Zucchini: The Demon Plant 

So the garden is growing like gang busters. The four zucchini plants are produce more than I could have imagined. Then looked so small when i planted them, I was worried i might not have enough. Someone should have smacked me upside the head. Next year I will stick with just 2 or three plants. I have more than enough. So what does one do when one has enough Zucchini to make 27 loaves of zucchini bread. Good Question.

Spaghetti Sauce Of Course!  If You shred the Zucchini using a fine grate the Zucchini just disappears into a nice set of tomatoes to make a great spaghetti sauce.  The shredded zucchini adds a lot of volume and moisture to the sauce so you my have to cook the sauce down a bit if you thick sauce.

Here is the most common recipes I use.  I just add the Zucchini right at the beginning.  I can usually hide 2-3 12 inch zucchini this way and no one is the wiser.   I like having this sauce with some Italian  or French bread and a couple of Italian Sausages.  I suppose this same recipes could be turned into a great vegetable soup as well (This is a repost of a recipe I posted a couple of summers ago.)

Homemade Tomato Sauce I

Ready In: 4 Hours 30 Minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients:
10 ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 cup Burgundy wine
1 bay leaf
2 stalks celery
2 tablespoons tomato paste

Directions:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Have ready a large bowl of iced water. Plunge whole tomatoes in boiling water until skin starts to peel, 1 minute. Remove with slotted spoon and place in ice bath. Let rest until cool enough to handle, then remove peel and squeeze out seeds. Chop 8 tomatoes and puree in blender or food processor. Chop remaining two tomatoes and set aside.

2. In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, cook onion, bell pepper, carrot and garlic in oil and butter until onion starts to soften, 5 minutes. Pour in pureed tomatoes. Stir in chopped tomato, basil, Italian seasoning and wine. Place bay leaf and whole celery stalks in pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 2 hours. Stir in tomato paste and simmer an additional 2 hours. Discard bay leaf and celery and serve.