faire son miel de quelque chose: zucchini

this week, we got some gorgeous squash from both christian's parents and his great-uncle. this is all well and good, and we appreciate it greatly, but the timing of this motherload is not ideal as we leave for vacation tomorrow. we managed to whittle away at some of the squash already, but as of this morning, we still had two mammoth sized zucchini to wrestle with. what to do? make soup! and then? make bread! and more bread!

i roasted one ginormous zucchini, a large fennel, shallots, and onion with just a little olive oil and some fresh thyme from the balcony.

meanwhile, i grated one monster zucchini and put it in a colander, with a bowl underneath, to drain. i salted the shredded bits and let the salt help all the liquid escape. after some time, i pressed the zucchini to make sure i got the water out. that water became the base for my soup.

next, i made bread. the oven was already warmed from the vegetable roasting, but i lowered it to 350°/175°

my ingredients include:
2 cups flour (i used half whole grain, half all-purpose)
1/2 teaspoon each baking powder and baking soda
pinch of salt (pistachios have salt and the squash was salted earlier)
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 cup shredded zucchini
100 g of pistachios, divided by 3, and whatever rosemary was hanging out, chopped
2 tsp lemon juice
zest of one lemon

i whisked the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. in another bowl, i beat the eggs and added the sugar and oil. once blended, i dropped in the yogurt, lemon zest, and juice and stirred again. i added the wet to the dry and mixed until just combined. i pulsed the nuts in the food processor to break them up a bit, and then added a small pile of chopped rosemary. i folded in the zucchini and pistachio and rosemary mixture, and ta-da! batter. deeeeeelicious batter. i poured the batter in a prepped bread pan and baked it for nearly an hour.  the house smells amazing! one zucchini gifted us three loaves of bread.
we're going to munch on one loaf and take the rest with us on the aeroplane, give one loaf to christian's sister who is minding our flat, and (hopefully) freeze the last.

the soup i served with a blob of goat cheese and yogurt, mixed with chives, fennel fronds, and thyme.

and tomorrow, we leave at the crack of dawn... (photos  later. i really must to bed!)