Of Cucumbers and Quesadillas

The Prof and I enjoy cooking whenever we can make the time and we especially enjoy cooking with fresh, local produce. I shop the farmers' market regularly and try to buy in season at the grocers' as much as possible. This is a stellar time for seasonal cooking, too. The weekly market is brimming with garlic, herbs, tomatoes, zucchini (from the standard to the heirloom varieties), greenhouse salad greens, bell peppers, hot peppers, melons, peaches and apples, in addition to the standard year round products.

At the last July market, I picked up a deep green, Texas-size green zucchini and a white sunburst zucchini, placed happily among my other summer hued acquisitions, and went on my merry way wondering which delicious preparation we would impose on these lovely fruits. At Martha Stewart's website, I found an unusual but simple recipe for for Zucchini Quesadillas and picked up the remaining ingredients required.

I did alter the recipe a bit:

• opted out on the cilantro (I always opt out on cilantro)
• used a combination of pepper jack and monterey jack to moderate the spiciness
• replaced one of the zucchini with a cucumber and the other with a white sunburst zucchini

Yup. You read that correctly. Somehow a cucumber had landed in my veggie bowl instead of the refrigerator. The zucchini was there, too, but I grabbed the wrong one. That's right, I sliced that cucumber, sauteed it with olive oil, onions, garlic, and corn and baked it in a quesadilla. I thought it smelled a little funny for a zucchini and what an unusual amount of seeds, but didn't give it too much thought.

You know what? Those quesadillas were delicious! Really. I even commented during dinner that the zucchini flavor was just right, not too overwhelming. Congratulated myself on using that mild white sunburst. And then, after dinner it was the Prof who discovered the scraps from the cucumber and passed it around to all of us. It was confirmed. My genius, that is. I created a new recipe and an otherwise unthinkable use for the cucumber!

P.S. The Prof finally used that spared squash to make up some Zucchini-Feta Fritters tonight. Mmm!