Day 116 - Baby Zucchini

We have eaten this vegetable from Trader Joe’s several times, so I was surprised when I looked at the blog and realized I had not yet reviewed it!  But now that I made it again and served it at our recent Trader Joe’s dinner party, I am glad I hadn’t already reviewed it.  If I had, I am sure it would have gotten a lower rating than it will now.  Let me explain.  J

This zucchini is very small.  In fact, I think they need to change the name and re-market it.  How’s this:  TEENY WEENIE ZUCCHINI.  Isn’t that fabulous??  Better than, “Baby Zucchini”, right??  Teeny Weenie Zucchini is catchy!  Trader Joe’s corporate, if you are reading this, you can send me a check for “naming assistance” at any time. 

This comes in a little package in the fresh produce section

The other times we cooked this, I steamed it.  And the result was PRETTY, but MUSHY, teeny weenie whole zucchinis.  For some reason we decided this was the green vegetable to serve at our recent dinner party, but then we both said, “Wait, isn’t it sort of yucky and mushy??”.  So we decided (thanks to David’s suggestion) to cut each one in half length-wise and SAUTE them.  I used a mix of olive oil, lemon juice, and pumpkin seed oil in the pan (and added freshly ground salt and freshly ground pepper).  The end result was much tastier teeny weenie zucchini than the mushy steaming technique.  These are inexpensive to purchase and pretty on your plate, too.  One cooking suggestion on the package is GRILLING, and I think that would make them tasty, also.  So I guess what I am saying is, don’t steam these suckers.

They are cute lil things

If I rated these on my own, I would give them a 4.0.  Now let me look at the reviews our guests wrote and add their comments here:

-          “Very delicate and tasteful”

-          “Very tasty but slightly mushy.  Goes very well with the filet mignon roast, but I love zucchini.”

-          “Very good size.  Just the way you’d want baby courgettes to be.”

-          “Nice presentation, but more skin and less flesh than normal sized zucchini.”

-          “Simple.  Delish.”

Note – we bought way too many for the dinner party, and last night I cooked more of them by chopping them up into very small chunks and sautéing them with thinly sliced Portobello mushrooms and shrimp.  We put that over pasta and it was really good!  So that is another cooking option for these!

Price - $2.49

Rating (6 ratings averaged together) – 4.5