In our country, zucchini is very popular, and for good reason. This vegetable from the pumpkin family contains many vitamins and minerals, it is low in calories and is easily absorbed by the body. That is why zucchini is a staple in dietary, lean and baby food. In the culinary arts, there are many recipes for various zucchini dishes: they are stewed, fried, stuffed, baked and canned. This wonderful vegetable is used to prepare snacks, soups, salads, main courses and even jams.
Squash soup
Peel two young zucchini and cut them into small cubes. Rinse half a glass of rice until clear water, fill it with one liter of hot vegetable broth, add freshly squeezed juice from half a lemon and cook for ten minutes over medium heat. Fry the chopped zucchini in sunflower oil (five to six minutes), during the frying process, sprinkle the vegetables with the remaining lemon zest and season with one teaspoon of turmeric. Add the fried zucchini to a saucepan with broth and rice, add salt and cook for another ten minutes, then grind the soup with a blender until smooth. Bring the resulting mashed potatoes to a boil and remove from heat. Serve zucchini soup with crispy croutons and fresh chopped herbs. In addition to zucchini, other vegetables (eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkin, green beans, etc.), various cereals and cream can be added to the puree soup.
Stuffed zucchini
Zucchini stuffed with meat filling is quick and easy to prepare. This dish will be a great option for a festive snack or a regular family dinner.
We take one onion and turn it into gruel by passing it through a meat grinder or chopping it in a blender. Combine chopped onion with half a kilogram of minced meat, add black pepper and salt, then mix everything thoroughly. Peel two medium-sized zucchini and cut into circles four centimeters wide. Cut out the "core" from the sliced zucchini. We boil water, after which we dip the zucchini rings into it, cook for three minutes and cool in cold water.
Peel another onion, chop it with a knife and fry in a pan until it acquires a light golden hue (about five minutes). Grate two small carrots on a large grater and fry in sunflower oil for ten minutes. Mix the fried vegetables with each other and salt. Rub one hundred and fifty grams of hard cheese on a coarse or medium grater.
Preheat the oven to a temperature of two hundred degrees. While the oven is warming up, prepare the zucchini. To do this, cover the baking sheet with baking paper or ordinary foil and put the zucchini on it. Fill the core of each zucchini tightly with the prepared meat filling. Cover the stuffed zucchini with fried vegetables (onions and carrots), grease liberally with mayonnaise, and sprinkle everything with grated cheese on top. Then we bake the zucchini for thirty minutes.
Vegetable stew with potatoes and zucchini
Fry the carrots, grated on a coarse grater, and the chopped head of onions in a deep frying pan, after adding vegetable oil. Cut five medium potatoes into small cubes and fry with onions and carrots. Cut two bell peppers into neat strips and add to the pan to the rest of the products. Next, we proceed to the preparation of the zucchini, for this we peel one vegetable from the peel and seeds, and then cut it into small cubes. Put the sliced zucchini in the pan and mix all the contents. The next ingredient to add to the stew is three sliced tomatoes. Season vegetables with spices, add salt and garlic, previously passed through a press. Mix all the contents thoroughly, cover with a lid and simmer for about twenty minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally. Vegetable stew can be served as a main course or as a side dish for a meat dish.
Zucchini appetizer with tomatoes and garlic
Zucchini makes excellent snacks as it goes well with all garden crops. Seasonal vegetable dishes include fried zucchini with tomatoes and garlic. To prepare a snack, we need three young medium-sized zucchini. First, wash the vegetables and lightly scrape off the top layer of the peel so that they do not taste bitter. Then we cut the zucchini into two centimeters thick circles. Thinning the circles will make them too soft and oily after frying. Salt the chopped zucchini and leave to let the juice sit for thirty minutes, then drain the excess liquid. Preheat the pan by adding olive or sunflower oil. Dip the zucchini mugs in flour and put in the pan. Fry the zucchini on both sides until tender (you can easily pierce them with a fork).
We crush six cloves of garlic under a press, mix with two tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil and one tbsp. a spoonful of vinegar. Grease the fried zucchini circles with the resulting garlic sauce. Cut two large dense tomatoes into thin neat circles and put them on the zucchini. Decorate the finished dish with a net of mayonnaise and chopped fresh herbs (parsley, onion, dill).
Zucchini rolls with cheese
Thanks to the cream cheese used in this recipe, the zucchini rolls have an incredibly delicate and mild flavor. To prepare a vegetable snack, take one peeled zucchini, cut it lengthwise into thin slices and lightly fry in vegetable oil. Salt the slices to taste. Put the fried zucchini pieces on a paper towel so that it absorbs the dripping fat. Take strips of bacon and fry until golden brown. In a separate container, mix two hundred grams of cream cheese, one clove of garlic crushed under the press and chopped herbs. Put strips of bacon on the slices of zucchini, then put the cream filling with a teaspoon and carefully wrap them in a roll. If necessary, the rolls can be secured with a toothpick. Instead of cream cheese, you can use sausage cheese, then the appetizer will acquire a light smoked taste.
Zucchini and tomato salad
Remove the skin from the young zucchini, then cut it lengthwise into two parts and cut into thin slices. Cut three medium-sized tomatoes into neat small slices. Crush a clove of garlic under a press. Chop fresh herbs with a knife. Combine all the ingredients in a salad bowl, pepper, salt, season with kefir and mix well. If desired, in this recipe, tomatoes can be replaced with fresh cucumbers.
Zucchini casserole
Peel two medium-sized zucchini, cut into small cubes, then pour them into a deep container. Add salt, black pepper according to your own taste and two cloves of grated garlic. Finely chop fresh herbs and add them to the zucchini. In a separate bowl, mix three tbsp. tablespoons of sour cream, one teaspoon of mustard and three tbsp. tablespoons of grated hard cheese. Beat two chicken eggs in a blender and pour them into sour cream-mustard sauce. Put the zucchini in a baking dish, evenly distributing them over the entire surface, and then pour the vegetables with the previously prepared sauce. On top of the sauce, make a layer of grated cheese. We bake the dish in an oven preheated to a temperature of two hundred degrees. The cooking time for the zucchini casserole will depend on the depth of the mold - from thirty to forty-five minutes. If desired, you can also add other ingredients to the zucchini casserole: vegetables, mushrooms or minced meat.
Zucchini pancakes
Young vegetables are best for this recipe, as their skins are soft and tender. If overripe zucchini will be used in the preparation of pancakes, then the skin and seeds should be removed. Grate two young zucchini on a medium grater and put them in a deep bowl. Then add two chicken eggs and one glass of flour, mixing all the ingredients thoroughly. From the obtained zucchini dough, we form small neat cakes and fry them in vegetable oil on both sides. Ready-made pancakes are served with sour cream both hot and cold.
Squash caviar
Grind two heads of onions, grate two medium-sized carrots. Fry vegetables in sunflower oil. Remove the peel from two zucchini, remove the seeds, grate and add to the pan to the onions and carrots. Fry vegetables for fifteen minutes over medium heat, then add one teaspoon of paprika, two crushed cloves of garlic, salt and pepper to taste. We reduce the fire to the minimum value, cover with a lid and simmer the vegetables for thirty minutes, stirring occasionally. Usually, the liquid secreted by the zucchini is enough for stewing, but if the dish turns out to be dry, then you need to add a little boiled water. Ready-made caviar can be eaten hot or cold, as an independent appetizer or as a side dish for the main dish.
Zucchini jam with lemon
Peel two medium zucchini, remove the core and cut into small neat cubes. Pour the chopped vegetables into a deep bowl, add five hundred grams of sugar and leave to infuse for ten hours. During this time, the zucchini will give a sufficient amount of juice. We put the dishes on the fire and bring the marrow jam to a boil, after which we cook it for another ten minutes. We remove the delicacy from the stove and leave to infuse for five hours. Then we repeat the cooking process two more times. Before the last boil, add two lemons chopped in a blender to the jam. The readiness of the dish can be determined by its density - the drops should not spread over the saucer. Zucchini is successfully combined not only with lemon, but also with all types of citrus fruits, pineapples, strawberries and ginger.
