If you bought into the media hype, you knew winter storm Elliot was going to kill us all. Comparisons to the blizzard of ’78 were flying everywhere, and I understand there was nowhere nearby to get eggs, milk, or bread. In reality, we only got about an inch and a half of snow. But the cold. The cold meant doing everything possible to stay inside! With wind chills approaching -40, traveling any further than the sheep barn was not in the cards for us.
But, Xenia had foraged some winter oyster mushrooms ahead of the storm, and I had some old, leftover Neapolitan style pizza dough. It was really too old to make good pizzas, and since the pizza oven is an outdoor only appliance, I wasn’t going to be making pizzas anyway. But, a savory onion, mushroom, and cheese roll for breakfast? That sounds perfect for a cold day next to the wood stove!
Even though we’re getting slammed with zucchini, the Tromboncini squash are also starting to come in. Tromboncini are uncommon, but I’m not sure why. They’re very productive, at least in terms of pounds of food produced (though most of the squash tend to be large, so you don’t necessarily have large numbers of them). They are easy to use – they have a long neck that is entirely seedless, then a bulb on the end that contains all of the seeds, and a skin that’s only slightly thicker than zucchini, so most recipes don’t need peeling. They are versatile – they can function both as a summer squash and as a winter squash (though they don’t store quite as long as, say, a butternut). And they are very tasty, with a flavor somewhere between a zucchini and an acorn squash.
Anyway, we have converted a few true believers at market. Most people are afraid to try them, but those who do usually come back for more. But, due either to the massive pile of zucchini on our table, or too few brave culinarians, we had a few left after this week’s markets. So, yesterday was a day to be creative with Tromboncini. Continue reading →
