The Zucchini Cake Experiment

This weekend I decided to use up some of our excess zucchini to make a cake. I looked through a few recipe books for inspiration, but wasn't really taken by any, so I decided to make up my own.

I figured that if I took some guidelines from Stephanie Alexander, Bill Granger, and the trusty Woman's Weekly cookbook, I couldn't go too far wrong. That was the theory, anyway.

This was the final ingredient list I came up with:

125g softened butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

4 eggs

1 cup plain greek style yoghurt

2 cups plain wholemeal flour

2.5 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

pinch of salt

approx. 2 cups grated zuchinni (squeezed over the sink to get rid of most of the water)

1 cup walnuts/pecans

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup ground flaxmeal (you could easily leave this out. I put it in because I had it in the cupboard)

Here are all the ingredients assembled nicely (except for the sugar, which I forgot about until I went to cream it with the butter. Oops!)

(On a side note: how cute are the russian doll measuring cups I got for Christmas? You can't see them very clearly, but trust me, they are cute!)

I started by creaming the butter and sugar together, until it was light and fluffy. Then I added each egg, one by one, beating in between each addition:

Gradually folded in the yoghurt, flour and baking soda:

And folded in the grated zuchinni and nuts, cinnamon, and salt:

Until it looked like this:

I split the mix between a small loaf tin and a muffin rack. The muffins took about 20 mins in a moderate (180 degree) oven, while the loaf took about 40 minutes.

Before:

After:

So, the verdict? G and I both gave this the thumbs up. It turned out more like a nut loaf, or banana bread than a cake, which we both prefer anyway. More sugar might make it more cake-like, if that's more your thing. But overall, I think the zucchini cake experiment was a success!

Green Tomato Chutney

Last weekend I gave the tomatoes quite a savage crew cut. Probably somewhere between a number 1 and bald. They were going downhill fast because I haven't cared for them like I should have. All six plants were a tangled mess and literally suffocating from it.

After emergency surgery, they look a little more like grape vines than tomatoes.

Once I'd spent an hour untangling the plants and giving each of them a good trim, I looked down at the ground to see a small bucket full of green tomatoes. Waste not want not... so I went searching for a good green tomato recipe.

I took elements from a few different green tomato chutney recipes and came up with the following:

Recipe

8 cups of chopped green tomatoes

2 large chopped onions

1 chopped red capsicum

sea salt

1 1/2 cups of white vinegar

1 1/4 cups of brown sugar

1 tablespoon of curry powder

1 tablespoon of celery salt

1/2 teaspoon of tumeric

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

The first step is to combine all of the chopped vegetables. Level them out in a wide/deep saucepan and sprinkle a small handful of sea salt over the top. Once this is done, leave it to sit overnight. This brings out the moisture in the vegetables.

Great colours, nothing like fresh ingredients.

Next step, after a good night's sleep, is to rinse the vegetables and drain them. Once this is done, combine all other ingredients in a new saucepan and bring it to the boil. Add the vegetables and reduce it to a simmer. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You will know when it's ready, as the green tomatoes will start to lose their shape a little. You should be left with a nice rich even colour at then end - somewhere between mustard and baby vomit.

Sterilise your jars before filling with the chutney. I put glad wrap over the top before screwing the lid on just to be sure that it keeps nicely. The recipe will fill two large jars or three medium sized jars.

So much flavour and so easy! Great on fresh bread or with a cracker. Don't waste your green tomatoes.

First Across the Line

The question - Which plant would be picked first? It was two horse race - Zucchini and Capsicum. We picked the capsicum. We tasted the capsicum. Too small. Too bitter. Capsicum was out. Zucchini was the winner.

It's amazing how quick they grow. I would estimate that the last third of the zucchini appeared in 24 hours. If anything, we picked this zucchini too late. But we still felt burnt from the capsicum experience.

We're growing the Black Beauty variety from seed purchased at Diggers on the Mornington Peninsula.

Once harvested, we turned the zucchini into some fritters with some haloumi cheese and fresh mint. If anyone is interested, you can find the recipe at . The result was a little bland. I'd probably up the mint next time. All in all though, it was great way to bring in our harvest season.

From the looks of things, my zucchini plant has a touch of powdery mildew. Apparently this can be solved with some diluted full-cream milk. I don't think it's at that stage yet though, so I'll keep the milk for my muesli.

In the photo above, you can see the start of another two zucchini coming along. I might try stuffing and cooking the flower when it blooms.

A large zucchini or a very small phone?

Fritters.