Spend a Sunday afternoon in my garden for a unique cooking class celebrating one of summer’s most versatile vegetables: zucchini, from appetizer to dessert!

We’ll begin with a tour of the garden, where you’ll harvest fresh zucchini and learn some of our favorite tips for growing summer vegetables at home.

Back in the kitchen, we’ll prepare a variety of traditional Calabrian dishes that highlight zucchini in all its forms. We’ll start with pitticelle di zucchine and fried zucchini blossoms, followed by pasta tossed in a delicate zucchini cream sauce, the very recipe that won me first prize at the Zucchini Festival in 1983. We’ll also make zucchini rolls stuffed with creamy ricotta and baked in tomato sauce, alongside grilled zucchini marinated with olive oil, vinegar, garlic, and fresh mint.

And yes, even dessert will feature zucchini, an indulgent flourless chocolate cake that is sure to surprise and delight.

Menu

Pitticelle di zucchine e fiori di zucca (Calabrian zucchini fritters and fried zucchini blossoms)

Pasta con crema di zucchine ((Pasta tossed in a zucchini sauce (my award winning recipe at the Zucchini Festival in 1983)

Involtini di Zucchine (Zucchini rolls filled with ricotta and baked with tomato sauce)

Zucchine con la Menta (Zucchini marinated with oil, vinegar, mint and garlic)

Torta di zucchine al cioccolato (Zucchini flourless chocolate cake)