Neighborly Vegetables

James popped over to see our neighbors new mule (Kawasaki not long-eared) and came back loaded with giant vegetables.
"You can't go over there and come back empty handed," James explained. Our neighbors are very generous and have a prolific garden in addition to pastures and freezers full of grass fed beef. Their greenhouse started the growing season off early for our neighbors at Chileno Valley Ranch, so while my squash is still a tiny dream on a large orange flower, Sally's is already gigantic and overflowing the beds.
When we have those forgotten giant marrows in our garden I generally make soup or zucchini bread -- something with shredded squash so the sometimes tough skin doesn't become a feature of our dinner. Tonight I spun that shredded idea in a slightly different direction, crisply fried zucchini mozzarella pancakes.
I shredded zucchini and a couple shallots and added in minced garlic, a minced hot pepper (also a gift from our neighbor's garden), zest of one lemon and plenty of salt and pepper. To that mixture I added shredded fresh mozzarella -- I put that in the food processor and it took on the creamy texture of ricotta -- along with 3 eggs, about 1 cup of flour, and a handful of shredded parmesan cheese. I fried dollops of that batter in olive oil until golden brown and crisp and topped James' fritters with a lettuce mint pesto I made and froze earlier in the season when our garden was overflowing.

Zucchini Season Starts Early

Our neighbors built a green house this year. Our plants are barely above ground while they are already searching for willing squash eaters. James stopped in for a visit and while driving home found a couple bright green marrows on the back seat.
Tonight I turned those early (and I must say delicious) zucchini into James' spaghetti dinner. For our simple sauce I sautéed sliced zucchini, red onion and garlic for a couple minutes and then covered the pan to let the vegetables cook down to a soft purée. I stirred in some thinly sliced salami and finished with a bit of diced mint from our garden. After a quick toss in the pot with the drained pasta, a bit of the cooking water and parmesan cheese James' greenhouse garden fresh dinner was ready to serve.

I'm Ba-ack!

I've been away for about a week and James has been home eating frozen leftovers from our dwindling "fridgeventory." I have to get a few good dinner dishes in before I have to leave again, all too soon.
With almost no ingredients in the fridge but a garden ready and waiting I managed to toss together a creamy, cheesy polenta with a savory ragout of Italian sausage, fresh green zucchini and home-grown cippolini onions.

Cooking Cooking Cooking

We've had guests for the weekend and have been so busy laughing, cooking, eating and of course washing dishes there has been no time for pictures or posts. There was polenta and sausages, kale with white beans, french toast with caramelized plums, and hot apple pie. All undocumented.
But I managed to grab a few snaps from our last family-style supper . Braised chicken with capers and parsley is an easy recipe from this month's Bon Appetit magazine. The braise kept the chicken moist and ready when our guests were. The capers and the red wine vinegar (the recipe called for white but we have loads of red) added a much needed tang.

 For a little crunch I ran out to the garden and grabbed the young tender kale leaves off our late summer plants. I cut them into thin ribbons, mixed with grated ricotta salata and topped with a shallot lemon vinaigrette. Super simple super flavorful salad. I'll be making that again.

Anxious to use up a little garden summer squash on unsuspecting guests I quickly sautéed zucchini in butter and olive oil until soft and mixed in some lemon juice and toasted pine nuts before serving.
A simple summer dinner with friends -- a great way to spend labor day weekend.

Zucchini For Dinner

Squash, squash everywhere. In the garden and in our pasta. Tonight was a super easy sauté of sliced light green and yellow zephyr and cocozelle striped zucchini with garlic, chile peppers and thin slices of Calabrese salami. I mixed the cooked squash into the drained pasta along with a handful of parmesan cheese and a splash of pasta cooking water. After a couple turns in a warm pot James had a light cheese sauce flavored with vegetables from our busy garden.

Chicken And Gone Again

A plate of home. Heavily spiced high heat roast chicken (50 minutes at 450º) stuffed with home grown whole cippolini onions, sautéed zucchini and green beans from out garden and oven baked potatoes. Nothing fancy but plenty of leftovers for a first meal after I've left. Chicago here I come.

The Garden Keeps Growing

I don't know how it happens. We walk out to the garden everyday. But every now and then I seem to miss a zucchini and before I know it I've got a bright green squash bigger than a kid's arm. No sense sautéing or babying these monster sized marrows. Giant zucchini calls for fresh loaves of sweet zucchini bread. Perfect for toast and an easy treat to keep in the freezer. Honestly I always start with a different recipe. Today I actually followed one by Bill and Cheryl Jamison willing travelers and, at least as far as this loaf goes, pretty good bakers. Mix 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 3/4 cup white sugar, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt in a bowl. The Jamisons say to sift but I just skipped ahead. Stir in 1 cup of rolled oats (a terrific addition I have never used before). Then make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in 3 eggs, 3/4 cup vegetable oil, and 2 tsp vanilla extract (all heated together before adding in) and mix your batter together lightly. Stir in 2 cups of grated zucchini (that was only half of today's monster) taking care not to over mix. This is basically a muffin recipe and too much mixing can make your bread too dense. Pour the prepared batter into a greased and floured 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and bake at 350º for about 65 minutes.
The Jamisons suggest cooling for 10 minutes in the pan and then another 10 on a rack (covered with a towel they say to prevent indentations -- poppycock!). We didn't wait that long and cut our breakfast bread into thick slices topped with creamy fresh butter.

Summer Spaghetti

I spent some of the afternoon fretting over what to do with summer squash. Our backyard harvest has been pretty small this summer so mercifully it's not a question I've had to answer too often this year. arts and quiches and stews crossed my mind but I finally settled n a light summer spaghetti. I had all the ingredients in the house. First I I spent some of the afternoon fretting over what to do with summer squash. Our backyard harvest has been pretty small this summer so mercifully it's not a question I've had to answer too often this year. Tarts and quiches and stews crossed my mind but I finally settled on a light summer spaghetti. I had all the ingredients in the house. First I roasted thin slices of yellow squash with whole unpeeled cloves of garlic, thyme sprigs, S&P and a good dousing of olive oil for about 25 minutes at 450º. When the pasta was drained I added it and the squash and a couple of those roasted cloves of garlic (peeled now) back into the cooking pot with a bit of cooking water, a knob of butter, fresh basil, S&P and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. I gave everything a good stir and served the pasta in a bowl topped with a dollop of fresh ricotta and chopped basil. A summery supper.

A Treat From An Empty Fridge

Flying back to town, leisurely reading Food And Wine magazine I happened upon a recipe from Mario Batali for zucchini and ricotta fritters. I had a couple zucchini from our garden still in the crisper drawer and I generally have a tub of ricotta -- so good for last minute appetizers. I shredded the zucchini along with garlic and a leek (the recipe ingredients included scallions -- and sheep's milk ricotta but we didn't have either). Then I mixed the shredded veggies with 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of ricotta, and about 3/4 cup of flour. The recipe called for lemon zest and I just forgot to add it but we didn't miss it. After being fried in olive oil the fritters were crisp outside and tender inside. A garden fresh dinnertime treat that I topped with a quick sauté of bacon, fresh corn and chiles tossed with fresh basil.

Stuffed Zucchini

These little round zucchini always seem like they are begging to be stuffed. Today I made a Sicilian style filling with fresh bread crumbs, currants, pine nuts, ham, salami, parmesan cheese, provolone cheese, parsley, a pinch of chili peppers, and the flesh of the squash I removed sautéed in olive oil until soft. I mixed the filling together and stuffed it into the prepared squash. I had a little extra filling so a couple of peppers found their way to the dish. Before I popped the vegetables in the oven I sautéed a thinly sliced onion until golden, deglazed the pan with a splash of white wine and finished with a knob of sweet butter. I poured the onions of over the zucchini and peppers in the baking dish and popped them in the oven for 45 minutes at 350º.

Veggie Tacos

I was checking out at Trader Joe's the other day when the cashier started to rave about their new corn tortillas. "They taste like the lady handed them to you right off the griddle," she declared. She was so effusive I dashed back to get a package and then came home to dream up a use for them. James prefers flour tortillas, but I like corn better so I needed a dinner I could easily dish up two ways. Tacos, it was time for tacos.

We've been eating a lot of meat lately -- pork and ham and sausage. So I thought a lighter, vegetarian dinner might be just the thing. I sautéed red onion in olive oil and then added in chopped garlic and sliced mushrooms. After those cooked down a bit I added in a handful of chopped grape tomatoes and several diced zucchini along with a good dose of oregano and marjoram. I covered the skillet and let the vegetables cook together for about 10 minutes until the zucchini was tender and then added in chopped cilantro and a can of drained pinto beans and seasoned again with salt and pepper. After the mixture cooked for about 3 more minutes I scooped it into warm tortillas and topped them with fresh guacamole (very simple just avocado, lime juice, salt and pepper) and feta cheese.

Light, delicious, and if you ask me . . . better with corn.

I'll be buying these tortillas again.

More Beans With Eric and Shari

It was a cold, rainy night and we started with soup.

Simple zucchini soup.

I put several coarsely chopped zucchini and a few leeks I found in the drawer into a pot, seasoned with S&P and just about covered them with chicken broth. When the liquid came up to a boil I covered the pot and allowed the vegetables to simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. I puréed the mixture (holding back some of the liquid so I could adjust the thickness) along with a good handful of fresh basil and about 1/3 as much fresh mint. Soup course done.

For the main dish I tried two different types of veggie burgers -- attempt 3 of garbanzo bean falafel burgers (same recipe as before with a little oatmeal added to the food processor as a binder, much better) and, believe it or not, flavorful tofu burgers, adapted from a recipe I found online.

Into the food processor went one drained package firm tofu, about 8 ounces chopped mushrooms, a handful of lightly roasted cashews, a handful of shelled pumpkin seeds, 1 TB of soy sauce, 1 TB of mustard, 1 tsp of cumin, a pinch of cayenne, salt, and about 1/2 cup of oatmeal. I pulsed all that together to a chunky paste, formed burgers, and baked -- along with the garbanzo bean burgers, at 350º for about 15 minutes on a side.

As both a salad garnish and a side a chopped salad of red onion, cucumber, parsley, and homegrown tomatoes tossed in a tangy tahini dressing (tahini, water, lemon juice, garlic, and salt). Bean diet with friends.

Zucchini Carbonara

A man cannot live by beans alone. And so, when James glanced wistfully towards the kitchen and asked what was for dinner I knew it was time for a change. "Spaghetti," I said cheerfully, realizing as the word came out of my mouth that we had many shapes in the pantry but no spaghetti (James' favorite). No matter, I set to work on dinner to warm his heart.

Although we are low on pasta shapes what I do have plenty of is pork -- cured pork to be specific. Pancetta, finocchiona, boar salami, Jamon Serrano, chorizo -- we're well prepared. Since I thought the salami was a little hard to eat in a sandwich I decided to use it as the basis of my quick pasta sauce. Into a pan with warmed olive oil went shreds of boar salami, 3 sliced cloves of garlic, a pinch of chili peppers, a pinch of oregano, and three small sliced zucchini. I covered the pan and let it simmer over low heat until the squash was starting to turn golden brown (about 5 minutes). I uncovered the pan and allowed the mixture to cook while the pappardelle boiled. After the pasta was drained I returned it to the cooking pot, poured in the sautéed zucchini, 1 egg beaten with a glug (maybe 1/3 cup) of cream and a good quantity of grated cheese (usually I would have used parmesan but we are still working down our party cheese so I went for the tangy sheep's milk cheese, Piedmont from Everona dairy), and about 1/2 TB of shredded fresh mint. Normally I am anti cream in carbonara but we have open cream and eggs keep longer in the fridge so a girl has to bend the rules sometimes. With a good stir the residual heat from the pasta turns the egg into a delicate creamy sauce. Carbonara with a twist.

Zucchini Pizza

I gave James a break from the diet detox with this crisp crust zucchini pizza.

I stretched the dough thin across an oiled baking sheet and covered the crust with bits of prosciutto, thin slices of mozzarella, and chopped garlic. In a separate bowl I sliced two zucchini into thin strips (avoiding the seed in the center) with a vegetable peeler, mixed in a good dose of olive oil with oregano, crushed red peppers, salt, pepper, and freshly chopped mint. I spread the tangle of zucchini across the waiting dough, drizzled on a bit of olive oil and sprinkled on a handful of shredded parmesan cheese. Twenty minutes at 500º was all it took and James' dinner was served. For now, I'm sticking with soup.

Zucchini Goat Cheese Soup and Le Bootcamp

Here's a refreshing summer recipe that wasn't in any way my idea. I try to keep it a secret --especially from myself, but I have gotten really fat. It's no secret to James who has always been thin. Last week while flipping through Bon Appetit magazine I happened on an article about an internet subscription program called Le Bootcamp, devised by French "celebrity coach" Valerie Orsoni with recipes developed by her father, chef Edward Orsoni. Chef Orsoni may not be a household name but the recipes printed with the article actually looked good, and -- even better -- seemed like things James might like too so I could think about trying the plan without facing the chore of making two separate and, worst of all, totally unequal dinners every night. I did a little investigating when I got home and decided to give the subscription plan a try.

I just finished day 6 of the week one detox -- mostly fruits vegetables and a surprising amount of yogurt. This pale green soup was my dinner recipe.

I coarsely chopped up 4 zucchini and one onion, added a pinch each of thyme and oregano (my additions) and covered everything with about 4 cups of chicken broth (my variation also) and brought the pot to a boil. I allowed the vegetables to simmer covered for about 20 minutes until very tender. I them combined the cooked vegetables with their liquid and 4 ounces of herbed goat cheese in the blender and pureed. Done.

The original recipe called for Boursin cheese. Aside from the fact that Boursin harkens back to days of giant shoulder pads, melba toast and episodes of Dynasty better off forgotten, our store doesn't carry it. I glanced at the Alouette (maybe today's version of the spreadable cheese) and finally decided that fresh goat cheese (about the same fat and calories) was a better substitute and shuttled away from the brand/name processed food section of the store. The goat cheese gave a subtle summer tang and the kind of creamy mouth feel usually reserved for recipes loaded with cream and butter. It's a genius idea I'm going to try with other soups and sauces. This soup, although maybe didn't inspire the same enthusiasm James exudes for pizza or his favorite spaghetti with clam sauce, along with a side of vegetable rice and toast my detox recipe passed muster with the big man. Might even make a return appearance for company.

Vegetarian Tacos

I know it's hard to believe but lately it has been so hot that I haven't been in the mood to cook or shop or do just about anything (except search for ice cream in the freezer). So lately I've been scratching my head trying to come up with dinners that use things we have in the house and don't need the oven. His highness has sworn off chicken again (I think Roscoe's is probably still the exception that proves the rule). The big man always stays away from lamb, and pork that isn't smoked or cured or stuffed into sausage never gets more then a fleeting glance so some days it feels like a monumental struggle to piece together a tasty dinner.

Tonight's refridge recon brought some corn on the cob, zucchini, tomato puree (from our homegrown tomatoes -- I pureed and froze it a couple weeks ago when we were leaving town), and a couple of lonley tomatillos. Presto change-o -- vegetarian tacos with fresh tomatillo salsa based on a recipe from LA's Lotteria Grill.

First I toasted the corn kernels in a bit of oil and set them aside, next into the skillet were thinly sliced onion which I let cook until soft and when just starting to brown I stirred in a little chopped garlic. Next I added the tomato purée to the onions and let them simmer for 10 minutes or so. Then I added chopped zucchini and let the mixture cook until the zucchini was soft and tender. Just before serving I added in the corn, a pinch of oregano, a little hot sauce, and black pepper and cooked through for a few minutes.

To serve -- spoon the filling into warm corn tortillas (for most people, but flour for James -- he just can't warm up to corn tortillas), top with mild cheese and a drizzle of fresh tomatillo salsa (4-5 tomatillos, jalapeño, 1 small onion, 2 cloves garlic, a handful of cilantro, juice of one lime and just enough water to make it salsa -- all whirled together in the blender).