Olive Oil Zucchini Bread with Orange and Cardamom

Written by: Cooks of Heraclea

Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Ingredients: 14

Loaf of olive oil zucchini bread on a white platter with fresh zucchini and a bottle of Heraclea Mature Harvest olive oil

Zucchini bread is where olive oil quietly does its best work. Half a cup of our Mature Harvest replaces the butter, yogurt keeps the crumb tender for days, and orange zest with cinnamon and cardamom takes the loaf somewhere closer to the Aegean than a diner counter. The one step that matters is squeezing the grated zucchini hard in a towel. Skip it and the loaf comes out heavy. Do it and you get a tall, moist bread with a crackly top that slices cleanly the next morning.

Ingredients:

2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup Heraclea Mature Harvest EVOO, plus more for the pan
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup thick strained yogurt
Zest of 1 orange
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Cook's note: squeeze the grated zucchini until it stops dripping. Two cups grated will shrink to about one packed cup once drained.

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Liberally grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan with olive oil.
Grate the zucchini onto a clean kitchen towel. Gather the towel around the zucchini and squeeze firmly to remove excess moisture. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, brown sugar, eggs, yogurt, orange zest, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, baking powder and baking soda until smooth.
Add the all-purpose and whole wheat flours and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
Add the drained zucchini and gently fold it into the batter until evenly distributed.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let the bread cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges, then carefully invert the loaf onto a cooling rack. Let cool further before slicing into 8 pieces.