Bright Spring Supper

Although I do wish the weather was warmer, this extended wet spring has really done wonders for the garden. We're having trouble keeping up with our huge patch of beautiful lettuce (little gems, romaine, red leaf, butter) and arugula and now the peas have started coming in. I was getting a little tired of the typical green salad and wanted another way to tie arugula into a simple one-dish spring supper and this is what I came up with. This would be great with any combo of green spring veggies, including asparagus, peas, baby green beans, baby zucchini, etc.

Spaghetti with Spring Veggies and Breadcrumbs
½ cup breadcrumbs (store-bought or make your own)
Olive oil
2 Tbs. finely chopped parsley
Zest of 1 lemon
1 lb spaghetti (regular or whole wheat)
½ lb asparagus (about 10 stalks)
2 handfuls snap peas
4-6 cups loosely packed arugula
Juice of 1 lemon
Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes

Combine the bread crumbs in a small saucepan with a bit of olive oil. Cook and stir until golden brown and toasted. Stir toasted breadcrumbs with parsley, lemon zest and a pinch of salt. Set aside. While salted water comes to a boil, chop asparagus and peas into ½ to 1-inch pieces. Boil pasta according to package instructions.

Two minutes before pasta is al dente, add chopped veggies to pot with pasta and finish cooking. Reserve ¼ cup water. Drain but do not rinse pasta and veggies to hot pot. Add pasta cooking water, lemon juice, arugula and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Stir well until arugula is wilted.

Turn pasta into large serving dish and top with breadcrumb mixture. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.

Roasted Tomatoes

I love fresh garden tomatoes, so it was hard for me to admit that we had more fresh tomatoes than we could eat fresh (although we have definitely eaten our share of salads, bruschetta, and salsa lately). I made 2 really big pots of sauce (which I then put in the freezer), but still had tomatoes left over, including lots of romas. I decided to roast them and was not sorry when I piled a pastry crust with tons of roasted tomatoes, a few onions, and some cheddar cheese. I don't have a photo, but believe me this dish was gorgeous and delish!

Roasted Tomatoes
Slice roma tomatoes in half lengthwise, then toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and thyme. Arrange on baking sheet and bake for 45 min to 1 hour at 400 degrees.

Roasting tomatoes dries them out a bit and really deepens the flavor. They are great on pizzas and tarts, tossed in salads or on a roasted veggie sandwich. These are some recipes using roasted tomatoes that I'm thinking of trying:
Corn Fritters with Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic Aoili
White Beans with Roasted Tomatoes
Fussili Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes and "Hidden" Zucchini
Slow-Roasted Tomato Bruschetta

Glorious garden

Upon returning from a week away, MO and I were greeted with about 10 pounds of gorgeous garden tomatoes! In my opinion there is nothing more delicious than a fresh-picked garden tomato...

We also had 2 obscenely large zucchinis, about 10 cucumbers, 4 eggplants, and lots of green and purple string beans. So, needless to say, we've been eating a lot of veggies this week. We've made:

• the beautiful caprese salad pictured above


• fresh salsa with tomatoes, jalapeno, and cilantro from the garden


• Spicy Summer Pasta Sauce (with fresh garden tomatoes instead of canned)


• a Thai-style eggplant and tofu stir-fry


• Zucchini-Walnut Muffins (I'm still perfecting the recipe, but will post it soon)


• Dill Refrigerator Pickle Spears

I still have zucchini and eggplant to use up, so I'd better get cooking!

Zucchini: Part 3 (I promise this will be the last zucchini post!)

Our zucchini plant is still going strong - very strong - so it's time to make zucchini fritters again. I first discovered this recipe in Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and (after some adapting) it is my favorite way to eat zucchini.

Zucchini and Herb Fritters
adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison
Serves 4

2 pounds green zucchini (about 4 to 5 med-large), coarsely grated
2 eggs, beaten
2 scallions, including an inch of the greens, thinly sliced
1 cup dried bread crumbs (store-bought or homemade)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint (dill is also good in place of mint)
s & p
Olive oil

Lightly salt the zucchini and set it aside in a colander to drain for 30 minutes. Mix the remaining ingredients together except the oil and pepper. Rinse the squash quickly and squeeze out the excess water, then stir it into the batter. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a large skillet. When hot, drop about 1/4 cup of batter and cook over medium heat until golden on the bottom. Flip and cook the second side. Great with a variety of dipping sauces (salsa, aioli, etc) but my favorite accompaniment for these is tzaziki - check out You Eat Now for a great recipe!

Zucchini: Part 2

Are you tired of zucchini yet? Not me! For Part 2, I wanted to make something sweet. I looked at a lot of recipes and combined a few to make this delicious very chocolatey cake that was actually pretty healthy, too.

Zucchini & Chocolate Cake

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Navitas Naturals’ Raw Cacao Powder)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup yogurt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
2 cups unpeeled grated zucchini, from about 1-2 medium zucchinis
1 cup chocolate chips or dark chocolate chunks
Confectioner’s sugar

Serves 12

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch round 8 or 9-inch square pan.

In a medium bowl, combine together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a mixer (or by hand in a large mixing bowl), beat the sugar and oil until fluffy. Add the yogurt, vanilla, coffee, and eggs, and mix well.

In another large bowl, combine the zucchini, chocolate chips, and about a third of the flour mixture, making sure the zucchini strands are well coated and not clumping too much. Add remaining flour to batter. Mix until just combined (batter will be thick).

Fold the zucchini mixture into the batter, and blend with a spatula without overmixing. Pour into the prepared cake pan, and level the surface.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer onto a rack to cool for 10 minutes before removing cake from pan. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar.

Zucchini: Part 1

Now that our summer garden is underway (and I'm not so crazy busy at work), I'll be posting more. I promise.

our monster zucchini plant

Zucchini is known as that vegetable that people can't give away in the middle of the summer, but I really love zucchini and I'm looking forward to finding the best ways to use lots of the green stuff. We grilled the first 4 or 5 zucchinis of the season. Grilled zucchini is wonderful, but not very exciting and it gets old fast. So last night I made stuffed zuchini. This recipe is simple, healthy and very adaptable (nearly all ingredients can be swapped out) and I've made something like this many times as a stuffing for peppers, summer squash and winer squash, too.

Suffed Zucchini
Serves 4 as main dish

2 to 2 1/2 cups cooked rice or other grain (I like brown rice because it has a cramy texture, but I had some interesting Bhutanese red rice so that's what I used this time)
3 large zucchinis
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
1/2 cup other chopped vegetables (mushrooms, celery, peas would work)
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
3/4 hot vegetable stock
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (leave this out to make it vegan)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
s & p to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare zucchinis: Slice lengthwise and use a large spoon to scoop out center of each half. Leave walls of zucchini at least 1/3 inch thick on all sides. Chop innards of zucchini and set aside.

Heat oil over medium heat in large pot. Saute garlic and onion until soft and add other vegetables and thyme. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While vegetables are cooking, steam zucchini halves in a large pot or in microwave until tender but still firm. Place steamed halves into large baking dish.

Add cooked rice and stock to vegetables and simmer for 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Add parmesan cheese and s & p to taste. Remove from heat and stir in parsley.

Fill zucchini halves with rice stuffing mixture and sprinkle a little more parmesan cheese on top. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.

Look what we grew!

Here's MO picking our first homegrown artichoke - which was promptly steamed and served with lemon and butter for dipping. Yum! What's your favorite artichoke preparation?

Fish is easy

We just finished this fabulous home-cooked meal that was better than I've had in some really nice restaurants. Halibut is not cheap, but it is my favorite fish and well worth a splurge once in a while for a nice dinner. We had our halibut and greens from the garden with some amazing roasted potatoes that MO made following the lengthy but accurate method outlined in the latest Cooks Illustrated.

Seared fish is delicious, healthy and quick (fish itself takes less than 10 minutes from fridge to plate) and this dish is a great reminder that I should make fish more often.

Pan-Seared Halibut with Sauteed Greens

Serves 2

2 halibut fillets, 6-8 ounces each (with or without skin)
olive oil
S&P

1 bunch greens (spinach, chard, beet greens or whatever you have), cut and torn into 1-inch strips
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

First prepare greens. Saute garlic and tomatoes in olive oil until tomatoes begin to burst. Add greens and cook for 4-5 minutes. Season with S&P, cover and remove from heat.

Pat halibut fillets dry with paper towel. Season liberally with S&P on both sides. Heat oil in large sautee pan (be sure to use enough to coat bottom of pan). When oil ripples put filets in pan, skin side down. Cook for approximately 4 minutes (tip: don't move fish around in pan until well seared). Turn fish over and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, until golden brown and flaky. (I know this sounds like a short time, but it's really easy to overcook fish and halibut is so delicious and delicate when cooked perfectly, so don't overcook it).

Put half of spinach tomato mixture on each plate, and top with halibut filet. Serve with a wedge of lemon.

Tomatoes (yes, again)

I know, I know...you're probably tired of hearing about our garden tomatoes. But they're not gonna last too much longer, so here's another post on the tomato theme.

We finally got to the theater to see Julie and Julia. It's a movie all about food, blogging and Julia Child, so it's right up my alley. There were many gorgeous dishes in the movie, but there was one that I was still thinking about after leaving the theater. It was a simple bruschetta that the character Julie made but made with - you guessed it - fresh garden tomatoes and a little butter. I tossed together fresh chopped tomatoes, garden basil, a little garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper and loaded it onto thick slices of french bread that had been toasted in pan with a little melted butter. I think this is my new favorite tomato preparation. Seriously, I could eat this every day.

Cherry Tomatoes Galore!

Normally I eat all of the cherry tomatoes in our garden before they have a chance to be brought inside. This year, however, we have so many I am being forced to get creative. The odd thing is, this year, all our cherry tomatoes are an orange variety. MO insisted he bought 5 different kinds of plants, but apparently they are all the same sweet orange variety. There is one that is different - a juliet tomato plant - but that one is orange, too!

So, here are some of the ways I've used our abundance of orange cherry tomatoes:
- cherry tomato, green bean, and potato salad with basil vinaigrette (from Annie Sommerville's Fields of Greens cookbook)
- chunky cherry tomato salsa with garden green onions and cilantro
- simple cucumber and cherry tomato salad with dill and red wine vinegar
- quick cherry tomato sauce

This last one deserves a special mention because it was so delicious and beautiful. MO was the original creator of this one, but I've made it again since. It's great on pasta with some fresh Parmesan cheese and basil, or on pizza like we made:.Quick Cherry Tomato Sauce
for pizza, pasta, or whatever!

1-2 tsp. olive oil
2 pints cherry tomatoes (it's fine to leave them whole)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup water
S&P to taste
fresh herbs (basil, parsley, oregano)

Heat oil in pan, then add cherry tomatoes and garlic. Add water and bring to a simmer. Simmer over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until tomatoes are soft and broken up. Add S&P and fresh chopped herbs and remove from heat.

Is there anything better than a homegrown tomato?

The beautiful juicy yellow tomato in the photo was lovingly grown in our garden by MO. The cool-looking heirloom was from the farmers market. The one from the farmers market was very pretty (detail in photo below) , but I have to admit ours was much tastier! I made this gorgeous salad last night by simply layering tomato slices with a little bit of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fresh garden basil and s&p. Scrumptious!

Garden Eggplant

Last night I harvested our first-ever garden eggplant! I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I threw together a summery pasta sauce. I like saucy pasta dishes and this is a thick, chunky delicious sauce that is simple to make, full of healthy vegetables, and would be great on any kind of pasta.
Spicy Summer Pasta Sauce
Enough for a very saucy 1 lb. of pasta.

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 medium eggplant
1 bell pepper
1 medium onion
1 small zucchini or summer squash
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small can stewed tomatoes or tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
splash (or glug) red wine
dried red pepper flakes (to taste)
1/4 cup chopped herbs (I used Italian parsley and basil from the garden)
s&p to taste
parmesan cheese

Chop vegetables into small chunks (whatever size you prefer).
Heat oil in large saucepan and add eggplant. Saute and stir eggplant over medium-high heat until browned and soft. Add pepper, onion, zucchini and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes more.
Add tomatoes/sauce, water, wine and red pepper flakes and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
When ready to serve, season with s&p and stir in herbs.
Toss sauce with pasta and parmesan cheese and serve.

What's in the Garden this Week??? Peas!!!

This is a MO creation, inspired by the most recent issue of Vegetarian Times. It was delicious, but like most of his creations this one came out a little on the spicy side. However, if you used just a pinch of red pepper flakes this would be an absolutely amazing spring side dish. Quickly stir-frying sugar snap peas really brings out the sweetness, but you still get the fresh crsip texture. This is really easy and more of a technique than a recipe:

Quick Stir Fried Spring Peas
Wash and stem peas. Toss with a little olive oil, juice of one lemon, and a pinch each of salt and dried red pepper flakes. Heat wok or frying pan until hot. Quickly stir fry peas until bright green (they will still be crisp - not browned). Remove from heat, toss with lemon zest and serve.

I Grew My Own!

I'm thrilled to be expanding my blogosphere by partcipating in "Grow Your Own Roundup #27", which features dishes using home-grown (or foraged) ingredients. It's great to see so many recipes featuring local food - from all over the world!

Check out my recipe for Farro Salad with Green Spring Vegetables highlighted on House of Annie, the host for the Roundup this month. Thanks for the invite, Nate and Annie!

Asparagus and Peas: Take Two

Since I had a few leftover asparagus spears and a handful of peas from the garden, I tossed them with some homemade gnocchi Matt and I made a few weeks ago, along with some green garlic pesto I made (recipe below).

The pesto was very yummy, but VERY garlicky - I might try blanching the garlic greens next time). This recipe is approximately what I did.

Green Garlic Pesto
4-6 stalks of green garlic

1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 Tbs. warm water
1/4 cup graetd shredded parmesan cheese

s & p

Finely chop green garlic (green parts only), rinand rinse and pat dry. In a blender or food processor, pulse pine nuts to chop. Add green garlic and process, until bright green and smooth. With blending, drizzle in olive oil and warm water until desired consistency is reached. Pulse in reserved pine nuts and cheese. Taste and season with salt amd pepper.

Asparagus and Peas: Take One

Asparagus and peas are two of the best offerings Springtime has. We had some peas (and baby spinach) in the garden and I picked up some gorgeous asparagus at the Farmers Market and combined them with farro, my new favorite grain. Simple, delcious, and so springy...

Farro Salad with Green Spring Vegetables

1 cup farro (my new ingredient of the week)
1 cup asparagus spears, cut into 1-inch lengths
1 cup fresh peas (frozen would work, too)
large handful fresh baby spinach
1 bunch scallions, chopped
juice of one lemon
zest of half of the lemon
2 Tablespoons olive oil
s & p

Prepare farro following package instructions. 2 minutes before cooking time ends, add asparagus, peas and baby spinach. Drain all and rinse with cold water. Add remaining ingredients, stir and season with salt and pepper. Chill in refrigerator and serve at room tempature or cold. Great accompaniment to any springtime meal!

Winter Garden Bounty

Well, actually this is the way it works: MO gardens, I cook, we both eat.

This is a beautiful salad we had over the weekend - with butter lettuce, red oak lettuce, yellow & orange baby carrots, sugar snap peas, and green onions...all from the garden! It's easy to forget that it's February when we have salads like this.

The Twelve Meals of Christmas

Since I was too busy celebrating (read: "eating and drinking") over the holidays to keep the blog up-to-date, I'm a little behind. We had so many fabulous meals over the holidays, but here some memorable edibles:

Kennedy's Irish Pub and Curry House
I've blogged about this place before, but we had to bring the fam.

Homemade English Muffins (a la Fat Boy)
Nothing beats a homemade English Muffin - believe me. Process is a little complicated - helps to have a baker for a father.

Tuesday night at Portelli

We were pleasantly surprised by this Italian spot in Novato. (the Tuesday night special of 1/2 price wine helped!)

Dungeness Crab

We introduced the fam to the delicious West Coast specialty.

and my favorite eating experience of the holidays...

Locally-grown Christmas Dinner

Homemade linguini with summer garden sauce, smashed carrots and parsnips, mixed baby greens salad, and broccoli with meyer lemon. ALL vegetables grown by MO. Pretty impressive, huh? And it was delicious.

Delicious!

Yu-um! I'm not sure what was more delicious this morning - the breakfast I made or the photo I took of it with our new camera! I now have a new tool to further my obsession with food and writing and reading about it.

My first model was the breakfast I made for MO and myself on this beautiful Sunday morning: Poached Eggs over Fried Green Tomatoes and Toast. I dusted sliced green tomatoes* in cornmeal, then pan-fried them until golden brown. I messily poached some eggs (a technique that I definitely have to work on), layered them with the tomatoes on toast and topped it all with a mixture of chopped red tomatoes*, parsley*, a splash of champagne vinegar and s&p. It was delicious and fresh and we didn't even miss the rich hollandaise that would normally drown a dish like this at a restaurant.

* = from our garden!

Green Tomatoes

It's that time of the year when MO pulls out the plants in the garden. It always makes me a little sad - the last sign that summer is really truly over - but that's ok I guess because it is December, after all. Ah, the glories of living in California...

So, this year we happen to have tons and tons of green tomatoes and MO gave me the task of taking care of them, so...

First, I fried them. I've had fried green tomatoes at restaurants a few times, sometimes deep fried, sometimes with a thick cornmeal-type crust, but I think the way Dad made them when I was a kid is still the best.

Fried Green Tomatoes
- Green tomatoes
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup flour
- salt & pepper to taste
Slice tomatoes about 1/4" to 1/2" thick. Pour a small amount of milk into a shallow bowl. In another bowl, put a 1/2 cup of flour, seasoned with salt and pepper. Dip each tomato slice into milk first, then dredge in flour. Shake excess flour off of tomato slices. Cover the bottom of a large frying pan with a thin layer of vegetable oil and heat on medium-high heat. Add tomatoes and fry until browned on each side. Serve asrm as a side dish with breakfast, luch or dinner...or just as a snack. Yum.

And then, I pickled them. I love pickles (more about pickles to come), and these are some of the yummiest I can remember.