Adapting recipes and the kitchen to reality means facing the frozen packet of grated zucchini in the bottom of the freezer. It seemed so smart last summer to take an "extra" zuke, grate it, and pop the results into a bag and then into the freezer. This recipe turned out perfect for using it, at long last -- and if you don't have any in your own freezer, double the chives.
There are two "tricks" to the recipe. The first is getting a lot of the moisture out of the grated zucchini. Luckily, frozen grated zucchini makes this easy! Let your packet thaw, and set it in the dish drainer so the liquid can leach out for five minutes or so. If you are grating fresh zucchini, don't bother with steps like pressing it in a dish towel or other strange actions -- just let it sit half an hour and pour off any "juice" that has pooled in the bottom of the dish. Either way, you'll want a bit of extra time for your zuke prep step, but it's leave-it-alone time: just set up the grated vegetable to drain and go on with life.
I chose to prep this with three containers, because I was making my own "buttermilk" (what the recipe originally called for) -- that is, acidified milk. It's easy. Here's what I did:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease (in any way you like) a 9 by 5 inch bread pan.
2-CUP GLASS MEASURING CUP: Pour in 1 cup milk (any kind). Add 1 tablespoon vinegar (white or cider). Stir. Break in 1 egg and add 1/4 cup corn oil. Stir with a fork.
MEDIUM BOWL: Grate about 4 ounces of sharp cheddar (enough to make 1.5 cups grated cheese). Take a handful of chives and snip them with scissors (the best way to get uniform tiny pieces that aren't totally smushed) -- you want 1/4 cup snipped fresh chives. Top this with your 1.5 cups of drained grated zucchini and run a fork under it to toss it together a bit.
LARGE BOWL: Gently stir together 2 cups flour (I used half unbleached King Arthur white, half King Arthur's new-ish "white wheat"; this will work just as well with all white flour, or half whole wheat—it won't be great with all whole wheat though), 2 tablespoons sugar, 1.5 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. If you are crazy for salt, you can include a half teaspoon of it, but with the cheese, I don't think it's needed.
Add the measuring cup of liquids to the large bowl and stir briefly with that fork. Add the medium bowl of goodies and stir just enough to make sure all the dry ingredients have become wet.
Bake for 1 hour, or until a tester toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, as they say. Leave the bread in the pan for 10-20 minutes; then slide a knife around the sides and tip it out onto a cooling rack.
Eat it warm or at room temperature. Yes, with butter!
One more "trick": If you want to place this on a serving plate while still warm, to take it to the table that way, be sure to put a piece of waxed paper between the warm bread and the plate, so it doesn't stick, and of course use a serrated knife to slice it.
