Our favourite Zucchini Recipes

I am harvesting zucchinis nearly each day at the moment. I can’t believe how fast they grow! With the baskets overflowing with zucchinis I have had to get creative..

Here are a few of our favourite zucchini recipes.

Zucchini Soup

We found this recipe so many years ago. I think it was originally from the chef Neil Perry. You can flavour this soup however you like. It is the perfect soup to freeze for those cooler months.

Ingredients:

1kg of zucchini roughly chopped

3 tbs of olive oil

A bunch of basil

4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 cup of grated parmesan cheese (extra to sprinkle on top when serving)

4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock

salt and pepper

Method:

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Add in zucchini, basil and garlic. Cook until soften. Add stock and seasoning and let simmer for about an hour. Puree until smooth and then add parmesan cheese and more seasoning to taste. Sprinkle so extra parmesan (or goats cheese) one top and serve with some crusty bread.

Simple. Delicious.

Zucchini Pickle with rose petals and chilli flakes

I love pickles! Fortunately Benji does too. We eat them in salads or as an accompaniment with our meals. I have experimented with a variety of zucchini pickle recipes over the years and this one is a favourite.

Ingredients:

1kg zucchini thinly sliced

1 small brown onion thinly slice

1 tbs of salt

2 cups of vinegar (I used white for this recipe)

1 cup of water

1/2 cup of caster sugar

2 tsp of dried rose petals

2 tsp of chilli flakes

Method:

Place your thinly sliced zucchini and thinly sliced onion in a colander and sprinkle with 1 tbs of salt. Place colander in a large bowl or on a plate and leave for 2 hours. The salt will extract the excess liquid from the zucchini and onion. To make your brine, put the vinegar, water, and sugar on low heat, stir until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat and bring brine to a boil.

Put the zucchini and onion in a large bowl and mix in rose petals and chilli. Here you can add more or less depending on your taste. Pack the ingredients into sterilised jars and add brine. Ensure that there are no air pockets and that the zucchini on top of the jar is fully covered in brine. Seal jars using a heat bath or once cool place in the fridge. I try and leave mine for a week or two to give the brine time to embed into the zucchini..