Since they are easy to grow and prolific, zucchini (courgettes) and other summer squash are favorites of backyard gardeners. I never plant them myself, because every farmers' market is teeming with fresh ones in all sizes, and my neighbors are often looking for someplace to dump their excess as well. When the harvest starts to pile up, it can be daunting to think of ways to use these curcurbits. Naturally, the EYB Library is the first place to look.

Zucchini butter spaghetti from Smitten Kitchen by Deb Perelman

Before you run to the search page, take a guess as to how many recipes that use zucchini are currently in the Library. The answer is 58,417 as of today - in cookbooks, blogs, and magazines. You can find over 10,000 of these recipes online - more than enough recipes to use up all of the gifted zucchini you've received and/or grown! People have thought of so many ways to use these besides just roasting or sauteing them. Pasta recipes abound, there are loads of side dishes, plenty of soups, even drinks and desserts have been zucchini-fied.

Just today I received two emails highlighting zucchini, so that's how I know they are now fully in season. Nigella Lawsons' current Cookbook Corner features two recipes, one from Ben Lippett’s How I Cook (Semolina flatbreads with scapece, also available online in the EYB Library), and another from Danielle Alvarez's Recipes for a Lifetime of Beautiful Cooking (Spaghetti alla Nerano, available on Nigella's site).

Mark Bittman also mentioned zucchini in The Bittman Project, providing a recipe for slow-cooked zucchini with basil, garlic, and olive oil from Renee Erickson. The recipe is from her 2024 cookbook with Sara Dickerman, Sunlight and Breadcrumbs: Making Food with Creativity and Curiosity. This isn't Bittman's first time around the block with using up a glut of zucchini - in this NYT column in 2013, he gave us a dozen recipes that use zucchini in various ways. Bring on the zucchini!