“We have descended into tromboncino hell”, announced Pete.
Ha! And he reckons I’m the melodramatic one in the family.
After several weeks of staring at our giant trombies like a deer caught in the headlights, I finally brought in the large green one and cut it up. Pete was convinced that it would be flavourless at this size, but I just couldn’t bring myself to let so much produce go to waste.
The tromboncino had grown into something similar to a butternut pumpkin (squash) with hard, pale orange flesh. Using the food processor, I shredded a peeled portion of the neck and turned it into a large zucchini slice, using a fancy Italian hard cheese, leeks, prosciutto, self-raising flour and five eggs (the original recipe is here, and it’s infinitely adaptable).
I gave half to our neighbour Norm and his sons, and we ate the remainder as a couple of days’ worth of lunches. Even Pete had to admit that it was extremely tasty…
Another section of the neck was grilled in the sandwich press…
…and turned into an almost vegetarian lasagne, following this recipe. I sent two takeaway containers’ worth down the road, and the junior Dredgemeisters demolished them…
A third section was shredded and added to Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Thai Chicken Laksa Noodles. This dish used coriander and kaffir lime from our garden, as well as our new season asparagus which is just starting to shoot (yaay!). Pete loved this…
Half the flesh from the base was shredded, packed into a ziplock bag and stashed in the freezer…
The seeds were collected, washed and left to dry…
I’d originally planned on stuffing the remaining base half, but decided instead to try my hand at making a chocolate cake with it, using this signature recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini. I wasn’t optimistic, and had to ice the cake to hide the grated trombie that was showing on the top (or the boys wouldn’t go near it).
It was surprisingly delicious – moist , tender, and very, very dark – even the sceptical Big Boy went back for seconds…
We managed to use up the entire squash with almost no wastage!
Our friend Linda maintains that when the food apocalypse hits, we can all survive on tromboncinos, and I’m pretty sure she’s right. It almost makes me excited about the large orange one that’s still on the back deck!
(Hmm. I think I just heard my husband groaning in the background…)
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 