By this point, you most likely know that I used to be a cheesemonger. But way before I was slinging cheese, I worked at a farmers market, and this is truly where my love for food grew to new heights.
The summer after freshman year of college, I was on the hunt for a summer job. One of my friends had spent her previous summer working at a nearby farm stand, so I decided to submit an application myself. Little did I know, I would go on to work at the stand for the subsequent three summers, and I would derive an unbelievable amount of joy from the job. As I said to my family one day after work, “I am just so happy being around all of those fruits and vegetables”.
Every day, I’d arrive at the stand and quickly occupy myself with sorting through peaches, making rainbow displays of heirloom tomatoes, or sniffing cantaloupes to help customers pick one that would be mouth-watering sweet in 2 days’ time. I’ll never forget the day when a new variety of corn showed up (all yellow!) and we excitedly pulled back the husks and ate entire ears right there; or the time when we decided to more efficiently unload watermelons from the truck by forming a line and tossing them from one person to the next (yes, watermelons were dropped).
If you haven’t been to a farmers market or stand yet this season, I implore you to go. They are such a special place. And since it’s not quite tomato season yet, today we’re doing a deep dive into zucchini-land. Buckle up!
Caramelized Zucchini Pasta
The 411: While there are certainly some close runners-up with tomato pasta dishes, I feel confident in saying that Ali Slagle’s is my favorite summer pasta recipe. It’s not particularly quick, it is simple, and it does require turning on the stove for more than just cooking pasta, but it is so delicious. Lots (LOTS!) of shredded zucchini is slowly caramelized over low heat with basil stems and crushed garlic, then mixed in with more basil and parm. It’s a recipe that I make any time our good friend
is visiting, and despite what he says in his newsletter1, you can make it just as delicious.Zoe’s Tips: The key to this recipe is caramelizing the zucchini for way longer than the recipe calls for. Rather than the 20-25 minutes in the recipe’s directions, I caramelize it for closer to an hour. In order to not have burnt zucchini, you must keep the heat very low, and check in on it often to make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Taste-to-Time Ratio2: 9:6
Zucchini Lentil Fritters
The 411: Sohla El-Waylly’s recipe, inspired by the traditional Bengali onion snacks, piyaju, has been a go-to recipe in my summer rotation for four years now because they are so tasty, nutritious, and clever. In my magazine with the original recipe, I have written in the margins, “Very delicious! Fry up surprisingly well”. The first time you make these, you’ll most certainly think to yourself, “I don’t cook the lentils?” and, “Won’t these fall apart?”, but trust that the answer to both is no.
Zoe’s Tips: Sam is a big sauce guy, which means that the following tip should carry some weight—they are better without the lemony yogurt. The first time we made them, we found that the flavors of the yogurt overpowered the turmeric-spiced lentil, zuchinni and onion patties. Now, every time I make them I skip the yogurt.
Taste-to-Time Ratio: 7:7
One final important housekeeping note: You won’t see me in your inbox for the next two weeks, as I’ll be taking a break to enjoy some family time and travel. Candidly, life has been pretty busy, so I also haven’t been cooking much. You’ll hear from me again on July 13th, and in the meantime, if you’re looking for something to cook, please revisit some previous faves.
If you’re at all interested in books, movies, or general hot takes, would recommend Forrest’s newsletter, Confidently Wrong!
The Taste-to-Time Ratio is a ratio that evaluates flavor on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest) with time on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the fastest). For example, our family favorite mac and cheese that requires 2 types of cheese, toasted baguette breadcrumbs, approximately all your kitchen pans, and 2 hours of baking is a 10:3 - insanely delicious, but not a quick weeknight meal.
As someone who does not understand cooking, my favorite parts are the introductions. Great intro as always, filled with personality. I might have stopped more often at Norman's if I knew I could get help with cantaloupes
Now I’m craving the pasta!!! I need to schedule my next visit asap!