Mock Apple Crisp (Zucchini)

I see memes like these two above every year when zucchini is in season.  I don't understand them personally. I never seem to have enough.  As a kid, zucchini bread was my favorite sweet bread.  My grandmother had this mock apple pie recipe that used zucchini instead of apples that I adored.  Otherwise, I hated it.  My mother always overcooked it, and I found the mushy texture to be disgusting.  That changed while I was doing hospice care, and one of my patients taught me exactly how to cook zucchini so that it would never be mushy.  It didn't hurt that she was probably one of the best Italian cooks I have ever had the privilege of sharing a meal with.  So now I can never get enough of it.  

I'm going to give you my grandmother's mock apple crisp recipe that was popular during the great depression.  I have seen other mock apple pie recipes on the internet, but usually, they use Ritz crackers in place of the apples.  I think the zucchini version comes out better.  I have served this dish many times over the years, and as long as you cut up your zucchini so that it resembles apples, I have never had anyone think it was anything but apple crisp.

Mock Apple Crisp

6 cups of Zucchini, peeled, seeds removed, and sliced 1/4 inch thick

1/3 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

4 tbsp unbleached flour

1/2 tsp pink salt

3 tbsp lemon juice

Topping

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup old-fashioned oats

3/4 cup unbleached flour

1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

pinch of pink salt

Makes 8 servings

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter a baking pan and set aside.  In a large bowl, combine all of the filling ingredients.  Dump this into your buttered baking pan.  

In another bowl, combine all of your topping ingredients.  You can see why I love this recipe, lol.  Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour and oat mixture.  When the butter is about pea-sized, it's done.  Yes, it will have lots of the topping that looks very dry.  Be careful not to overmix it.

Bake for 40 minutes.  Cool for about 10 minutes.  Serve warm.  I used my Ninja Oven, it doesn't heat the house up like a full-sized oven.  Plus it's also an air fryer.

Vegetables are a must on a diet.  I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.

 - Jim Davis

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