Grilled Bread with Zucchini, Goat Cheese, and Basil

Last week, I got the following e-mail:

"Alli! You haven't seen Julie and Julia yet?!!!! You have to!!! You would love the film and it reminds me so much of you and your cooking escapades :-) Please be sure to see it asap!"

The very next day I read an article about infuriating art in which a movie reviewer said that he had never been more agitated during a movie than during the Julie half of "Julie and Julia".

It was strange to read two strong and very disparate reactions to the movie, as "Julie and Julia" seemed like a fairly innocuous film.  At any rate, I decided that it was time to finally sit down, pull the movie up on Netflix Instant Watch, and watch the movie.

I was surprised to find that I actually really enjoyed the movie.  Sure, the movie has it's faults (which I'm not going to go into here), but it was entertaining and fun. 

At the beginning of the movie, there's a scene where Julie is preparing dinner.  Ironically, in a film about delicious French food, what appealed to me the most was the shot of slices of bread frying in a pan.  My very first thought was, Fried bread!  (What?  Were you expecting something more cogent?  It's fried bread!)  My second thought was, Is that allowed?

My friends, I am happy to tell you that it is, indeed, allowed.  The other day, I stumbled upon a recipe for Grilled Bread with Zucchini, Ricotta, and Basil in the Real Simple recipe archives. As I have a refrigerator full of zucchini and am constantly looking for new ways to prepare it, I took the discovery of the recipe as a sign that I should needed to make it as soon as humanly possible. 

I made a lot of changes to the recipe.  I don't have a grill, so I toasted the bread in a large skillet and roasted the zucchini in the oven.  Instead of plopping the ricotta onto the bread along with the zucchini, I spread a thick layer of goat cheese on the toast before topping it with the zucchini.  Also, since I didn't want to eat big raw basil leaves (the flavor can be very strong), I chopped the basil and cooked it with the zucchini.  All in all, it was a very satisfying and tasty dinner.

Grilled Bread with Zucchini, Goat Cheese, and Basil

Adapted from Real Simple

6 thick slices of french bread

4 oz goat cheese

1 large zucchini

3 tablespoons chopped basil (about 7-8 large leaves)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the zucchini in half and cut lengthwise into thin slices.  Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and basil.  Spread out slices in a single layer on a large cookie sheet and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.

Brush both sides of each slice of bread with olive oil and toast until golden brown in a large skillet over medium heat.  Transfer to a plate. Spread a thick layer of goat cheese on each slice and top with a pile of zucchini.

Note: I enjoyed the toasts with the thin zucchini messily piled high.  David liked it better with thicker slices of zucchini laid flat on the toasts.  Both ways are delicous.

Farfalle with Roasted Zucchini and Broccoli

When I was little, I think my understanding of adulthood was that you could do whatever you want, whenever you want to.  You can stay up til midnight on school nights and watch late night TV.  You can take a day off and go to the beach.  You can fill your home with cuddly puppies.  You can use your bedroom floor as a shelf.  You can eat breakfast for dinner.

Or, you could eat dessert for breakfast, which is what I did yesterday.  I generally try to be healthy, but that morning, I decided that there really is no point to being an adult if I can't eat chocolate cake for breakfast.  It was heavenly...and I regretted it 2 hours later.  I wasn't necessarily sick, but it did feel like my stomach was asking me, "Why did you do this to me? Feed me real food!" Weird, right?

I don't think I have ever craved vegetables before this year.  I abhorred them as a kid.  As I got older, I started to appreciate the taste of fresh vegetables and how they made my body feel strong when I ate them, but I mostly ate vegetables because I was supposed to, not because they were especially delicious. 

But after college, I discovered the joy of roasting vegetables.  I found out that when you drizzle vegetables with a little bit of olive oil and cook them at a high heat for half an hour or so, something amazing happens.  The natural sugars in the vegetables caramelize, the edges get a little charred, and vegetables become something you actually crave.  Seriously, during dinner tonight, David compared the broccoli to bacon.  It's that good.  You can tell by my liberal use of italics.

Anyways, since I was craving vegetables, I roasted some zucchini and broccoli and tossed it with some pasta and parmesan cheese for a quick and easy dinner.  And really, when you think about it?  What could be more adult than eating vegetables voluntarily?

Farfalle with Roasted Zucchini and Broccoli

8 oz farfalle pasta (bowtie shaped)

1 medium zucchini, cut into thick half moons

1 broccoli crown, cut into small florets

1/4 cup finely grated fresh parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons olive oil

salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil.

Toss zucchini and broccoli in olive oil.  Spread them out on a cookie sheet, sprinkle them with salt, and roast them for 20-25 minutes.

While the vegetables are roasting, boil the farfalle in the water for 13 minutes.  Save 3/4 cup of pasta water, and drain the pasta in a colander.

Dry out the pot that you were cooking the pasta in and drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil in the pot (enough to coat the bottom, but don't go overboard).  Put the pasta and reserved water back in the pot.  Add the cheese and pepper and stir until combined.  It may seem watery, but keep stirring, and the cheese and water will come together and thicken.  When the cheese and pasta is combined, remove from heat and stir in the vegetables. 

Serve with chopped basil and an extra sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan and pepper.

Zucchini Bread with Pistachios and Chocolate Chips

When I was little, I heard a story in church about how Jesus walked on water, and because Peter had faith, he was able to walk on water as well. Inspired by that story, the next time my dad took me to the community pool, I walked straight over to the deep end of the pool, focused intently on believing both in God and my possession of the ability to walk on water, and stepped off the edge. Needless to say, I sank like a boulder.

Sometimes my aspirations are a little unrealistic. I don't mean unrealistic in that my aspirations defy the odds, as in, "I'm definitely going to be one of the twelve out of 300 applicants who get accepted into this particular graduate program", but unrealistic in that they defy the laws of physics, chemistry, gravity, time, and everything that defines how the world as we know it operates.

Case in point: David thought it might be nice if I made a cake for his grandpa's 94th birthday, as his grandpa doesn't get to eat many treats and subsists mostly on frozen tv dinners. I excitedly began planning the cake - I was going to make him an almond 1-2-3-4 cake, because my father-in-law told me that Grandpa-Great used to make it all the time for Grandpa P. I was going to coat and fill it with chocolate ganache, and decorate it with swoops and swirls of blue and yellow buttercream frosting.

Unfortunately, I hit a few roadblocks. We were leaving early Saturday morning. "That's fine," I told myself. "I'll just make it Friday night."

But then I remembered how the last 1-2-3-4 cake I made got dry and stale the next day. "I'll wake up really early Saturday morning," said the girl who pressed her snooze button eight times the Saturday morning she had wanted to go to the Farmer's Market right when it opened.

"I guess I'll use a different recipe," I persisted. But then I thought that a frosted cake might not last the 3-hour trip to Grandpa P's house.

"Well, I'll just stop by Michael's on the way home tonight, and buy a cake carrier, and I'll put the cake in the cake carrier and put the cake carrier in a large cooler that I'll buy at Rite-Aid later tonight and surround it gallon-sized ziploc bags filled with ice...it will last."

And when did I land on this "solution"? Friday afternoon, the day before we were going to leave, two hours before dinner with my friend who was visiting from L.A. Needless to say, I did not end up making a two-layer cake for Grandpa P. There are not enough hours in the day, people.

All this to say, I made zucchini bread instead. It's tasty, easily transportable, and contains enough veggies to convince anyone that it's actually very healthy. I adapted a Martha Stewart recipe, which I have done before to great results. I made a few changes - I replaced the dark brown sugar with light brown sugar and the walnuts with pistachios and chocolate chips to accomodate what was in my pantry. I also didn't line the loaf pans with parchment paper, choosing to simply grease it instead.

I know the story made it sound like I settled (or that I made Grandpa P. settle) - how could zucchini bread possibly compare to a two-layer almond cake smothered in chocolate ganache? But as humble as zucchini bread is, it really is very delicious. The zucchini helps the bread to stay moist and tender for days, and the dark green flecks in the bread makes it pretty even when unadorned. The pistachios and chocolate chips add complexity in taste, texture, and visual appeal. Personally, I thought the saltiness of the pistachios and the sweetness of the chocolate complimented each other perfectly without overwhelming the cinnamony goodness of the zucchini bread.

This recipe yields two loaves. I left Grandpa P.'s loaf plain because I wasn't sure whether or not he was allergic to nuts. If you want to put pistachios and chocolate chips in both loaves, use the amount listed in the recipe; if you only want it in one loaf, half it. You could also leave them out altogether.

The pictures do not accurately display the amount of nuts and chocolate chips called for in the recipe. I put in a little less because I was worried that David wouldn't like the nuts. That being said, I really wish that I had added the amount called for, so do it, okay?

Zucchini Bread with Pistachios and Chocolate Chips

Adapted from Martha Stewart

2 zucchinis, grated
1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup roasted and salted pistachios, roughly chopped

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 4 1/2 by 8 1/2 inch loaf pans.

Combine zucchini, sugars, oil, and eggs. Add dry ingredients. Mix well. Stir in almond extract. Fold in pistachios and chocolate chips. Split the batter between the two loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.