Zucchini

Why should tacos have all the fun? These enchiladas are just as fast and easy, thanks to a one-pan stove-top cooking technique and a few store-bought shortcuts.

I used to be put off by poaching chicken as I feared it was more complicated than my simple fried version. But it's actually much easier, because while the chicken poaches you can prepare the rest of the food. These days I often poach 3 or 4 chicken breasts at a time, then keep them in the fridge so I can toss them into salads over the following days. Poaching really helps to keep the moisture in the meat, so the end result is much more enjoyable than dried, overcooked chicken.

This stunner of an entrée is an entirely meatless take on turducken, with butternut squash, eggplant, and zucchini filling in for the usual suspects.

Banish flashbacks of bland zucchini with this crunchy, cheesy, salty, citrusy salad.

This raw tomato sauce gets texture from zucchini and body from toasted nuts that are blended into the base. You can sub almonds for hazelnuts.

Over the last few years I have started to love zucchini, but I have to admit that by the end of the season, it's like, "Not another bloody zucchini!" That said, this is one of the joys of eating seasonally—anticipation and excitement at the start of the season, despair and overload at the end.

Stash veggie-filled foil packets in the freezer for a weekday breakfast option that cooks in the oven while you go about your morning routine.

A texture riot of a salad; it gets crunch and creaminess from toasted pecans and almond butter(!).

Cooking corn this way adds a depth of flavor from the husk and keeps the kernels from drying out. Tossed together with zucchini and scallions, these quesadillas make for a super-satisfying vegetarian dinner.

Everything about these sandwiches screams "backyard summer party" to me. Simmering vegetables all day really brings out the individual flavors, and I love how I can get so many good-for-you vitamins into such a delicious package.

Squeezing the liquid out of the zucchini is the secret to crisp fritters. (The potato helps, too.)

Use a vegetable peeler to peel the zucchini lengthwise into thin ribbons, stopping when you get to the very center where it is all seeds. You can use this same technique with carrots and peel long carrot ribbons, or also choose to use half carrots and half zucchini. The zucchini (or carrots or both) sliced this way also make a light, fresh summer salad when tossed raw with lemon juice, olive oil, and fresh herbs.