Boxcar Kitchen

One of my friends gave me a cookbook last year on all things stuffed called, petits farcis. I don't naturally lean toward this style of preparation since it brings memories of zucchini longer than me stuffed with whatever leftovers were lying around in my grandmother's fridge. But the pictures were so appetizing that I decided to give it a whirl. I was particularly taken with the little round zucchinis stuffed with mozzarella di latte di bufala and herbs. The recipe called for cilantro but at the last minute I listened to my instincts (which happened to be a good thing in this case) and I substituted two of the rounds with fresh basil from my window box. The final results were utterly disappointing. The cilantro was bitter and the zucchini/buffalo mozzarella was completely bland even after a generous douse of fleur de sel. In the end I felt like a wretched cheese waster.

Summer squash: I saw them at the market nestled together all yellow and happy next to their green counterparts and I was thrilled. I couldn’t have been more pleased with myself when I said, “Quatre courgettes jaunes, s’il vous plait”. When I was little, both green and yellow zucchini were a staple but I always had a secret preference for the latter. All the way home I thought about what I was going to do with them. Since they were perfectly firm and slender and shiny, I rubbed them with some garlic, sprayed them with some olive oil and threw them on the grill till they were just a little wrinkly and charred. The perfect compliment to Korean style barbeque beef.