Grilled Zucchini Summer Salad #FoodieExtravaganza

Grilled zucchini summer salad is beautiful and tasty, the perfect plate of cheap and abundant zucchini and ripe grape tomatoes. Throw a few edamame on there for color and protein! It’s a great side dish or even main course for hot summer nights.

I’ve heard tales of zucchini patches so prolific that neighbors leave bags of produce on porches in the middle of the night, just to get rid of them. I’ve never been so lucky. It would just about make my day to come out one morning to find a free pile of zucchini on my porch! Along with their Cucurbita Pepo sibling, yellow crookneck squash, zucchini is probably my favorite summer vegetable.

If you’ve been reading this space for a while – I completely missed celebrating/mentioning my seven year anniversary in June! – you might already know that. I have so many zucchini recipes! At least a baker’s dozen, including Parmesan and Brie Topped Zucchini in a semolina crust, Zucchini-Wrapped Cheesy Pea Burgers, Baked Zucchini with Spicy Tomatoes and the not very beautiful but oh-so-tasty savory Zucchini Clafoutis.

If you are as big a fan of zucchini as I am, make sure you scroll down to the bottom of this post and check out the link list to many more delicious zucchini recipes from my Foodie Extravaganza friends.

Grilled Zucchini Summer Salad

This recipe builds on one I found originally in Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days with the Naked Chef.* I first made it in 2002 and have been adding ingredients to the zucchini, as the whim and what’s fresh take me, ever since. This recipe is easily doubled or trebled for a crowd.

Ingredients
1 large zucchini – about 8 oz or 225g
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 red chili pepper
1/2 clove garlic
Several fresh mint leaves
Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup or 55g shelled edamame (I buy these frozen and thaw.)
Small handful red grape tomatoes
Small handful yellow grape tomatoes

Method
Use a wide potato peeler to cut long strips off of the zucchini from end to end, discarding the first and last strips that are all peel.

Heat your grill pan until very hot and lay the zucchini strips on it single file, a few at a time. Watch them carefully and remove them from the pan with tongs when the grill lines become medium brown and come through to the top of the strips. No need to turn the strips over.

Arrange the grilled strips on your serving plate, making sure not to pile them on top of each other. You want them to be able to cool off. Piled together they’d just keep steaming and cooking.

When you’ve grilled all the zucchini, sprinkle them lightly with some flakey sea salt and a few good grinds of fresh black pepper.

Mince the chili pepper and garlic and mix the two together. Sprinkle them on the zucchini from a height so they don’t clump together.

Cut your grape tomatoes in half and add them to the plate. Scatter the edamame around as well. Give the whole plate a good squeeze of fresh lemon and a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Top with some washed mint leaves and serve.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to this month's wonderful host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. Check out all of the zucchini dishes we are sharing in honor of National Zucchini Day on August 8th. How will you celebrate? 

• Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread from Cookaholic Wife
• Greek Inspired Breakfast Casserole from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Grilled Zucchini Summer Salad from Food Lust People Love
• Sugar-Free Bread and Butter Zucchini Pickles from Palatable Pastime
• Zucchini Corn Fritters from Caroline's Cooking
• Zucchini Frittata from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Zucchini Pizza Rounds from Our Good Life
• Zucchini Sandwich Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Zucchini Stir Fry from Sneha's Recipe

Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays, and we all post recipes using the same ingredient. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you!

Pin it!

*Amazon affiliate link
.

Apple and Date Muffins #MuffinMonday

Sweet ripe Medjool dates and tart green apple combine in these apple and date muffins to make a deliciously nutritious breakfast or snack.

It’s date season in the UAE so palm trees hang heavy with promise everywhere, even in my backyard. I have no idea if mine are any good to eat though, because we neglected the usual practice of bagging the dates with green mesh. The birds always get to them first. And I don’t begrudge them the treat.

Summer time in the UAE is hotter than the hinges of the gates of hell, dry and dusty to boot so I can’t imagine the birds have an easy time getting either water to drink or food to eat. With an irrigation that goes on three times a day and all the dates they could hope to eat, my backyard is pretty popular.

It sounds like I am more generous than I really am. If I’m honest, dates aren’t my favorite fruit to eat - they are sooooo sweet, too sweet for me mostly – but they are lovely to bake with. On those occasions, I leave the birds to their feast and buy a few Medjool dates.

Apple and Date Muffins

I recommend the fully ripened Medjool dates for this recipe as they are the sweetest dates I’ve ever tasted (although my neighbor Sandra’s dates come close!) and they are super sticky with goodness. Perfect for baking.

Ingredients
4 large Mejool dates
1 cup or 240ml milk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 green apple, peeled and chopped finely
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1/4 cup, firmly packed, or 50g dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1⁄4 cup or 60g butter, melted and cooled

Optional for topping: 1 Medjool date, chopped

Method
Pit and chop your dates, setting one aside for garnish, if desired

Put the rest in a heatproof bowl. Add in the half teaspoon of baking soda. Scald the milk and pour it over the chopped dates. Stir to help separate the bits of sticky date and set aside till cool. It will cool faster if you stir it occasionally.

Make ahead tip: If you want to bake your muffins first thing in the morning, do the scalded milk step the day before and pop the milk in the refrigerator once it has cooled.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it with non-stick spray or lining it with muffin paper cups.

In a large bowl, whisk your flour and sugar with the baking powder and salt. In another bowl, add the eggs to the cooled date mixture.

Peel, core and finely chop the green apple, adding the bits to the liquid bowl immediately so they don’t turn brown. Pour in the butter and whisk it all together.

Pour your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold until just combined.

A little flour might still show.

Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cups of your prepared muffin pan and then top each with some of the extra chopped date, if desired.

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes in your preheated over or until golden brown.

Cool for a few minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Check out all the lovely muffins we have for you this month. July is a good month for muffins! 

• Apple and Date Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Brown Sugar Oat Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Cinnamon Brown Sugar and Golden Raisin Muffins from Kelli's Kitchen
• Fresh Peach Streusel Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Rhubarb-Ginger Muffins with Rhubarb Streusel from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Sugar-Free Mango Coconut Muffins from Palatable Pastime

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

Pin it! 

.

Lime Coconut Bundt #BundtBakers

Sweet flaked coconut, coconut milk and the zest and juice of fresh limes give this lime coconut Bundt cake rich flavor and zip. Like a bite of your favorite tropical vacation in every mouthful.

Tropical Bundts is a popular theme for our Bundt baking group. In the five plus years that I’ve participated, this is the fourth tropical cake we’ve shared. Between my Pineapple Kuih Tat Bundt baked in 2013, to 2014’s Mango Ginger Bundt and the super moist Banana Coconut Pineapple Bundt in 2016, I’d be hard pressed to choose a favorite tropical Bundt because I loved them all. Until today. This lime coconut Bundt wins, hands down.

Lime Coconut Bundt

This recipe is adapted from a coconut cake made by my friend Nancy of gotta get baked. Nancy doesn’t blog any more but her site is still available online, and thank goodness, because she has so many gorgeous recipes. She is funny, irreverent and witty, in addition to her skills in the kitchen. I miss her regular posts.

Ingredients
For the cake batter:
1 cup or 226g unsalted butter, room temp, plus extra for greasing pan
1 1/2 cups or 300g sugar
6 large eggs, room temperature
2 1/2 cups or 312g all-purpose flour, plus extra for flouring greased pan
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Zest 1/2 lime
1 cup or 240ml canned unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup, lightly packed, or 75g sweetened shredded coconut

For the Lime Coconut Glaze:
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon coconut milk
1 cup or 125g powdered sugar

To decorate:
1-2 tablespoons sweetened shredded coconut
Zest 1/2 lime

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

In the bowl of your stand mixer or a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Add in the first egg and beat well.

Beat in the rest of the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Add the lime juice and zest into the cup of coconut milk and mix to combine.

Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until the batter is smooth.

Pour in the coconut milk and beat again until well combined.

Fold in the shredded coconut.

Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

Cool the cake for about 10 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack. Cool completely before drizzling on the glaze.

To make the glaze, whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl. Drizzle over the cooled cake.

To decorate, sprinkle on the lime zest and extra flaked coconut immediately before the glaze hardens.

Enjoy!

This month my Bundt Bakers group is bringing you tropical cakes just in case you are needing a beach holiday. And, frankly, who isn’t? Many thanks to our host, Sandra from Sweet Sensations for this great theme and her behind-the-scenes work.

• Coconut Mango Bundt from Sweet Sensations
• Hawaiian Plantation Ice Tea Bundt Cake from All That's Left Are the Crumbs
• Kumquat - Coconut with Tarragon Bundt Cake from Katin špajz
• Lime Coconut Bundt from Food Lust People Love
• Mango Bellini Bundt Cake from Patyco Candybar
• Mango Upside Down Cake from Sneha's Recipe
• Painkiller Bundt Cake from Patty's Cake
• Pineapple Coconut Bundt from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Piña Colada Bundt Cake from Merce`s Cake

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

Pin it! 

.