ZUCCHINI A GOGO

Ratatouille numerous ways~zucchini flower recipes~zucchini races!~wine festivals~wine making trivia~what we’re reading by Melissa Clark & by John Grisham

I follow Patricia Wells on IG. She’s been a guiding star in my food cosmos since I purchased her Food Lover's Guide to Paris in March 1984.

So what’s le abbondanza? In Italian it means “abundance.” It’s a perfect description for what U.S. zucchini gardens are overflowing with this very second. Food writers and recipe websites are scrambling to offer us all options to contend with the onslaught. Let’s pause a moment. Remember that it was Italians who turned the zucchini blossom into a food, so it seemed appropriate to title this le abbondanza. Zucchini was developed in Italy around the later half of the 1800s and thought to be reintroduced to the United States by Italian immigrants in the 1920s. As it happens, the Godzilla’s of the zucchini world can grow to 8 feet in length!

Thank Italy for Zucchini Flowers

Stuff zucchini flowers with basil and ricotta. Or fried zucchini blossoms from Spruct Eats. Or zucchini flowers from the Food Network. Raw, fried, or roasted from Food & Wine.

Thank France for Ratatouille

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/kitchen-notes/the-french-secret-to-ratatouille-a-last-taste-of-summer

11. Finish assembly. Taste for seasoning and for moisture, and add more salt and pepper and tomato water as needed. Add vinegar, then mix in zucchini and let cook until heated through. Add olives if you’re using them (my touch, I admit, because this version is so jammy that it calls out for something salty). Remove bouquet garni and garlic. Dress with torn basil leaves. Serve with roasted chicken, French fries, toast, nothing at all, or just about anything. A wine pairing from Jessica Green (my wife): a white from the southern Rhône—like a Saint-Péray, a Condrieu, a white Côte du Rhône, or an Alpine Roussette de Savoie—which are low in acidity but high in fruit, to match the ratatouille’s vegetable-jam qualities.

It was only with ratatouille that I realized how important the cook-things-separately approach is in French cooking.

https://www.besthealthmag.ca/article/summer-ratatouille-recipe/

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200812-the-right-way-to-make-ratatouille

https://www.seriouseats.com/cook-the-book-ratatouille-tian-from-the-french-market-cookbook

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-remarkably-easy-ratatouille-recipe-it-took-a-lifetime-to-get-right-11627584506

https://cookieandkate.com/spicy-roasted-ratatouille-with-spaghetti/

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018511-ratatouille

https://confessionsofagroceryaddict.com/ratatouille-style-ratatouille/#

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/feb/20/adam-byatt-ratatouille-recipe

https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/ratatouille

Thank Someone for Zucchini Races

https://www.bceproductions.com/the-great-zucchini-race

Zucchini Fest in Ohio

http://obetzzucchinifest.com/

Thank Charles for Zucchini Jokes

Zucchini Q: What kind of vegetable likes to look at animals? A: A zoo-chini! Q: What is a zucchini’s favorite game? A: Squash! Jokes were taken from: ▪ Alexander The Grape: Fruit And Vegetable Jokes by Charles Keller. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., PrenticeHall, c1982. ▪ Dole 5-A-Day website (http://www.dole.com/#/superkids): Cornelius Corn’s Corny Jokes ▪ http://kids.yahoo.com/jokes

More on Gazpacho & Tomatoes

https://www.cooksillustrated.com/articles/502-tomato-primer?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=NTK&utm_content=Tomatoes&utm_campaign=220826&j=79821&sfmc_sub=23758206&l=26_HTML&u=37096754&mid=7211371&jb=18102&sk=A356201EDBB1D0E87EA5CEC63DF373D6&extcode=LN22H4QAA&sourcekey=BL22084AA&cds_response_key=&cds_tracking_code=&tag=atkntk1-20&atc=ntkA&Survey_id=&mi_ecmp=%e2%80%8b&couponcode=

Tomato varieties in a Tuscan market

https://www.tasteatlas.com/most-popular-tomatoes-in-italy

https://www.deliciousitaly.com/cibo/varieties-of-italian-tomato

More on Atlanta Charcuterie & Cheese Boards

Hey, Atlanta has lamb pepperoni and whipped ricotta, freshly made pates and terrines. Choose from the chicken liver tart, foie gras terrine, pork terrine, and pate campagne, Housemade pickled mustard seeds, schiacciata, fig jam, calabrese peppers, grissini breadsticks, croccantini crackers, and marinated olives with a hint of lemon and orange zest round out the board’s remainder, biltong and droëwors, a dried beef farmer’s sausage, olive and caperberry marinade, creamy Montasio, Spanish soft caña de oveja, in-house fig port jam, chupacabra salami, semi-soft valdeón, aged manchego, and Murcia Al Vino, fancy pickles!

Port: Summer, Fall & Winter

https://visforvino.com/port

stomped by human feet

Trivia

How many grapes does it take to make the wine in one bottle: 300, 500, 700, 900?

Notes

From Knoxville, Tenn.: lard, Benton’s bacon, grits, heirloom tomatoes at farmers’ markets, BBQ, lamb neck, BBF, lamb farmer.

From San Francisco: abalone, almonds, baby artichokes, fish and game, the grass-fed meat and handmade cheese. And, of course, the oranges and lemons that spill off backyard trees.

Greek Islands: whitewashed houses and narrow, meandering cobblestoned streets. Old men still scavenge for capers, and women with deeply lined faces sell their pottery. old feta and boiled octopus. culinary traditions date back some 4,000 years. chickpea croquettes and blanched sea samphire. dissected fish cheeks are combined with minerally Greek wines. The octopus and aguachile are fresh, and the sea spaghetti is paired with beetroot chips. Fish is smoked using seaweed harvested from the nearby Seralia beach, and pigeon, formerly an island staple, is back on the menu. soft almond cookie rolled in sugar, is made from scratch and cooked on copper pots that hang over a crackling wood fire.

Wine Festivals Across the U.S.

https://www.winecountry.com/blog/fall-wine-harvest-festivals-usa/?utm_source=WineCountry+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=18c868e39b-Dog+Days+of+Summer+-+July+26_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e154807bd5-18c868e39b-269564024

What We’re Reading

Melissa Clark’s “Dinner in One: Exceptional & Easy One-Pan Meals” is set for release Sept. 6.

While he’s written scant few words about all matters culliary, to say we’re hooked on John Grisham, in spite of this oversight, is an understatement. Got John’s “The Judges’ List” and cruised through it in a couple days, whetting my appetite for more, such as “Sparring Partners,” his latest and his first collection of novellas, although not venturing far from the theme of law. While I’m hardly doing a book reviews here—certainly not of an author with 47 #1 bestsellers!—I am dropping a predictable hint from this food newsletter . . . how about a couple mentions of wine or food here and there? What, pray tell? Doesn’t it seem apropos to suggest The Prisoner Wine Company?

The Prisoner Wine Company brand name and flagship label were inspired by an etching titled Le Petit Prisonnier by 19th century Spanish artist Francisco Goya. Its subtitle translates to “the custody is as barbaric as the crime.” The Prisoner has fought against injustices in U.S. prison and policing systems. It believes that change can happen and that it starts with conversation, collaboration, and creativity.

Not only does Grisham write about the law and crime and prisons, he’s been a long time advocate of criminal justice reform and is on the board of the Innocence Project. Enough Grisham, already? No! Well “The Boys from Biloxi” will be released October 18.

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