Anyone who has a garden knows about the pressure to eat up the zucchini you’ve planted. You hate to see it go to waste. But the advantage to growing your own is that you can harvest the zucchini while they are still very young and have a more intense flavor (and you can use the male blossoms, too). So here’s one more delicious way of appreciating this prolific vegetable. You can leave out the prosciutto and peppers if you like, but they do add considerable zest.

Ingredients

　　Salt

　　1 egg

　　3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

　　1 scallion, finely chopped

　　A few chopped fresh parsley and/or basil leaves

　　1 slice prosciutto, torn into small pieces (optional)

　　2 slim strips red or orange bell pepper, cut into small dice (optional)

　　Light olive oil

　　Garnish (optional): 3 or 4 squash blossoms

　　Spread out the grated zucchini on a towel, and sprinkle salt generously over it. After 5 minutes or so, pat dry to extract some of the juice. Beat the egg lightly in a bowl, and add the grated zucchini, the flour, scallion, and herbs, and the optional prosciutto and pepper pieces. Heat enough oil in a medium skillet to film it generously, and when it’s hot, gather half the zucchini batter in your hand and plop it into the pan, flattening it slightly with a spatula. Do the same to make a second pancake, and cook them over medium heat. When the pancakes are brown on the bottom, turn and brown the other side. Remove them to a warm plate. If you have a few squash blossoms, fry them in a little butter in the same pan, flattening them with a spatula they’ll be done in a few seconds. Toss them on top of the pancakes.

　　The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. Copyright © 2009 by Judith Jones. Published by Knopf. All Rights Reserved.Judith Jones is senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She is the author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food and the coauthor with Evan Jones (her late husband) of three books: The Book of Bread; Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!; and The Book of New New England Cookery. She also collaborated with Angus Cameron on The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook, and has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in New York City and Vermont.