Silver Palate Zucchini Bread

Our neighbor has some great zucchini this year and even the big ones are good for zucchini bread. I decided to challenge myself and find a recipe in one of my cookbooks. Not so easy! But, as usual, Silver Palate had a great one.

I adjusted the recipe a bit - you will see below.

• 3 T of sweet cream butter to grease the baking dishes.
• 3 large eggs
• 1-1/4 cups cooking oil (Canola)
• 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste)
• 2* cups grated unpeeled raw zucchini
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsps baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Cream the oil and sugar for several minutes on high speed to dissolve the sugar into the oil. Add the eggs and cream some more until the lemony color is consistent. Add the vanilla. (You could also add another extract like black walnut.)

*I grated the zucchini a few days before and refrigerated it. I pressed it through a sieve and poured off the liquid. I used about 4 cups raw zucchini in this process or 2 cups compressed grated, drained zucchini. Fold the zucchini into the egg/sugar/oil/vanilla.

Blend the dry ingredients before folding into the wet. 

Pour into a buttered bread loaf pan. I found that the batter filled one bread pan and 2 smaller loaves.

I baked the smaller loaves (in waxed "paper" pans) for 30 minutes. I baked the terra-cotta loaf pan for about one hour, testing it every five minutes after about 45 minutes for doneness.

I always take the loaves out of the hot loaf pan right away and cool on a rack. Not so with paper pans - they cool perfectly.

Delicious moist loaves. Gerry loves them with butter and 15 minutes in the microwave.

This Silver Palate Cookbook has a great recipe for apricot raisin bread in it's Best Breads chapter. 

Homemade Elote Seasoning

Double this recipe to save for more recipes:

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• Instead of the dried lemon, I used 2 T of a chili-lime powder and 2 T of chili powder (to double the recipe.)
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Whirl all in a small blender or food processor or use and immersion blend to blend well.  Store in a covered jar.

I roasted fresh corn with this blend of elote seasoning. It's easy to make and save for more recipes.

It's from the Forks in the Kitchen blog. 

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• 2 Tablespoons chili powder*
• ▢½ Tablespoon smoked paprika
• ▢2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• ▢1 teaspoon cumin
• ▢1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢1 teaspoon onion powder
• ▢1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• ▢½ teaspoon dried lemon peel, or lime, optional*

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

 Leftover rotisserie or roasted chicken makes for an easy dinner of enchiladas.

In a medium bowl, mix 3/4 of a 14-oz jar of green enchilada sauce with 2-3 cups shredded and/or diced chicken and any kind of mixture of vegetables. I used 1/2  cup of diced multi-colored red, orange and yellow peppers, a diced tomatillo, 1/2 cup diced black olives and 1/2 cup of diced red onion.

Mix in 1-1/2 cup of a combination of shredded cheeses: Cotija, queso fresco, Monterrey Jack. I threw in a 1/4 cup of leftover Mozzarella and used a bagged mix of the above cheeses. 

Place 1 jar of enchilada sauce in a 10x6 baking dish or something that can hold 8 enchiladas. I used flour because that's what I had. If you use corn, use less filling.  Roll the tortilla up with about 1/2 cup of the mixture above to make about eight enchiladas.

Drizzle with the last half of a jar of enchilada sauce. Cover with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake 20 minutes at 350 until the cheese is melted and the sauces are bubbly.

Cool until you can cut into the enchiladas with less ooze.