REO Speedwagon's "I'm Gonna Keep on Lovin' You," though. We're not close enough to the fair to be affected by parked-up streets or even people walking by, so there was just about no impact.

I say "just about" because we did have some visitors. The carnies parked up the fields behind the fair buildings (on our side of the fairgrounds). A creek runs through those fields, and they are home to lots of critters, who were suddenly displaced. On one night, we not only had a visit from a 'possum, but a family of four raccoons moved in and slept all day in our tree. I asked them politely to vacate the premises, and I got nothing but 'tude:

I believe this is raccoon for "talk to the hand."

They said they were friends of Trevor Chang, our resident and possibly departed raccoon, and our elm tree made for an excellent one-bedroom apartment.

Next year, I'm charging rent.

fortification fridays -- molten tomatoes

This is a BBQ recipe invented by my dad and modified by me. It's messy, sticky sweet, and oozy, so it's not really fancy cocktail food, but who wants fancy cocktail food in the dog days of summer? His recipe is terrific, even with the parmesan in the green can, which we use when we're camping and don't feel like grating cheese, but it's even better with parmesano reggiano. It's even good with sub-par tomatoes. You can omit the butter and red pepper flakes, but they do add an important dimension of flavor. It's critical to use good-quality foil so the boats don't fall apart. Lots of liquid will be inside the packet. What's particularly nice is that these tomatoes go well with any kind of meat, and their juiciness helps dry cuts like chicken breasts.


Molten Tomatoes

Serves: 2-4 (one or two tomatoes per person)
Kitchen needs: None! (just a BBQ grill)

Aluminum foil
4 medium-sized, perfectly ripe, round, meaty tomatoes
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (fresh is best)
1 T. butter, cubed into four pieces
1-2 T. honey
salt and freshly ground pepper
red pepper flakes

Make foil packet: Using a wide bowl, mold the foil to the bowl, leaving plenty up top to seal the packet. The bowl will provide shape and structure, as well as assist in moving the tomatoes to the grill.

Slice tops off tomatoes and score tomatoes, cutting a checkerboard pattern about halfway down (don't cut through bottom). Place tomatoes in foil packet. Sprinkle tomatoes with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste, then add about 1/2 t. honey on top of each tomato. Mound grated parmesan cheese on top of each tomato about 1 inch high, then place pat of butter on each mound. Seal foil packet and grill over medium fire, enough to carmelize the bottom but not enough to burn, for about 30 minutes. Serve with bread.

Variations:

The picture above is a variation using yellow plum tomatoes from my garden that are a bit too mealy to eat out-of-hand. You can easily use roma tomatoes, halved (allow for a few more per person). I added thinly sliced red peppers and basil before grilling. Probably better to add the basil after grilling, since it turned brown.


This picture is a variation adding ground pork to the stuffing (and, I'll confess, broiling it in the oven). Did I mention how much I love these tomatoes?