On Our Minds and in Our Carts: Here’s What to Do With All That Zucchini

1. Zucchini, as God intended

Zucchini is one of those vegetables that I’d complain about to my dad: like,

Me: “Ugh, it has no flavor.”

Dad: “Are you joking?” (In a tone that properly represents how embarrassed he is to have me as his daughter.)

I felt this way until last summer, despite having zucchini prepared for me — by loved ones, at restaurants — in a variety of good ways. Then I came across the simplest, best, most delicious way of cooking zucchini. The next conversation went something like this:

Me: “Oh my god. I made this Renee Erickson recipe for zucchini. You put a ton of it in a big pot with basil and garlic and olive oil and you cook it on low-ish heat for almost an hour and it’s the best thing ever.”

Dad: “Well, yeah. Of course.”

I think about this recipe every time I see zucchini, which is a lot right now. This plus some Bittman’s baguette (or any other variety of our bread) is a dream dinner. Sharing the recipe with you here. Thank you, Renee Erickson. – Kate

2. Your (new?) favorite butter

If you live in New York State, there’s a good chance you know Ronnybrook Farm. Ronnybrook is based in the Hudson Valley, and Glynwood — where I live — sells some of their products at their farm store. Now Bittman’s is partnering with them; they are the brand behind our butter. And in in the few months since we launched Bittman’s, that has been a source of joy for both our customers and for us — we love having it in the house: It’s rich, delicious, luxurious, and just a gorgeous color.

Equally important, Ronnybrook is committed to their cows, and their land, and in making dairy products the way dairy products are meant to be made — which is how we make our bread. Simply, beautifully.

Incidentally — Ronnybrook is run by a father-daughter team of farmers, Rick and Kate (yes) Osofsky. Nice, right?

If you’d like to try Bittman’s butter, look for the prompt to add it on to your bread order — we have both salted and unsalted; they’re both great. – Mark

3. Frozen food, sans freezer aisle

I’m currently in Truro, and the grocery options here are trickier than those in New York. When you’re accustomed to having every single kind of grocery shopping experience (cheap groceries, fancy groceries, an Asian market, an Amish market, the bougiest market you’ve ever seen, etc.) close by, it’s wild to get to a place where there’s one actual grocery store within 15 miles and the other options are either comically bougie, comically expensive (this is actually most of them), or comically … not great.

Prefacing this to say this is not an advertisement. I love Thrive Market, and get lots of our staples there, both in New York and here. Last year, when we were in Truro, I was really happy to have Thrive as an option for coffee, good tuna, olive oil, snacks, etc. This year, I decided to try out their freezer box option. You need a minimum of $65 to check out your grocery box, and a minimum of $99 for it to ship for free. I went with the latter option, because free shipping is the only shipping for me. I got popsicles (GoodPops), lots of frozen vegetables and fruits for smoothies, frozen cookies that Zoe (CEO of Bittman’s) swears by so I had to try, frozen pizza for when I don’t feel like cooking, ground pork — they have Niman Ranch, which I like and feel decent about — etc.

Somehow, the box arrived completely frozen. The popsicles, I’d been so dubious about. They were solid. And the packaging was so nice — there was a lot of dry ice, of course, and that involved plastic, but the rest of the box was plastic-free; see above, and, from the Thrive website: “FSC-certified 100% recycled content boxes, + other curbside recyclable packaging and plastic-wrapped fiber Insulation.”

A great option for those of you who don’t have the best grocery situations (or for anyone who thinks it sounds good.) – Kate

4. What tongue cancer taught a chef about taste

On this week’s episode of Food with Mark Bittman, I got to interview the chef Shirley Chung, who was introduced to me by my friend Jesse, who is also Shirley’s publicist. Shirley’s journey through stage four tongue cancer was so inspiring to hear about; she is really something, and I wanted to share some bits of the interview. (The below is basically verbatim, so if it reads funny in parts, that’s because it’s from a spoken interview.)

Shirley on her diagnosis:

“Once I was diagnosed, the whole entire universe — everything was lining up for me, for my next step. When I was diagnosed — I might be in denial — but I wasn’t shocked. I was actually very calm, and I was waiting for my treatment plan, and I also had a feeling. I know, stage four tongue cancer sounds very scary, but I’m a chef. I’m a fighter. I’m a warrior. I learned how to win the competition. I know how to win this battle … I’m just going to fight.”

Shirley’s reaction to the first treatment option given to her:

“The moment my doctor told me my treatment plan, my world just came crashing down. I had that sinking feeling, my heart was just squeezed. The fact of knowing that I could never do the things I love in my life. I always say that cooking and food are the loves of my life. I love it more than anything — it’s my passion. So the fact that I had to leave the love of my life – was the most crushing news that I ever had. In a way, I was like, ‘okay, so I’m going to live, but I’m not going to be able to eat the way I used to, cook how I used to?’ And then, what’s living? That’s not meaningful for me anymore.”

Shirley’s reaction to the treatment she eventually got, and which allowed her to keep her tongue:

“When my doctor told me about the third option, I immediately wanted to know more about it. She said, ‘We can try this at Cedars-Sinai; they can give us a roadmap and we can follow it, take it step-by-step.’ And I was like, okay, it’s like a new recipe, you have to follow this new recipe for the very first time. Like experiencing a restaurant opening.

In a way, I was like, do I really want to risk that? But at the same time — I didn’t want to lose my tongue.”

– Kate