I’ve been loving our CSA lately. The greens were wonderful but a tad overwhelming and even though we received a variety, it’s still a whole ‘lotta green! Now that it’s summer though, the boxes still have some green, but a wide variety of color has started to appear. Specifically:
A bit more green, yellow, white, and bright bright orange!
With so many veggies in the house, we loaded up for dinner last night, starting with simple grilled zucchini and summer squash.
For large zucchini, you can slice them into rounds. Mine were baby-sized, so I went with a length-wise cut. Brush with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then grill for 5 minutes or so on each side. They become incredibly soft and succulent, just melting in your mouth!
Last year, I even posted an Ode to Zucchini, and made grilled squash boats!
Next, I tackled the fennel. Like I mentioned, I don’t use fennel much.
(I actually used it a couple times last year, once in a ragout and another time in parsnip and fennel soup)
The black licorice taste is not something I’ve overly fond of, but I found a great way to mellow out the flavor and bring a little more life to the vegetable.
Grilling, of course!
I treated the fennel the same way as the zucchini – brushed with olive oil and salt (no pepper). They take a bit longer to grill, almost 10 minutes on each side, but the licorice flavor mellows immensely and the crispy fronds pack a nice little crunch. Top with parmesan!
Lastly, we fixed the carrots. Alton Brown has a quick-and-easy carrot recipe that I’ve tried before and absolutely loved.
These glazed carrots sauté in ginger ale and butter with added chili powder and parsley. The ginger ale reduces to a glaze and the carrots become soft and sweet. Check out the recipe for the details! You can thank me later.
I mean, how can you not love sugary sweet glazed carrots?
For more recipes, check these out:
- Grilled Zucchini Squash Boats
- Zucchini Frittata
- Parsnip and Fennel Soup
- Bean and Escarole with Polenta (Fennel)
- Chicken Pot Pie with Chive Biscuits (Carrot)
- French Bean Cassoulet (Carrot)
Question: Out of the three veggies above, which one is your favorite? How do you prepare it?
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Thanks for the recipe for the fennel, we had no idea what we were going to do with ours.
We also had grilled summer squash this weekend, it was good, the only way I really like summer squash. The carrots are so yummy and sweet we’ve just been eating them raw, both just as a plain ol’ carrot and in salad.
No problem! Like I said, I don’t love fennel but this was perfect b/c it mellowed the flavor.
ooo, I may have to try that carrot recipe! though previously the only way I’ve really LIKED carrots is roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper…