Pille Petersoo shares four ways to cook zucchini

Food blogger Pille Petersoo shared four zucchini recipes on ERR’s morning television programme Terevisioon, covering soup, salad, a savoury pie and a loaf cake.

Petersoo advised picking zucchini while they are still small rather than allowing them to grow as thick as a thigh. “They grow secretly and quickly,” she said.

Zucchini soup

For the soup, Petersoo uses one kilogram of zucchini, an onion, garlic, two potatoes and stock. The ingredients are boiled until soft and then blended with a hand blender, which takes about 15 to 20 minutes.

Overgrown zucchini can also be used. Petersoo said they should be cut in half and have the soft centre and seeds removed. If the skin is still soft enough for a fingernail to pierce it, peeling is not necessary.

The soup can be finished with basil and grated Parmesan. Petersoo said this version is light compared with soups made with processed or cream cheese, while the Parmesan adds flavour. The seasoning can be adjusted to taste.

Warm salad

The warm salad combines fried zucchini with raw avocado, a vinaigrette made from olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt, and coriander. Cheese is added on top.

Zucchini and Parmesan pie

Petersoo also recommended a zucchini and Parmesan pie. The recipe uses yeast-based puff pastry spread with Parmesan cream cheese. Slices of zucchini, seasoned with garlic, salt and olive oil, are arranged on top.

After the pie has baked for 10 to 15 minutes, more grated Parmesan is added.

Lemon and zucchini loaf cake

For dessert, Petersoo suggested a lemon and zucchini loaf cake. Green, yellow or white zucchini can be used, including large ones, and they do not need to be peeled. The cake contains 200 grams of zucchini, sugar, eggs, mild-flavoured oil, flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar. It can be topped with a lemon and icing sugar glaze.