OPB’s “Superabundant” explores the stories behind the foods of the Pacific Northwest with videos, articles and this weekly newsletter. Every week, Heather Arndt Anderson, a Portland-based culinary historian, food writer and ecologist, highlights different aspects of the region’s food ecosystem. This week she offers a recipe for minestra di zucchine fiorilli (a summery squash blossom minestrone).

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Whether you call it zucchini, courgettes, hobak or calabacita, this is definitely the time of year that forces summer squash growers to be creative, either with recipes or with ways to sneak a surplus onto someone else’s porch. Other than tree fruit, summer squash may be one of the most likely crops to overwhelm a home gardener — but don’t be defeated! You planted zucchini for a reason, right? (Unless you planted more than one, like “Superabundant” reader Jim Boyer in Redmond, Oregon, who planted a spare just in case one died.) One of the most popular ways Americans get rid of a lot of summer squash at once is zucchini bread — when (and why) did recipes for the quick bake become so ubiquitous in the United States? Read on to find out!

Corn dogs and tots, garlic and gleaning and good things in markets, gardens and kitchens

Portland’s signature dish: Jojos?

A new article in Eater Portland peels back a few layers on why Portland doesn’t have its own iconic dish like Boston’s baked beans or Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, weighing in with local experts like fast food connoisseur (and “Simpsons” showrunner) Bill Oakley and OPB’s own Heather Arndt Anderson (who has previously gone on the record in defense of biscuits and gravy as a potential candidate).

A big bulb bash

Oregon’s most pungent party is back — the North Plains Elephant Garlic Festival returns for its 26th year this weekend (Aug. 9-11), drawing a crowd of thousands. Last year “Superabundant” narrator and producer Crystal Ligori and digital producer Prakruti Bhatt stopped by the event to partake in the festivities.

Finding a fruit tree to glean just got easier

The Portland Fruit Tree Project doesn’t just put eager gleaners in touch with overburdened fruit tree owners through its helpful index, now you can opt in to receive texts letting you know what’s ready to pick at any given time — and how to use it. They also have some canning workshops and blackberry picking events on their calendar.

Corny news

Another story published in Eater Portland this week examines both the history of the Pronto Pup and its ties to Midwest fair fare…an angle we explored in our deep dive episode on corn in the Northwest two years ago. (And in case you needed a little dopamine bump, we’re happy to share that everyone’s favorite cornossieur (sorry, had to) Tariq is back with his enduring love of America’s favorite crop.)

Watch the Corn episode of “Superabundant”

Good things in markets

As we come to the end of National Farmers Market Week, tomatillos, beans, heirloom-variety tomatoes, summer squash, hardneck garlic and chiles are going gangbusters. Summer fruits are still wowing us — stone fruits (especially plums and peaches) and berries (straw, black, goose, and blue) are crushing it and melons are coming into their own intoxicating stride.

Speaking of which, melonheads rejoice: Two different events are coming up to celebrate the succulent gourds. From 10 .a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 10 and 11, Rubinette Produce (located inside Providore Fine Foods) will host their Melon Ball to sample melons from Quiet Acre Farm in Hubbard (no relation to the progenitor of the squash variety that shares its name) and Walchli Farm in Hermiston. If you prefer staying closer to the source, the Hermiston’s MelonFest is just a week later on Aug. 17.

In the “Superabundant” garden this week

While we’re still getting tons of blackberries and herbs, the cucumbers and zucchini — both Korean varieties — are starting to produce a steady supply of fruit. We’re also getting a handful of purple “Royal Burgundy” beans every couple days and a trickle of tomatoes.

If you haven’t yet sown your fall plantings, it’s a good time to plant seeds. You can direct-sow radicchio, endive and chicory, lettuces, carrots and cool-season herbs like cilantro, chervil and parsley.

Lately, in the “Superabundant” kitchen

✨ We had some friends over for a light Japanese repast in the backyard — there was sockeye salmon grilled over juniper wood with a slather of homemade miso and ginger-peach jam stirred together with a little sake and soy sauce; a little salad made of shelled edamame beans, hijiki seaweed, Oregon dulse and julienned carrots; a little plate of tamagoyaki (Japanese omelet) made from the backyard hens’ eggs; and of course, rice and pickles (in this case, homegrown cucumber and turnip nukazuke made in a bed of fermented wheat bran instead of rice bran).

✨ To use up a half gallon of whole milk that was approaching its use-by date (determined by the “Superabundant” nose rather than the numbers printed on the carton) we made a big batch of stovetop chocolate pudding by simmering the milk with sugar, cocoa powder and cornstarch until thick but still silky. Then we stirred in some mini marshmallows and froze it in popsicle molds for an even colder treat.

✨ The easiest pasta dish ever made an appearance on the weeknight table: Spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden, and a generous handful of grated Parmesan. (We make some version of this almost weekly when the garden is producing a lot).

Recipe: Minestra di zucchine fiorilli (squash blossom soup)

A week ago a reader sent this email (abridged here):

“Superabundant Team,

Every year I am overloaded with an abundance of zucchini, and every year I tell myself I will only buy one zucchini plant next year, but when the time comes to plant I ask myself “what if the one plant dies?” so I always end up buying two plants. Every year both plants survive and within weeks I’m overloaded. Help!

Jim Boyer

Redmond, Oregon”

This is our favorite type of inquiry (we find ourselves yelling answers at the radio every time Francis Lam takes one of those “how do I use X?” calls on “The Splendid Table” each week). Though zucchini has many delightful uses, it is definitely famous for being an overproducer!

Most people will helpfully suggest zucchini bread. Following World War II, zucchini became a staple of the American garden, and mid-century, zucchini recipes boomed like childbirths. Recipes for zucchini bread popped up with the health food movement of the 1970s, after the recipe appeared in James Beard’s “Beard on Bread” in 1973. If zucchini bread is too cake-like for you, you can always add some joy-killing carob chips to the batter, but we find that dark chocolate chips (high in iron and fiber!) are a welcome addition, especially if we also add flax meal and chia seeds to healthy it up.

We love including hobak buchim (Korean zucchini fritters) as a side dish to spicy cold noodles or the Mediterranean counterpart, mücver, with a mezze. We’ll throw together a rustic ratatouille (which also uses up eggplant and tomatoes) to sop up with crusty bread, bake shaved zucchini with garlicky bechamel and herbs or make crispy Parmesan-crusted fries. And preserving zucchini is easy — you can slice and dehydrate it into chips, use it in bread and butter pickles, or spicy-sweet corn salsa for boiling water bath canning.

And of course, you can always donate your garden’s surplus to those in need — in Redmond a nonprofit called NeighborImpact can accept donations for their food bank and the Oregon Food Bank keeps a database of locations across the state where you can obtain (and ostensibly donate) fresh produce for free. Portland writer Jonathan Kauffman covers the subject of sharing excess in his latest “A Place is a Gift” newsletter (recall that much of last year’s superabundant apple crop went to the Portland Fruit Tree Project for distribution to the hungry).

At the end of the day, though, the best way to avoid an overload of zucchini is to pick it small, before it has a chance to overwhelm. Baby zucchini make a beautiful addition to a crudités platter, and of course, you can eat the flowers before they can develop into fruit. This classic Italian soup, good hot or chilled like a vichyssoise (and dead-simple to veganize), is a perfect taste of summer, and best of all, it’ll slow down your zuke crop substantially, buying you some time to catch up with the rest of your superabundance. Serves 6-8.

Note: If you don’t have a blender, this soup is still lovely brothy! Just skip the step to puree and continue as directed. Some recipes add a tiny pasta like ditalini or acini di pepe, which can also help pad it out to a fuller one-pot meal.

Ingredients

6 cups chicken or vegetable broth or stock (preferably homemade)

Salt and pepper to taste

2 fist-sized waxy potatoes (such as Yukon gold), diced

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 celery rib, diced

2 medium-sized zucchini, diced

8 zucchini (or other summer squash) blossoms, stamens removed and corolla torn to strips

½ cup basil leaves, torn

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Finely grated Parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)

Crusty bread for serving

Instructions

1. Bring the broth to a boil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. (If you’re using unsalted broth or stock, add a few pinches of salt and pepper to the cooking liquid.) Add the potatoes, onion, celery, garlic and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 10-15 minutes.
2. Puree the soup until smooth, give it a taste and adjust the salt and pepper according to your preference. Add the diced zucchini and the zucchini blossoms and simmer until the zucchini is al dente, about 7-8 more minutes. Stir in the basil and olive oil and serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese (if using) and hunks of crusty bread.

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