Full Gastronomic Tilt

The zucchini had been sitting on my counter for over a week. This was a big zucchini, deserving of a dish that could do it justice. Sadly, I was just about sick of zucchini. So eager when they first arrived earlier this summer, I made zucchini everything: pasta primavera, zucchini gratin, zucchini/potato pancakes, squash stir fry, zucchini sauteed gently in olive oil and seasoned with breadcrumbs….

And then I ran out of ideas. Which meant it was time for zucchini bread.

I turned to 101 Cookbooks, thinking that Heidi would have just the right recipe, or at least admonish me to use whole wheat pastry flour. She did have a delicious-looking zucchini bread recipe, which called for either curry powder or ras-el-hanout. I just happened to have some ras-el-hanout from my trip out west, and was excited at the prospect of using it in something besides a meat-based dish.

Ras-el-hanout means “head of the shop.” What’s in it varies widely depending on who is making it. You can read more about it here or here.

I tweaked the recipe a bit further, adding sour cream and applesauce in place of the third cup of zucchini she calls for, saying yes to brown sugar and swapping out walnuts for pecans. To be perfectly honest, I hate walnuts.

The results were interesting. First of all…

Do you see it?

The bread came together easily enough (I ended up with three mini loaves and one big one) and I had to bake the large loaf just a bit longer than the suggested time of 40-45 minutes, about 55 minutes, while the minis took 33 minutes. After they had cooled on my counter I cut into one of the mini loaves and it absolutely crumbled. Second slice, same story. Third slice, only a corner crumbled. I put the large loaf right in the freezer after cooling, so I’m curious to see what happens after it thaws. I was told that one of the reasons this was happening was because I used a recipe that called for butter and not oil. Hm. Noted.

Tested out the mini-loaves on friends and co-workers. Everyone loved the savory hint and that the bread wasn’t too dry. People normally say the word moist here to indicate that the bread has the desirable not-dry quality. The m word squicks me, so I rarely use it, except when no other word will do, like in this case where you could interpret “wasn’t too dry” as “still a little on the dry side.” Not so. Now you know.

If you’ve got a lot of mid-summer zucchini piling up and have a yen for quick bread, try this out and let me know what you think.

Zucchini Bread
inspired by Heidi Swanson

1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups white all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon ras-el-hanout (Optional, strongly recommended. Can use any exotic savory spice blend to similar effect. I think.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine pecans and lemon zest. Set aside.

Combine zucchini, sour cream, applesauce and vanilla extract.

In separate bowl, combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ras-el-hanout.

With a hand mixer, beat butter until fluffy. Add sugars and beat until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

With a spoon, stir in zucchini mixture, then add the flour mixture, stirring well to combine. Gently fold in the pecans and lemon zest.

Fill loaf pans about two-thirds full with batter. I gently rap my pans against the counter to settle the batter and make sure it is evenly distributed. Bake for 40-45 minutes if using full-size loaf pans, about 35 minutes if using mini-loaf pans.

Let the loaves rest in the pans for up to 20 minutes before removing them from the pans to finish cooling on racks.