Chocolate or Chimichurri?

One or two years ago, we spent a weekend in Granite Falls, MN with friends. Saturday night at the parsonage, Todd fired up the grill and we were already munching on the Doritoes that Rachel had contributed to our meal.  Deborah and I had the challenge of figuring out what to do with the giant zuchinni squashes that had won in the Mitchells’ garden. That evening we decided to slice the "baseball bats" into rounds, marinade them in Argentinian chimichurri and envelope them in aluminum foil, so that Todd could cook them outside.

 

This year, the "Big Zuchinni Challenge" is back. However, in Bogota I don’t think that there is any chance of ever finding those perfect, pencil-sized zuchinnis. Most of the squash that I find at the neighborhood tiendas are larger than a strong man’s arm. It was only after rummaging through a pile last week that I got one that I decided I might be able to slice into something edible.

 

My other adventure today was to put together lasagne, so zuchinni on the side seemed appropriate. Thanks to the internet, however, I decided to forego grilled vegetables.

 

 

You’ve probably heard of chocolate zuchinni bread or chocolate zuchinni cake, but have you tried a zuchinni brownie?  My attempt at baking cookies in high altitude failed early last week. However, I like fudgy brownies, so I figured it wouldn’t matter if my batched turned out a little bit more moist than other’s.

I was able to find most of the ingredients in the cupboards, but was short on flour and only came across baking powder instead of baking soda.

 

1/2 c oil

1 1/2 c white granulated sugar

2 t vanilla extract

1/2 c all purpose flour

2 c (ground in the blender) dry oatmeal

1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

2 c shredded zuchinni

 

Preheat oven to 200* Celcius (Remember that I’m baking at high altitude: mountains, Gandalf!)

Grease and flour a rectangle, glass baking dish ( I don’t know the dimensions, sorry.).

 

Mix oil, sugar and vanilla extract together.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, ground oatmeal, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

Add dry mixture to the oil-sugar-vanilla mixture. Fold in the shredded zuchinni and combine until just moist. 

Transfer mix to the greased baking dish and bake it for 35 – 40 minutes.

Remove the brownie pan from the oven while the batter still looks a little bit loose.  Let them cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes on a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

 

…Got milk?