Summertime Mango-slaw

Makes for a perfect barbecue side dish. Easy and delicious.  Recipe from Fat Girl Trapped In A Skinny Body (phenomenal blog name btw)


Serves 6-8 
Ingredients:

• 2 mangoes, peeled, pitted and julienned 
• 1/2 a head of green cabbage, very thinly sliced
• 1 red pepper, julienned
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• juice from two fresh limes
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil (evoo works too)
• 1 tsp fresh grated ginger (or dried if you have none fresh)
• 1 tbsp agave (or honey)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (or more if you're a cilantro freak like me)

Assembly:
Toss mangoes, cabbage, red pepper and red onion in a large bowl. Whisk lime juice, vinegar, sesame oil, salt agave, and ginger in a smaller bowl and pour over slaw. Chill in the fridge for a few hours before serving. Before serving, toss in the cilantro.

Wallnut Stuffed Eggplant

Recipe from Vegetarian Magazine

3 medium eggplants 

2 Tbs olive oil

2 medium onions, diced

1 1/2 pt grape tomatoes, halved

3/4 c walnut pieces

2 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 c bread crumbs

2/3 c crumbled feta cheese

lemon wedges, optional

1. Halve eggplants lengthwise, and scoop out flesh, leaving 1/2 inch thick edges on eggplant shells. Cut scoops into 1/2 inch pieces and set in a colander. Sprinkle eggplant pieces and inside eggplant shells with salt. Let stand 25-30 minutes.
2. Bring large pot of water to a boil, drop eggplant shells in, simmer 5-8 minutes, until barely  tender. Drain, cool, pat dry.
3. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in large skillet, saute onions 3 minutes. Add eggplant pieces, tomatoes, walnuts, cinn, oregano, and 1/4 c water. Season with salt and pepper. Cook 8 minutes, stir often. Add breadcrumbs.
4. Preheat oven to 375. Divide bread crumb eggplant mixture into shells. Sprinkle with feta. Bake 15-20 minutes, until brown.

Peeling Tomatoes

So I've discovered that peeling tomatoes isn't actually difficult.

To peel:

• bring pan of water to a boil

• using a slotted spool, dip tomatoes in, one at a time for about 5 seconds

• remove and skin peels off like magic!

  

....now what to do with your lovely skinless tomatoes?

Yellow Squash Medley (recipe from Nourishing Traditions)

Squash (skwosh, skwawsh)- member of the gourd family, relative of the cucumber (cousin) and the melon (step sister). technically a fruit. provide carotenoids and vit C, potassium, calcium, and fiber. 

1 yellow squash

1 zucchini

sea salt

1 onion, thinly sliced

3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped

1 tbsp crispy pine nuts

1 tbsp parsley

4 tbsp evoo

• peel tomatoes, use food processor to cut squash and zucchini julienne. 

• sprinkle with sea salt and let sit one hr, rinse well and squeeze dry w/ tea towel. saute onions in olive oil until golden.

• add squash, zucch, tomatoes, and saute for a few minutes  over medium heat, stir constantly. stir in pine nut and parsley.

Broccoli Salad (cole slaw)

I've been making this a lot lately. No cooking required...only a very sharp knife.

- 2 carrots, chopped thinly into cubes
- 1 broccoli head, stem sliced thinly like carrots, sprouts roughly chopped
- 1/4 c cranberries
- 1/4 c roughly chopped walnuts
- your favorite salad dressing (Cilantro ranch)

Chop everything up, dress, toss, eat...eat seconds....possibly thirds

Jamie Oliver's Best Ever French Beans

On the way home from the Jersey shore I stopped at a farmers' market. The green beans were so beautifully green; grabbed a bundle along with some plums, blue berries, cherries and peaches. Found this recipe in Jamie's Food Revolution.

1 1/4 green beans
1 1/2 grated parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic, sliced
extra virgin olive oil
juice from 1/2 a lemon
salt

Wash beans and snap off stalks. Add to saucepan of boiling water with a pinch of salt. Cook for 6 minutes. Drain in a colander, reserve water. Add evoo and garlic to saucepan, when golden brown add beans and jiggle pan around to coat beans. Add a ladleful of reserved water, cheese and lemon juice. Stir and simmer until water and cheese starts to form an oozy, sticky sauce, remove from heat and serve.

Eek! Don't fear the Leek

There are always these mammoth sized leeks at the College Park farmers' market and they always intrigue me because they look like prehistoric onions.


So I made leek risotto. Ran into a little snafu though. I thought I had vegetable broth in my kitchen but it turned out to be creamy corn & roasted red pepper soup instead. Oops... So I used 1 cup soup plus 3 cups water in place of the broth. I've also just realized how wonderful aborio rice is. It's an Italian short-grain rice which is firm, creamy, and chewy, because of its higher amylopectin starch content. Gave the risotto a wonderful crunch.


Leek Risotto with Basil Coulis:

1 1/4 cups arborio rice
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
5 leeks, thoroughly cleaned and finely chopped
3 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tbsp mustard
1 small bunch basil
2 cloves garlic, smashed
2 tbsp olive oil
juice from one lemon
salt and pepper to taste

In a large sauce pan, slowly bring the stock to a strong simmer. Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Chop the whites of the leeks, discarding the tough greens. Lightly saute the leeks in the butter until just cooked. Add the arborio rice, gently tossing frequently to coat each grain in a little butter. Cook until translucent. Add a ladleful of simmering stock to the rice, stirring to combine. Keeping adding only one ladleful of stock to the rice only after the rice has absorbed all of the previous ladles worth of stock. Stir each time to add the stock and occasionally as needed.



Between ladlefuls, place basil, garlic, mustard, olive oil, lemon juice, and 1/4 cup stock in a food processor. Process until very smooth and strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove any left over solids. Season with salt and pepper and reserve.

When the risotto is almost finished, stir in the remaining butter and remove from the heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in the mustard basil coulis.

Matt (the mushroom delivery man) brought fresh mushrooms to my door tonight so I sauted them in olive oil.

Carrot Soup

Recipe adapted from The Taste Space. I didn't have everything it called for so I just worked with what was in my kitchen. The lemon makes its nice and tangy. A good summer soup, not too heavy, very simple.

5 carrots, roughly sliced
hand full of cherry tomatoes
half an onion, chopped
1 TBS butter
1 1/2 c mushroom broth
1 tsp cumin seed
1 TBS lemon juice
1 tsp honey
1/2 soy milk

Saute onions in butter, add carrots, tomatoes, broth. Bring to boil then simmer for 30 minutes. Blend in blender or food processor. Return to pot, add cumin, lemon juice, honey, soy milk.

Quinoa and Veggies

I came up with this in the grocery store isle when I saw a carton of soup, "Cashew Carrot Ginger". You could make this with any kind of soup (squash, tomato,....), and what ever veggies happen to be in your frig. Took all of 5 minutes to throw the ingredients in the pot, 15 to cook. Perfect weekday dinner.

1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup water
1 cup Cashew Carrot Ginger Soup (Pacific Natural Foods)
1 small head of broccoli, chpped
1 carrot

Acorn Squarsh with Cranberries & Walnuts

I've made this a lot lately. It's a great fall/winter side dish or snack. Sweet and salty, crunchy and smooth, satisfies all cravings. Caramelized sugar and melted butter...can't go wrong.

acorn squash
olive oil
walnuts
cranberries
salt and pepper
brown sugar
butter

Cut the squash into fourths, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and brown sugar. Roast in 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes. In a saucepan melt 2-3 tbsp butter and cook chopped walnuts and cranberries. Spoon over squash quarters. Eat.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I made this as a first course for Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Sharon's house. This is by far my favorite thing I've cooked lately. It has the perfect blend of seasonings and fall flavors. It's slightly spicy but doesn't overpower the butternut, only amplifies its flavor. This soup would be great a big sour dough bread bowl. No pictures unfortunately--got eaten too quickly!

Ingredients:

3 pounds butternut squash (about 2 medium squash), peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon each salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
5 large whole sage leaves
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Crispy sage leaves or toasted pepitas for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

1. Combine squash, olive oil, garam masala, ginger, salt and pepper in large bowl and mix until squash is well-coated. Arrange squash in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray or lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes or until soft and tender.

2. While squash is roasting, set a large pot over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the onion, garlic and sage, and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion just turns golden, about 6 to 7 minutes. Remove the sage leaves and discard. Add the stock and roasted squash to the soup pot and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

3. Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender or food processor and return it to the pot. Stir in the cream and reheat. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve garnished with crispy sage leaves and/or toasted pepitas.

Serves 8 as a first course.

I couldn't find garam masala in the grocery store so I googled this substituted:
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp crumbled bay leaves
1/8 tsp ground cloves

If you don't have a food possessor no biggy. You could serve this soup minus the processing step for a hardier texture.