All Those Zucchini

What can we do with all those zucchini now that the season of plenty is coming up?

A Tart

We can’t feed the ducks with the overproduction, therefore I always look for new ways to cook them, and if I do not find a new one, then I adapt liberally from others, substituting one ingredient for another.

The following is an adaptation of a recipe I found recently, the vegetable of choice was the leek. I though zucchini may work just as well. I used a square pan because I wanted to have a thicker filling.

This is what you need:

One package shortcrust or puff pastry (I used Puff Pastry);
2 Medium zucchini (one cut in small squares, the other sliced);
a small bunch of fresh mint;
Marjoram (about a spoonful), dry is ok, fresh is better;
Fresh thyme (same as above);
l egg (slightly beaten);
About 8.8 ounces of Fresh Ricotta cheese;
3 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

Assembly line

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Cut your zucchini in small pieces, and quickly sauté them with a little olive oil, the mint (quickly chopped), and garlic (then discard the garlic). Salt to taste.

Also cut some (1) zucchini in this slices. Sauté them as well, just quickly. Salt to taste.

In a bowl, put the ricotta cheese.

Please note that the ricotta that we use in Italy is the very fresh type, which is soft and rather watery. If you use the hard type commonly found in the USA, it may have more salt, and you may need to use one extra egg.

Smash the ricotta with a fork, add salt & pepper, the marjoram, thyme, and stir.

While the zucchini cool a bit, prepare the pan with the pastry of choice.

Add the zucchini now cooled, add the egg, stir well, add some parmesan.

Prepare the pan with the pastry of choice. Be sure to have the pastry on the edges as well. Fill with the mix of zucchini and ricotta. On top of the ricotta & zucchini mix, line-up the slices of Zucchini. Just for effect. 😁