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Grilled for sure. Otherwise I can barley eat it myself. But grill slices with peppers, onions and some portobellos. Then cut everything into large chunks, toss into some hot couscous with a few spoons of olive oil, balsamic and a handful or two of crumbled feta. You'll never know you are eating zucchini!!

As tomatoes are coming into season soon here in NY, try this. It's outrageously delicious!

Vegetable Tian
Copyright, 2004, Barefoot in Paris, All Rights Reserved
Show: Barefoot Contessa
Episode: Turkey - Not Just for Thanksgiving
This recipe is available for a limited time only. Why?

Good olive oil
2 large yellow onions, cut in half and sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound medium round potatoes, unpeeled
3/4 pound zucchini
1 1/4 pounds medium tomatoes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, plus extra sprigs
2 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking dish with olive oil. In a medium saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cook the onions over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Spread the onion mixture on the bottom of the baking dish.

Slice the potatoes, zucchini, and tomatoes in 1/4-inch thick slices. Layer them alternately in the dish on top of the onions, fitting them tightly, making only 1 layer. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme leaves, and thyme sprigs and drizzle with 1 more tablespoon of olive oil. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Uncover the dish, remove the thyme sprigs, sprinkle the cheese on top, and bake for another 30 minutes until browned. Serve warm.

If anyone has a problem using Bisquick, read no further. Otherwise, this recipe says picnic food to me. It's also good as lunch on it own with fresh tomatoes, or as a potluck dish.

Zucchini Bake

350 degree oven
25-30 minutes
9X13 greased pan

3 cups thinly sliced zucchini (half moon on a box grated)
4 slightly beaten eggs
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 Tblsp chopped parsley
1/2 cup onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup Bisquick

Toss all together. Bake in greased 9X13. Cut in squares. Best served hot and puffy out of the oven, but good at room temp, even if it gets a little flat.

This recipe is very forgiving. I've used up to 5 cups of zucchini, sometimes peeled, usually seeded, and sometimes grated on the large hole side of the box grater. You can add more onion, cheese, seasonings. The more zucchini you add, the less it holds together because the batter has to stretch. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

When I grew my first crop, years ago, i lived in Berkeley. i got a packet of seeds (I still think that zucchini seeds should be sold by the "each", no one needs a packet of that many - and as a new-to-the-wonder-of-it-all gardener, i could not thin or get rid of a single thing that i'd started. thus, 6 zucchini plants - for two people.
At the time, i worked at UC Berkeley, in an office of maybe 50 people. I would go in early, and drop a zucchini on someone's desk. Each squash (and they were nice sized, not submarines) was wrapped in a copy of one of my favorite poems, Marge Piercy's "Attack of the Squash People".
http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1606.html

Grilling or frying always helps, like mentioned.

These are two of my favorite zucchini recipes:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Zucchini-Boats-on-the-Grill/Detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spicy-Mexican-Style-Zucchini-Casserole/Detail.aspx

I'm not a zucchini fan either, mainly because so often it ends up being bitter (sorry, PerkyMac but it does happen). The two ways I do like it are beer-battered and fried or in ratatouille. I can tolerate it in a good minestrone as well.

Don't feel bad... there are some foods some of us will just never love! Don't get me started on mushrooms (shudder).