(Zucchini or courgettes: nutritive value, how to clean, cut and cook, recipes ...)
Zucchini or courgettes. The scientific name is: Cucurbita pepo. They belong to the family of Cucurbitaceae.
What you find about zucchini (courgettes) on this page:
Recipes - Table of nutritive value - Description - Nutritional properties - Therapeutic effects - Buying - Keeping - Cleaning and cutting - Cooking
Our original home cooking
- - Baked pasta with vegetables and mozzarella ch...: Step-by-step instructions to prepare a typical dish of Italian baked pasta. The sauce is made with vegetables and mozzarella cheese. Vegetarian recipe and one-plate meal, Italian style.
- - Boiled courgettes with aromatic herbs: Low fat side dish
- - Colored potatoes: Steamed potatoes filled with other vegetables
- - Courgette, tuna and ricotta cheese pie: Savory pie filled with tuna, ricotta cheese and zucchini. An Italian pie to be served as one plate meal or, cubed, as appetizer
- - Courgettes stuffed with cous cous : A tasty recipe whose ingredients are only vegetables. Low fat recipe.
- - Grilled zucchini (courgettes): Grilled zucchini (courgettes). Zucchini are marinated with olive oil and aromatic vinegar to use less olive oil.
- - Italian sauce with vegetables and sausage: An Italian sauce to dress egg pasta such as tagliatelle; it's based on vegetables and sausage
- - Pasta salad with ring-shaped ingredients: Pasta salad with sweet peeprs, courgettes (zucchini), black olives and cherry tomatoes in oil. It's perfect for your summer Sunday lunch or for a buffet all year. Vegetarian recipe.
- - Pasta with shrimps, eggs and courgettes (zucc...: Pasta with zucchini(courgettes), shrimps and eggs. Ideal for an important dinner party menu or as one-plate meal in a weekly menu. Nutrition facts per serving.
- - Pasta with zucchini and nasturtium flowers: Pasta with zucchini and nasturtium flowers. An exclusive recipe to impress your family and guest with a new, good-looking, tasty pasta recipe idea.
- - Penne, baked in foil: Baked pasta. Pasta is combined with a fish-and-vegetable sauce and then baked in a foil parcel. It's tasty and easy-to-do, ideal for kids because the fish is without bones.
- - Pizza with courgettes and smoked trout: Doses and ingredients for a pizza made with smoked trout and courgettes
- - Savoury tart with courgette: Tasty savoury tart made with zucchini (courgettes) and salami. Serve it as appetizers or one-plate meal with the accompaniment of seasonal salad. Typical Italian-style dish.
- - Spicy spaghetti with assorted vegetables: Spicy spaghetti with vegetables. Recipe, menu planning, calories, what wine? No-tomato, vegetarian pasta.
- - Tomato & mozzarella cheese rice: A first course made with rice boiled dressed with tomato sauce and mozzarella
- - Tricoloured vegetable ravioli : Homemade vegetable filled ravioli with coloured dough. Step by step instructions.
- - Vegetable pie for kids: A tasty savoury pie made with puréed vegetables and raw ham slices; ideal for children.
- - Vegetarian lasagna: Delicious baked pasta made without meat
- - Zucchini flower mini flans: Zucchini blossom mini flans (or courgette flower mini flans) are a delicious recipe idea you could prepare to combine an asorted antipasto platter or one plate meal in summer and at the beginning of autumn.
Traditional recipes.
- - Pasta with zucchini sauce: Pasta with zucchini sauce. Simple-to-do, low-fat and low-calorie recipe for all people. A traditional Italian pasta recipe.
- - Raw courgettes : Low fat side dish. It's very somple to do too!
- - Risotto with vegetables, Latium-style: Vegetarian risotto; a typical dish from Ciociaria.
- - Salt cod with samfaina: Fried salt cod with assorted vegetables, Spain-style
- - Sautéed courgettes (zucchine trifolate...: Courgettes, sautéed with oil, garlic and parsley
- - Spaghetti with zucchini - recipe by Gianna: Bacon-and-zucchini spaghetti recipe. Tasty pasta recipe.
Zucchini (courgettes in UK)Nutritive value in 100g edible part |
||
| Edible part | % | 88 |
| Water | g | 93.6 |
| Protein | g | 1.3 |
| Total fat | g | 0.1 |
| Carbohydrates | g | 1.4 |
| Total dietary fiber | g | 1.3 |
| Food energy | kcal | 11 |
| kJ | 47 | |
| Sodium | mg | 22 |
| Potassium | mg | 264 |
| Iron | mg | 0.5 |
| Calcium | mg | 21 |
| Phosphorus | mg | 65 |
| Thiamin | mg | 0.08 |
| Riboflavin | mg | 0.12 |
| Niacin | mg | 0.70 |
| Vitamin A | µg | 6 |
| Vitamin C | mg | 11 |
Description. The plant that bears zucchini is native to Central and South America. It belongs to the family of melons, cucumbers and
pumpkins (Cucurbitaceae). Zucchini have a light or dark green peel; they can have yellow streakings too. There are many
varieties round the world but everyone is easily perishable and keeps for a short time.
Another peculiarity of this plant is the development of flowers, called "zucchini flowers", that can be stuffed
or deep-fried or used in pasta, risotto or savoury pie (savoury pie with zucchini flowers).
You can find zucchini all year according to cultivation in greenhouse and international commerce. However il would be better
to eat this kind of vegetables in summer when they are cheaper and full of nutritive substances.
Nutritional properties. As you can see in the table of nutritive value, zucchini provide few calories and they are low fat.
Their taste is neutral and for this reason they are very useful for preparing recipes with meat, fish, cheese, grain and pulses
(zucchini stuffed with cous cous),
or for realizing risotto or pasta sauces. Nowadays in Italy we're discovering their use in low-fat side dishes. The important thing
is cooking them well (for a short time) and dressing with aromatic herbs.
In fact zucchini are good sources of potassium, vitamin E (that help to protect us from free radicals), lutein and zeaxanthin and
vitamin C. Vitamin C is very sensitive to heat and so you have to cook zucchini for a short time. The ideal thing would be to eat them raw.
Therapeutic effects. Zucchini are laxative, anti-inflammatory, diuretic and purifying.
Purchase tips. Choose always very firm, little and thin zucchini because they have few seeds. Remember that they must have a bright skin, no braise and a light down.
Storage. Zucchini can be kept for a short time. You can preserve them in the refrigerator for 3-4 days: the more you preserve them the more they lose their nutritive value.
How to clean and cut. If zucchini are young and thin, it's enough to trim the ends. If they are bigger,
it's necessary to remove all the seeds.
You can cut them into slices lentghways (to grill them) or into slices crossways (to sauté with garlic and parsley). You can
also dice them (for soup or stewed side dishes) or cut into julienne (to fry them or prepare sauces).
How to cook. Zucchini can be cooked by boiling (for a short time), steaming, grilling, frying ... Larger varieties can be hollowed out for stuffing and baking.
