This time of year means food, friends and parties to many people. I love to throw pot-luck parties to allow everyone to share in the meal and not create a huge expense. However, as the hostess I still love to put out a spread and make sure there is enough to go around. I found this great post on PlanetGreen.com with recipes that feature one of my favorite foods...zucchini as the star of the show. Enjoy!
I like to throw dinner parties around a certain ingredient (sort of like on Iron Chef) and then experiment with the ingredient in various courses. To make it cheaper and low impact try a widely available, inexpensive, and local ingredient. I have been writing about zucchini all week long because it's so versatile. In the summer time with produce everywhere, you could base your dinner parties around a number of different ingredients like blueberries, squash, tomatoes, basil, corn, watermelon, peas, and the list goes on and on.
For starters: Grilled Halloumi with Zucchini
This Grilled Halloumi with Zucchini is a great place to start. It's a rather inexpensive dish because there are only a few ingredients. But it's impressive and the zucchini is front and center. Halloumi is a traditional Greek cheese. It's made from a mixture of goat's milk, sheep milk, or cow's milk. Its high melting point allows for frying or grilling and it's stored in its natural juices with salt water.
photo: Sara Novak
Cost: $11.00
For the Main: Homemade Pasta with Zucchini
While this recipe may be a bit time consuming to make, it's incredibly budget-friendly and addictively delicious. The actual pasta has just a few ingredients. In all, it's just eggs, flour, salt. olive oil, Parmesan, and of course, zucchini. You can make the dough by hand or you can use the dough attachment in your mixer to make it. It's up to you. Same goes for rolling it out. You can use a rolling machine or you can roll it out by hand. I did everything by hand because well, it's a good workout and very therapeutic.
Cost: $12.00
And Dessert: Zucchini Bread
This zucchini bread is loaded with complexity. It has tons of walnuts, poppy seeds, and lemon zest for flavoring. While this is an obvious choice, people like it for a reason, it's tasty. You could enjoy with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream if you like as well.
photo: Sara Novak
Cost: $22.00
And to Sip: A Crisp White Wine
A light summer pasta goes really well with any variety of crisp, white wine. And you'll have enough money leftover after this inexpensive feast for a few good bottles. Planet Green has a great guide to choosing low impact wines.
Cost: $54
Total: $99
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