A surefire cure for zucchini overload

My theory is that the people who provide punnets of seedlings to our local nurseries in the spring aren’t actually gardeners themselves.

If they were, they’d know:

• The average family needs one, tops two, zucchini plants to provide itself and the entire surrounding neighborhood with sufficient squash.

• The average gardener hates to throw away perfectly good seedlings (and so ends up planting the entire six to eight seedlings).

• And, most gardeners would happily pay more for less in the case of zucchini seedlings just to avoid the inevitable glut in August.

So here we are again, eating zucchini for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Anonymous bulging bags of squash keep showing up on doorsteps overnight. Sentences beginning with “by the way do you nee...” get cut off before they’re even finished with the inevitable “No Thanks!” and the neighbors have all posted “No Zucchini” signs.

I gave up trying to figure out what zucchini recipe you wouldn’t know and decided instead to go with the recipe Yani and I take the longest to get sick of. It’s an incredibly tasty quiche, great for lunch served hot or room temp. And, it importantly uses an acceptable three cups of grated zucchini.

Zucchini Quiche

One unbaked 10-inch pie crust

Three cups grated zucchini, skin included (de-seed very large zucchini)

Three-quarters cup finely chopped onion

One-quarter cup grated parmesan

One cup extra sharp white cheddar cheese grated

Three tablespoons parsley chopped

One tsp. salt

One-half tsp. oregano

One-quarter cup olive oil

Four eggs

Two to three cloves garlic crushed

One tsp. coarse ground black pepper

METHOD

Saute onion and garlic in oil till translucent. In a large bowl, whisk eggs well. Add all other ingredients, including onion and garlic, and mix well. Pour into pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 to 45 minutes. Let stand five minutes before serving or let cool to room temp.