Michele Anna Jordan: Zucchini dish for late summer

''It is almost winter," Lucas said to me the other morning, underscoring this strange summer.

There is that snap in the air, a chill that makes me eye my stack of firewood, as yet unreplenished, as I grab a sweater. It is unsettling that this sudden shift in the quality and texture of the air has happened before the change in light that signals the advent of fall.

Everything has been different this year, in large part because of the fires that turned the rising and setting sun red and cast an eerie dullness over a landscape that should have been bathed in the buttery light of the season.

Today as I write, the morning sky is a cool blue dome brushed with cottony white clouds. Flowers bend in a chilly breeze, and there is no suggestion of summer in the air, though surely we are in for a few more heat waves.

For now, thoughts turn to heartier foods even as summer harvest is in full swing. Here are a few ways to satisfy that hunger and use summer's abundance at the same time.

Many years ago, when Martin Courtman was at the helm of what was then the restaurant at Chateau Souverain in Geyserville, I had an unforgettable risotto. It was very simple and very good, and it wasn't long before I was duplicating it at home. Key to its successful preparation is to cook the zucchini separately and add it to the rice at the last minute, so that it retains both its texture and its flavor.

After a trip to Borneo in 1998, where I discovered delicious green peppercorns, much better than the ones I had found here, I added them to the dish. They contribute bright high notes, as the black pepper adds a deeper, darker flavor. All these years later, the dish remains one of my favorite ways to use zucchini in August and September.

Risotto with Zucchini, Peppercorns and Basil

Makes 3 to 4 servings

4 tablespoons butter

¾ pound zucchini, cut in ¼-inch dice

1 small (about 4 inches) zucchini, cut into very thin julienne

1 tablespoon crushed dried green peppercorns

2 teaspoons freshly crushed black peppercorns

-- Kosher salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1½ cups Carnaroli or Vialone Nano rice

6 to 7 cups homemade vegetable or chicken stock or water

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons minced fresh basil leaves

3 ounces teleme cheese, broken into pieces

Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium skillet set over medium heat. Add the diced zucchini and saute until just tender, about 8 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon each of the peppercorns and season with about ¾ teaspoon salt. Transfer the zucchini to a bowl and set aside. Melt a teaspoon of the remaining butter in the saute pan, add the julienned zucchini and cook quickly until just barely limp, about 2 minutes. Season with small pinches of green peppercorns, black peppercorns and salt, transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

Heat the remaining butter and the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium low heat. Add the onion and saute until soft and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 2 minutes more. Add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon until each grain turns milky white, about 2 minutes.

Keep the stock warm in a pot over low heat.

Add the stock ½ cup at a time, stirring after each addition until the liquid is nearly absorbed. Continue to add stock and stir until the rice is tender, about 18 minutes. Stir in the diced zucchini, lemon juice, remaining green and black peppercorns and 2 tablespoons of basil. Add the cheese and stir gently for 2 to 3 minutes. Taste, correct the seasoning, and remove from the heat.

Quickly reheat the julienned zucchini. Ladle the risotto into individual soup plates, top each portion with some of the julienned zucchini and some of the remaining basil. Serve immediately.

Viana LaPlace is one of my favorite food writers. This recipe is from her most recent book, "My Italian Garden" (Broadway Books, 2007). It produces entirely different results from mine, as the slowly cooked zucchini breaks down nearly entirely, becoming sweet and creamy.

Viana's Zucchini Risotto

Makes 4 servings

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ onion, minced

2 medium zucchini, preferably striato d'Italia variety, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups Arborio rice

6 cups vegetable broth or water, brought to a simmer

8 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin slivers

-- Sea salt

-- Freshly ground black pepper

½ cup freshly grated Grana Padano cheese

Heat the ¼ cup olive oil in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan over low heat. Add the onion and saute slowly until soft. Add the zucchini and garlic and briefly saute over moderate heat, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir until the rice is translucent, 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the hot broth to the rice mixture one ladleful at a time, stirring frequently The rice should cook very slowly over low heat. Wait until the liquid is absorbed before adding the next ladleful of broth. Midway during cooking, add the basil and salt and pepper to taste.

When the risotto is al dente, add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and the cheese. Turn off the heat and stir briefly to combine. Serve immediately.

Polenta is, or should be, inexpensive -- and of the changing of the seasons. In this version, the polenta is cooked in the oven and needs almost no attention at all. You might consider cooking something else at the same time -- a whole chicken, for example -- to make more efficient use of the energy.

Zucchini and Sausage with Oven Polenta

Makes 4 servings

1 cup coarse-ground polenta

-- Kosher salt

-- Black pepper in a mill

2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

½ cup (2 ounces) grated dry Jack cheese

3 to 4 Italian sausages of choice

-- Dry white wine, optional

-- Olive oil, as needed

3 to 4 small (4 to 6 inches) zucchini, cut into ¼ -inch rounds

-- Chunk of dry Jack cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the polenta into a 2-quart baking dish, season very generouslywith salt -- about 2 teaspoons -- and several turns of black pepper, add 4 cups water and stir thoroughly. Scatter the butter over the mixture.

Set the baking dish in the center of the oven's top rack and bake for 40 minutes.

Open the oven, pull out the rack, add the ½ cup of cheese and stir the polenta. Close the oven and cook the polenta for 10 minutes more. Remove from the oven, cover with a tea towel and let rest 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the sausages into a saute pan, prick them with a fork in several places and cover with either white wine or water. Set over high heat and bring the liquid to a boil. Simmer over high heat until the sausages are firm when pressed and the liquid has nearly completely evaporated. Turn the sausages now and then as they cook.

Transfer the sausages to a plate.

Return the pan to medium high heat; if there is not enough fat from the sausages, add a splash of olive oil. Add the zucchini and cook, turning frequently, until evenly browned and just barely tender. Season with salt and a very generous amount of black pepper, a tablespoon or two.

Cut the sausages into ¼-inch rounds, add them to the pan with the zucchini and toss together. Remove from the heat and set aside until the polenta is cooked.

As the cooked polenta rests, return the zucchini and sausage to high heat and cook for 2 or 3 minutes, turning frequently, until heated through.

Spoon the sausage and zucchini over the polenta and serve immediately, with the cheese and a grater passed alongside.

Michele Anna Jordan hosts "Mouthful" each Sunday at 7 p.m. on KRCB 91.1 FM. E-mail Jordan at michele@micheleannajordan.com.