Many good crops here at the farm this week. And, happily, many guests to feed. We shared our crop of sugar snap peas, and that was an easy sell. But we also served zucchini, and our guests loved it. Some of the best veggies they ever had. Seriously.

How do we know the zucchini was such a hit? We made the “famous” Red Cat Zucchini for the Red Cat restaurant in New York City. And we can say the recipe is famous because we have never been to the restaurant or read the Red Cat Cookbook, but the recipe made it to us anyway. And we are glad it did. There are few vegetable recipes more delicious, and few easier to make than this zucchini dish.

The Red Cat Zucchini combines thinly sliced zucchini, almonds, pecorino romano cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper. It is a basic list of ingredients but the final dish absolutely sings. The sweetness of the zucchini goes perfectly with the nutty almonds and is balanced by the salty pecorino. Each bite is a delight.  And it only takes 10-15 minutes to make. This dish is so good you will actually want your neighbors to offload share their excess zucchini. And you can serve this recipe with almost any summer meal. Great stuff.

As for the sugar snap peas, the biggest challenge is getting them to the table, as we tend to snack on them right in the garden. But when we do serve them, we have two easy, and tasty, options. The first way to serve sugar snaps is with crème fraîche, lemon zest, parsley and some seasoning. This recipe is from Hugh Acheson and we posted on it here, but we include the recipe below.

Our second recipe for sugar snaps is simply steaming them and then adding butter, chives, salt and pepper. It rocks. The chives and peas play very, very well together. The only problem with this recipe is that the peas sometimes don’t make it out of the kitchen. We, and our guests, can’t stop snacking on them.

Red Cat Zucchini:

(Adapted from the Red Cat Cookbook)

Notes Before You Start:

• You will need to do some slicing for this recipe. Zucchini is firm and easy to slice by hand, but if you have a mandolin, it is a perfect tool for this recipe.
• You do not want to crowd the zucchini while cooking, use a big pan or cook in batches.

What You Get: Not just a great zucchini dish, but a great vegetable dish.

What You Need: No special equipment required, but a mandolin will work very well.

How Long? About 15 minutes. 5 for slicing, 10 for cooking. Anytime dish.

Ingredients:

(Serves 4-6)

• 1 medium (or 2 small) zucchini, 3-4 cups when chopped
• 4 tablespoons almonds, roasted (skins on or off)
• 4 tablespoons pecorino romano cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Assemble:

1. Roughly chop the almonds. Grate the cheese. Slice the zucchini into 1/8 inch think matchsticks.
2. Place a large pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the olive oil and the almonds. Cook the almonds for 1 minutes. Add the zucchini and stir to mix in the almonds. Spread the zucchini in the pan, you want it to slightly brown, another 1-2 minutes. When the zucchini browns on the edges and softens slightly, it’s done.
3. Remove the pan from the heat. Mix half of the pecorino into the zucchini and check for seasoning. Season to taste. Serve the zucchini with the remaining pecorino on top.

Sugar Snap Peas With Creme Fraiche:

(Adapted from Hugh Acheson)

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. fresh sugar snap peas, strings removed and sliced in half lengthwise (if small, leave peas whole)
• Zest of one lemon
• 1 tablespoon of Italian parsley, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of crème fraîche
• Kosher salt, to taste (pepper if you like)

Assemble:

1. Place 3 cups of water to a boil in medium saucepan. Place the peas in the water and cook for 1 minute. Drain the peas and place them in a medium bowl.
2. Add the lemon zest, parsley and crème fraîche to the bowl. Stir to combine. Add salt, to taste. Serve.

Sugar Snap Peas With Butter And Chives:

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. fresh sugar snap peas, strings removed and sliced in half lengthwise (if small, leave peas whole)
• 1 tablespoon sweet butter (or more, if you like)
• 1 tablespoon fresh chives, roughly chopped
• Kosher salt and pepper, to taste

Assemble:

1. Place 3 cups of water to a boil in medium saucepan. Place the peas in the water and cook for 1 minute. Drain the peas and place them in a medium bowl.
2. Add the butter and chives. Season to taste. Serve.

Related articles

• Zucchini & Garlic Scape Frittata (andreasgardencooking.com)
• Zucchini and Almonds (foodcomas.com)