Baby zucchini and Seattle inspiration

A late summer breakfast was a plateful of delicious memories from a recent breakfast at Seattle’s Le Pichet.

I was in the garden watering, and saw these baby squash, blossoms still on, and decided granola and yogurt were no longer on the morning menu. I love zucchini, and it comes in so many forms.

When you grow it at home find an especially sunny, spacious spot. I pile extra compost and soil into a heap so the vines can flow down and the roots have a base of loose, nutritious ground to grow on. Put them in after the last frost, or if you’re in Northern California like me, I can get away with planting seeds indoors in February, then taking them to the yard by mid March. Harvest the flowers, or let the baby squash form – and this works with golden summer squash, patty pans, and all kinds of zucchini – or you can let them mature to what I call “young,” where the centers are still tender, and even further to form large squash, perfect for scooping out the now foamy, seedy core and stuff it with homemade sausage or quinoa pilaf or something else yummy. Obviously when they’re in your garden you can control when you pick, and thus determine your favorite use. I grow enough so that I can get it all. You can also find an increasingly wide array of squash types and maturities at farmers markets. I relish those baby squash, tiny and tender, with the beautiful and tender blossom still attached. I have to say, another part of my inspiration posting on zucchini is a recent discovery that one of my very favorite home chefs thought they were dug from the ground, and I simply had to set the story straight.

Last August, at Seattle’s Le Pichet I had picked one of their casse croûtes, or snacks, often portable, as I was in between a chat with my publisher in Pioneer Square and a meeting with some cheese makers at Beecher’s. It was amazing to have such a sophisticated food on a busy morning, and even more amazing that they were able to neatly pack up my order of beignets aux anchois sur lit de ratatouille, white anchovy beignets on a bed of roasted summer squash and tomatoes, to go.

I skipped attempting the beignets for my breakfast, and simply roasted these little squash and made some buttered eggs, like Alice (in Wonderland) would have liked. Who’s to say zucchini can’t be for breakfast?

A few favorite varieties: Black Beauty Zucchini (the classic dark green ones – they can grow pretty huge), white scalloped patty pan squash (an ancient Native American variety that can go bonkers in the right conditions), and Stratia D’Italia, the stripe-y light green ones.