Zucchini-Nut Bread

With thanks again to Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons cold butter, plus some for your pan (leave it in the fridge till you need it)
• 2 cups flour (whole wheat works great)
• 1 cup raw sugar, or regular sugar if you prefer
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• zest of one lemon or one orange
• 1 egg
• 1 small-medium zucchini (or try summer squash)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or cashews or nut of your choice.

Peel and grate the zucchini so you have about a cup of it. Preheat the oven to 350 and use some butter to grease a loaf pan (9×5).

Stir the dry ingredients together. Cut the butter into small pieces and then, using two knives, cut it into the dry ingredients.

Beat juice, zest, and egg together. Pour into the dry ingredients but only mix enough to get the dough moist – don’t beat or smooth it out. Add and mix in the zucchini and nuts.

Pour dough into loaf pan. Bake for about an hour, until the top is golden brown and you can stick in a toothpick and have it come out clean.