Chocolate and zucchini. In my life I doubt if I have heard of two ingredients less suited to go together. Perhaps at one point, chocolate and red wine...but I am beginning to revise that one these days as well.

Up until a few weeks ago you could not have convinced me that a cake could be made with two cups of shredded zucchini and not taste like either an old shoe or something that one might find at a health food store (on the back shelf, with the hemp bags full of lactose-, carb-, sugar-, calorie- and taste-free granola). Don't get me wrong -- I like "health food" (not that you could tell that from reading this blog) -- I just don't like eating tofu cake with kale icing..you get the picture.

So when I first read Clotilde's utterly effervescent food blog with those two words -- nay, ingredients -- intertwined as the title I was speechless. And, to be perfectly honest, a little taken aback. I left, not to return for a few days. Upon returning I could not help but succumb to her writing. Her wit and commentary grew on me and won me over...and I read all about her love affair with chocolate (which I understood!) and zucchini (which I somewhat hesitantly, after a bit of time, managed to at least comprehend).

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I had, in my possession, one of the biggest, loveliest zucchini's, ripened to perfection, sitting in my fridge. S. had filched it from his mother's garden while we were house sitting for them during their trip to Jordan...what ever was I going to do with it? I looked up a few recipes. Zucchini fritters. Zucchini bread. Zucchini stir fry. Hmmm. Nothing seemed to grab hold my my stomach. Then it dawned on me: Chocolate and Zucchini. A-ha!

And why not? I like banana bread. Many people (not including myself) love carrot cake...and sweet potato pie. How bad could a cake be that had been made, primarily, from a vegetable? Well not horrible in my books, as long as it's got chocolate in it! After much debate and struggle, I decided in the end to go with Elise's scrumptious recipe (slightly different than Clotilde's) and added some Ghirardhelli double-chocolate chunks to the recipe at the last minute to appease S.'s chocolate fantiieseven more than the cocoa would.

It was delicious. Who ever would have thought that a cake chock full of zucchini could be that tasty and that moist and that...dare I say it..."decadent"...?! A Chocolate and Zucchini Cake...I think we could all take a lesson from Clotilde on this...traditional ingredients aren't the be-all and end-all of cookery...be adventurous...be daring and throw together ingredients that you'd never thought you would want to combine!

Um...of course, don't come running to me when your beef, pea and whipped cream trifle doesn't taste so good...