Best of Summer Recipe Roundup

Although summer was crazy, with fewer opportunities to cook than I would like, several recipes joined our list of favorites. Summer 2010 will go down as the year we realized we like zucchini, that we can't keep up with a farm box, and that you really can't have too much baba ganoush.

Simple Steamed Zucchini
Up to now, most of our go-to zucchini recipes have involved a lot of spice. We all thought we really disliked the taste of plain zucchini. But it turns out that simply steamed zucchini is a treat! The key is avoiding those bitter one, one bite of bitter zucchini can ruin us for the whole summer, delicate squash flowers that we are. Look for smooth-skinned, straight or gently curving squash. If it has bulges down the body, that means it was watered irregularly and it's bound to be bitter. Then cut it in 1" half moons, or quarters if they are larger squash. Lightly oil your steamer pan, add the squash, sprinkle with kosher salt and crumbled oregano and steam a few minutes till done to your preference. We actually like ours slightly soft rather than perfectly al dente. The squash gets a lovely creamy texture that pleasantly surprises us each time.

Pesto Trapanese (Tomato-Almond Pesto)
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

When I saw this recipe, I was smitten with its simplicity -- wonderful summer ingredients, no cooking, and a nice change after weeks of traditional pest. Plus I am guaranteed to love anything with pecorino cheese and I had lovely roma tomatoes from our farm box that needed using and about a handful of basil that hadn't yet wilted. We gobbled it up, but to our tastes it needed something, a little contrast to the rich almonds, olive oil and cheese. I added a touch of vinegar at the end and also ground the almonds more finely. They don't break up the way pine nuts do. Here's my modified dish, no longer very traditional but it's won rave reviews.

3/4 cup toasted slivered almonds
1 large handful fresh basil leaves
2 to 3 large garlic cloves
Several sprinkles of sea salt
Several grindings of black pepper
8 ripe plum tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup grated Pecorino
1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 t red wine vinegar

1 pound linguine or spaghetti

In a small skillet, toast the garlic cloves *in their skins* until they take on light brown patches on all sides. Allow to cool, then peel. Place the basil inside a folded piece of wax paper and pound lightly with a meat tenderizer.

Grind the almonds in a food processor until they are somewhere between a grain of shortgrain brown rice and good-sized breadcrumbs. Add the basil, peeled garlic and a few pinches of sea salt into the food processor and chop. Add the tomatoes, cheese and olive oil and whirl briefly. Season with freshly ground black pepper and the vinegar.

Cook the linguine until it is al dente. Reserve one cup of pasta cooking water and drain the rest. Immediately toss the hot linguine with the pesto and mix quickly so that it drinks the sauce up a bit, adding more pasta water if needed. Serve with freshly grated pecorino and a glass of wine.

Israeli-style Baba Ganoush

Pierce the skin and roast one globe eggplant till it is very soft, either in a 500 degree oven or over a grill. This can take as long as one hour, but it is totally passive, you can do it while you're eating dinner and the rest of the recipe comes together in minutes.

Make a deep slit in the flower end of the eggpant and allow it to drain in a colander in the sink for ~10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a small cast-iron or other heavy pan over medium-high heat. Toast 2 unpeeled garlic cloves until the skin is browned on all sides. Cool and peel.

Scoop the eggplant flesh away from the skin, removing any large seed clusters and place it in the bowl of a food processor. Add the garlic cloves, 1/2 t salt, 1 T lemon juice, and 2 T mayonnaise. Whirl it till it's smooth, maybe 4-5 long pulses. Adjust the balance of lemon and mayonnaise until you are satisfied, then enjoy garnished with chopped parsley and a drizzle of flavorful olive oil, or keep on hand for a quick snack when you are too ravenous to cook dinner. Better yet, make something for dinner like lamb burgers or garbanzo patties and serve the baba ganoush alongside in a whole wheat pita.

Ravioli with Corn, Spinach and Pancetta

This recipe is based on a recipe from one of my favorite, food blogs, Dinner: A Love Story. I've been happy with every recipe I've cooked from this blog (and their Time for Dinner cookbook is fantastic), but that doesn't mean I don't fiddle a bit, and here are the results, a perfectly easy after-work meal that takes very little prep. Even MZ liked it, once she could be convinced to try everything on one fork full instead of plucking out various ingredients with her fingers. This recipe handily serves 4 people.

1 lb. fresh cheese ravioli or 1/2 bag dried cheese ravioli*(TJs)
1/2 T olive oil
1 package diced pancetta (TJs)
1/2 large onion, diced
Freshly shucked corn from 2 ears or 5 oz (1/2 bag) frozen white corn
4 cups fresh spinach, leaves roughly chopped
1/2 cup finely grated parmigiano cheese
1 cup low sodium chicken broth

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add olive oil and pancetta to the pan, stir and go change out of your work clothes. Then dice the onion and shuck the corn, if using fresh.

Generously salt the boiling water. Add the ravioli and cook for 15-16 minutes till a little more firm than al dente. If using frozen corn, add it to the water, stir, cook for 1 minute and add the spinach. Stir and drain into a colander with a mesh strainer.

Meanwhile, when the pancetta is crisp, remove it from the pan and discard all but 1 T of the oil/fat. Saute the onion. Add the drained ravioli mixture and the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Stir in 1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano cheese and a generous grinding of black pepper. Serve with additional cheese.

*These are a matter of personal taste. I prefer fresh but I do think these little raviolis have a flavor all their own, their size is nice here and they couldn't be more convenient, although keep in mind they take almost 20 minutes to cook.

Farfalle with Sugar Snap Peas, Spring Onions & Ricotta

It's been so crazy with work and life events that we've fallen off the weekly meal plan. However there have been some very good dinners and this one was so good and so easy it begs to be recorded.

I had skim milk ricotta, a bag of sugar snap peas and spring onions from my farm box and some leftover roast chicken breasts from GFC. I had Marlena Speiler's article full of pasta recipes from the Chronicle food section. This came together in under 20 minutes and was very tasty!

• 12 to 14 ounces Barilla whole wheat rotini pasta*
• 2 cups sugar snap peas, halved crosswise on the diagonal
• 3 spring onions, halved and very thinly sliced
• 1 stem green garlic, white and lightest green part only, halved and very thinly sliced
• 2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 7 ounces part skim milk ricotta cheese
• Shredded meat from 1.5 roast chicken breasts
• Salt and liberal grindings of freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano, plus more to pass at table

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to package instructions. With about 2 minuts to go, add the peas to the water and continue cooking until the peas are bright green and tender and the pasta just al dente. Set aside a cup of the cooking water and then drain the pasta and peas.

Return the pasta and peas to the still hot pan and toss first with the green onions and olive oil, then the ricotta, salt and pepper. Add pasta water as necessary to moisten. Lightly stir in the chicken and grated cheese. Serve right away.

True to her recommendation, this went fabulously with dry rose. Even MZ enjoyed it!

* This is our favorite w/w pasta, it has great pasta flavor and texture, it's never gummy or tough.

Dinners Week of 04/05 - Passover!

With Passover and MZ's Spring Break, this week was weird. We sent MZ to Mana & Papa's so we could front-load the week. It was like the pre-MZ days, staggering in at 9 pm to take-out Chinese food. And then three nights of serious cooking.

o Sunday: Thai food out with Friends

o Monday: Chinese take out won ton soup

o Tuesday: Turkey Fajitas
So easy, so good: Sauteed 2 red peppers, added 2 red onions, then sliced turkey cutlets, Penzey's SW seasoning, juice of one lime, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, on the table in 30 minutes.

o Wednesday: First Night Seder with Friends

o Thursday: Second Night Seder at Emanu-el

o Friday: My Special Passover Lambshanks + Brown Rice + Steamed Broccoli

o Saturday: Big Family Seder at Our House

o Sunday: Easter Dinner at Mana & Papa's

Passover Matzoh Balls
My recipe for easy, foolproof and completely delicious matzoh balls:
1 package Manischewitz matzo ball mix
2 T schmaltz
1 T finely chopped green garlic
1 T finely chopped chervil
1 pot-sized piece parchment paper

Prepare matzoh balls according to directions on box, substituing schmaltz for vegetable oil, and adding herbs. Refrigerate 1 hour before shaping into small balls slightly smaller than a golf ball. Do not be afraid to handle them, really shape them into tight balls. Bring water to a boil (do not salt!) and add matzoh balls as fast as possible. Cover pot with parchment paper, cover quickly with lid. Turn down heat and follow package instructions. Taste, if they're ready, remove them from the water as fast as possible or they'll start to sink. Enjoy with homemade chicken soup!

Prepare matzoh balls according to recipe

Dinners Week of 03/08

o Sunday: Pumpkin-Tomato-Lentil-Merguez Soup + W/w Toast + Green Salad
Lots of house projects, dinner from the freezer

o Monday: Turkey Burgers with BBQ Seasoning on W/w Buns + Roasted Cauliflower + Green Salad

o Tuesday: Mana's Tortilla Casserole + Steamed Asparagus

o Wednesday: Lemongrass Marinated Grilled Pork Bun
Marinated the meat in the a.m., came home and shredded lettuce, carrots, cukes and green onions, cooked some rice noodles and made a dressing from some nuoc cham. A speedy, delicious dinner

o Thursday: Hangar Steak + Mashed Potatoes + Steamed Artichokes
Bubbe made a delicious dinner!

o Friday: Out at Friends' House

o Saturday: Out at Restaurant

A Matter of Convenience

So many recipes to catch up on: there was a fabulous shrimp scampi pasta, a carnivore's take on Greens' Zuni stew (add pork), and the return to turkey burgers, this time vaguely South Asian/mid-East-style with Hamati bread, sweet and sour carrot sauce, a very tasty yogurt sauce, and thinly sliced cucumbers from our *new* CSA box.

Our major challenge lately has been getting food on the table quickly. I'm working more and we're inevitably rushing. We try not to rely on take-out and I'm constantly trying to redirect my brain from involved Cook's Illustrated dinners to quick, tasty sustenance.

The latest discovery is Trader Joe's pre-cooked rice. I wouldn't dream of heating it in the plastic pouch with all the phthalate hoopla these days. But a little diced onion, sliced mushrooms and water with the jasmine rice/quinoa/flax seed blend made for a great 7-minute pilaf on Saturday night -- a great product to have around for a quick side, and it went well with the more time-consuming roasted baby artichokes I inherited from my sister's fridge before she left on vacation.

I've also recently discovered the Asian American Food Company, source of delicious and convenient Chinese dumplings. In a little storefront on Noriega, they make the dumplings in the back room and sell them out of enormous freezers in front. The owner is incredibly nice and his website details the cooking instructions for all his products. We've had the boiled dumplings for breakfast with some fresh fruit, and for dinner with a stir-fried vegetable. Tonight I'm making a quick soup of their Shanghai wontons, some defrosted chicken stock and leftover sauteed pea shoots. If you open my freezer, you'll find bags of chicken and chive, pork and napa cabbage and lamb dumplings, as well as xiao long bao and a tryer pack of pork and cabbage potstickers. Delicious!

Lamb Kebabs & Gumbo (sort of)

Monday was lamb kebabs made of ground lamb, scallions, matzo meal, an egg and a bunch of a Persian 7-spice mix I'm trying to use up. We have tons of crudite left over from MZ's birthday (of course we didn't run out of anything) so I made a Greek salad and a cucumber-yogurt sauce to go with the kebabs in w/w pita. It was a really good dinner, and very on the fly. MZ ate everything, so worth repeating.

Still trying to work through the crudite, tonight I made a sort of gumbo. I saw this recipe and thought of the turkey andouille sausage in my fridge, then realized that real gumbo has celery and bell pepper, which would address a few other lurkers, too. So I made up this combined Cook's Illustrated-Quick Cook never-the-twain shall-meet recipe that saved me from the insanity of a 1-hr roux or the disappointment of a pallid imitation. And served it over brown rice, completely separating this stew from its roots. Although MZ tasted not a bit (after devouring a spicy hot tamale pie last night), we liked it, I'll make it again.

Not Quick but Not Altogether Traditional Shrimp & Sausage Gumbo
1 lb. turkey andouille sausage
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup flour
2 red onions, diced small
1 celery rib, diced small
1 medium red bell pepper, diced small
6 cloves garlic, minced
2.5 t Penzey's Cajun spice mix
2 bay leaves
1 bottle clam juice
1 quart low sodium chix broth
10 oz frozen okra
3/4 lb. cooked bay shrimp
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions

Assuming this is a raw rather than smoked version of "Andouille", brown the sausage in 1 T vegetable oil in a dutch oven. Remove to a collander lined with paper towels to drain.

This part is straight out of Cook's Illustrated -- it's fussy, but amazing chemistry and really doesn't take that long to get the desired result: In the same pan, heat the oil to 200 degrees. Lightly spread the flour over the oil, and stir to combine. Turn heat to medium and stir constantly until the roux turns a copper penny shade. The flour will thin considerably (thus the need for something in the end to thicken the stew, according to CI). Add the onions, celery and red pepper and stir to combine. The mixture will seem a bit gluey but wonderfully fragrant. Stir frequently as the vegetables soften, ~8 minutes. Add the seasoning and garlic and stir.

Slowly add the clam juice in a steady stream, stirring constantly. Now add the chicken stock. When the mixture is full combined, add the okra*. Bring to a boil, add the bay leaves and turn to a simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the reserved sausage and simmer another 30 minutes to allow the flavors to develop. Adjust seasonings and add the shrimp. Stir, simmer for 5 minutes and serve over rice, garnished with thinly sliced scallions.

Easily serves 6-8 people.

* This is where I should have added a 28 oz can of drained diced tomatoes, but MZ woke up and I lost track. I would do this next time, if only to increase the vegetable content of this one-dish dinner.

Petrale Sole again, with Indian Spices

Petrale sole is cheap and good right now. Halibut? $17.99/lb. Wild King Salmon? $19.99/lb. Sustainably fished Chilean Seabass? A whopping $24.99/lb. But fresh, wild Petrale sole is a mere $12.99/lb. And it is much tastier, in my opinion, than tilapia, The Other Cheap White Fish.

So we had it again tonight, this time I added 2 t. of curry poweder to the dredging mix of matzo meal and flour. Unable to look at any more potatoes or rice, I made whole wheat orzo, then McGiver'd a bechamel out of the dredging flour and the reserved pasta water, in the pan in which I'd cooked the fish. It came out surprisingly well!

The veg was charred cauliflower with chiles, onions, cumin, coriander and turmeric, finished with some yogurt and lime juice. Wow, I actually found hot serrano chiles, this was no dish for MZ. Good thing she likes salad now, her veg was the juice from chewed dressed lettuce (she spits out the mangled leaves), as well as tomatoes, cukes and shredded carrots from the salad.

Turkey Cutlets with Thyme-Riesling Sauce

I always forget how easy turkey cutlets are, and how tasty when prepared as directed in Cook's Illustrated The Quick Recipe. I riffed on the Hard Cider-Thyme sauce based on what was open and needed using. Sauce was made with a cup of slightly off-dry riesling and finished with a small amount of cream. Served with shredded Brussels sprouts braised with shallots and with mashed potatoes. Very good, and on the table in 35 minutes.

I have lots of potatoes, a few leeks and a ham steak, so look for potato leek soup sometime very soon. I think I want to try a more rustic, not-pureed version.