gad zuccs!

I dream of being pursued by giant green monsters.  Of being buried in an avalanche of heavy red orbs.  Of being lost in a dense green forest growing wildly before my very eyes...

Yes, my garden is in full flourish, and every day, when I go out back to inspect things, more and more veggies and herbs are ready to pick.  Keeping up with the produce production has become a challenge.

a single day's harvest from 4 tomato plants, two zucchini plants

and three pepper plants

The pepper plants are burgeoning with peppers, but I am leaving them to ripen.  I love chiles when they have ripened to a sweet, hot red hue, and they aren't as often available that way in the grocery store as their young, green counterparts.  The numbers and rate of growth on the two zucchini plants is downright scary.  And, as for the tomatoes...I will be making sauce like an Italian grandma all summer long.  Time for some new preparations.

I have a forest of herbs in the garden as well as the veggies.  So I decided to use some of my parsley as the greens in a salad.  By limiting it to a couple of handfuls, the flavor stays in balance with the remainder of the ingredients.

the bright green hue of the parsley is beautiful -- effectively 

washed and dried in this perfect little herb/salad spinner

I decided to make a salad using zucchini "ribbons".  The ribbons can be cut with a vegetable peeler, or on a little mandolin.  I didn't peel the zucchini, wanting the dark green contrast to the white of the flesh, but I did discard the outermost slices, which were mostly skin.

this handy little gadget cuts perfect, and perfectly thin slices

of a variety of foods

Once the ribbons were cut, and the seedy core of the zucchini discarded, I placed them in a colander, and coated them with a couple of teaspoons of salt to draw out some of the considerable moisture.  After half an hour, I rinsed away as much of the salt as possible, and dried them on a pile of paper towels.  This salting process had an unexpected benefit.  It lent an impossibly silky texture to the ribbons, giving them the mouthfeel of a tender, well-cooked pasta, and a silken texture that made draping them about the plate a breeze.

For a salad dressing, I combined lemon juice and olive oil, along with a small dab of mustard, salt and pepper, and emulsified it in my little blender.  The only thing left to do was assemble the salad.  I cut a couple of those gorgeous tomatoes into little wedges, and tossed together the zucchini ribbons, tomato wedges, thinly sliced hot red pepper, and parsley to create a salad that looks like the essence of summer.

a drizzle of dressing, and a near perfect salad is born

stew in the summer? really??

Yes, stew in the summer.  The only resemblance this dish has with a stew is that it is thick and rich with vegetables from the season.  Cooking time is under 30 minutes, it's a one-pot wonder that comes out perfect no matter what veggies you throw in, and it has the heat and sweet of  fabulous summer vegetables.

Two cans of light coconut milk go into a pan.  I chose to use the light version of coconut milk because it has about 70 percent fewer calories and fat than the regular stuff.  Boneless, skinless chicken (one full breast in this case) gets sliced crosswise into thin slices, and simmered in the coconut milk, just until cooked through -- about 15 minutes.  While the meat simmered, I chopped the veggies.

 in this case, I had both hot and sweet pepper, scallions, cilantro,

and two kinds of mushrooms--shitake and something called a bunapi mushroom

 The bunapi mushrooms were a new one on me.  Whole Foods had them, so I gave them a try.  Score!  When cooked, they had a smooth, silky texture and added a creamy earthiness to the dish.  When your grocer has an unusual type of mushroom, don't hesitate to give them a whirl.

I had both lemon grass and galangal root in the freezer

galanal is similar to ginger, just a bit more spicy--they can really be used interchangeably

I know I have mentioned this before, but both lemongrass and ginger (or galangal if you happen upon it) freeze perfectly.  No need to defrost.  Just run the frozen pieces across a microplane grater for lovely ginger and lemongrass snow, then toss the leftover pieces right back in the freezer.  I do remove the tough outer leaves of the lemongrass before freezing, but I never bother to peel ginger.

microplane graters--fantastic for grating ginger, lemongrass, cheese,

nutmeg, citrus zest--no kitchen should be without one (or two, or three)

When the chicken is nearly cooked through, I added the ginger and lemongrass, a pinch of five-spice powder, and a bit of salt.  In went the veggies, just to cook until crisp-tender.  I reserved the cilantro to be added after the stew was off the heat.  I used peppers, scallions, and mushrooms because that's what I had.  Other veggies to consider would be broccoli, very thinly sliced carrots, zucchinis, snow peas, snap peas, and a last minute addition of some mung bean sprouts (they are better if they stay crisp).  If I were adding broccoli or carrots, I would send them into the coconut broth a few minutes before the more delicate veggies.  Once the veggies have become tender, you are ready to serve.

I garnished with cilantro here--if I had them I might have added

a handful of bean sprouts, and perhaps a sprinkling of chopped peanuts

So stew on a hot summer day can be a delicious, simple dish to prepare, loaded with seasonal vegetables and delivering a refreshing crunch, seasonal flavor, and a short stint in front of the stove.

summer veggies

A bounty of summer vegetables is showing up here in the south, at the farmer's market, in the grocery stores, and in my garden out back.  Jim and I ate our first two beautiful Early Girl tomatoes with breakfast on  Sunday morning.  They were delicious, and put me in the mood to exploit some of the exquisitely fresh  vegetables available locally.

First order of business was to think of ways to make unusual preparations of summer vegetables.   And that made me think of soup.  People don't often think of soup in the summer, but cool, creamy soups can be an excellent way to use fresh vegetables, and a refreshingly light addition to the supper table.  I started my experimentation with a fresh corn soup served at room temperature.  When buying sweet corn, look for ears with a tight, smooth sheath of leaves that are bright green and moist.

Shucking is easiest done outside, over a sheet of newspaper that can then be wrapped around the husks and silk and tossed in the trash or the compost pile.  A simple way to remove the kernels from the cob is to split the corn crosswise in the middle, turn each section on the stable end, and run a knife down the kernels of corn.  Once all of the kernels have been removed, over a bowl, scrape the back of the knife over each cob to remove the "cream" of the corn, which is full of sweet corn flavor.

corn kernels from three ears each of fresh white and yellow corn

the "cream" from those same six cobs

My goal was to maximize the fresh corn flavor in my soup, so I pureed the "cream" in a blender, and set it aside to add at the end, uncooked.  I roughly chopped half of a sweet onion, and sauteed it in about a tablespoon of butter, just until it was translucent.

the chop needn't be precise here -- everything is going into the blender in the end

Add the corn kernels, a couple pinches of salt, and about three cups of water.  Simmer until the corn kernels are very tender, but not overcooked, about 20 minutes.  A healthy and low calorie way to make the soup creamy is the addition of some cooked rice.  One quarter cup of rice cooks up into about a cup of cooked rice.  While the corn simmered, I cooked the rice.  Once it was done, I added it to the pot.

ready for the blender

I allowed the cooked corn and rice to cool a bit, then processed it in the blender in two batches.  Processing hot food in a blender can be tricky.  The steam from the food combined with the vortex created by the blender can make food "explode" out of the container.  So, if you are going to process hot foods, be sure and leave plenty of air space in the blender.

Once the corn and onions were pureed, I pushed the liquids through a fine sieve.  The next time I make this soup, I think, instead of blending and straining it, I will put the corn through a food mill.  I think a food mill would have done a better job of creating a completely smooth soup.

Just to make the soup even a little creamier, I stirred in a couple of dollops of sour cream, along with the uncooked corn "cream".  The addition of sour cream is totally optional, but I like the tart zing that the sour cream brings to the party.  A couple of lower-calorie options would be low-fat buttermilk, or even Greek yogurt.  Topped with a bit of chopped chives and served with a thin slice of garlic toast, this summer soup was a delicious rendition of sweet corn essence.

I love the beautiful pale yellow color

lasagna!

I love a good lasagna.  I have never made one that didn't have loads of cheese, including mozzarella and creamy ricotta.  But I had some mushrooms and fresh local tomatoes that needed using, and I thought I would try a different tack.  A lasagna made with a white sauce and a creamy mushroom tomato sauce.

First things first.  The tomato sauce.  I sliced some green garlic from a local farm very finely on my hand-held mandolin, then sliced onions,cremini  mushrooms and sweet bell peppers.  Fresh thyme, oregano, and parsley rounded out the sauce flavors, along with some salt and pepper.

"green" garlic isn't really green -- it simply hasn't dried out yet --

the farmer from Red Fern farm gave me some uncured garlic --

she grows six different varieties

I sauteed the garlic, onions, peppers, and mushrooms, then added chopped, fresh, local tomatoes.   I also added some dried wild mushrooms hydrated in a bit of water, for a little interest.  I wanted some body in the sauce, so I went to the fridge for tomato paste, and didn't have any.  No worries.  I hydrated some sun-dried tomatoes in a little hot water, and ground them to a paste in a blender.  Last in the pot -- a bit of chopped thyme, oregano, and parsley from the garden.

a couple tablespoons of cream enriched the vegetable-laden sauce

I put the finished sauce in a bowl, and rinsed out the pan to make the white sauce.  No sense in making more of a mess than necessary.  A white sauce is a simple affair.  Equal parts butter and flour, cooked into a paste.  I used about four tablespoons each, and cooked them together for about five minutes.  I added salt, pepper, and some freshly grated nutmeg, then slowly added about 3 cups of milk I had heated in the microwave.  Once all of the milk was incorporated, and the sauce was smooth, I added about one and one half cups of grated Parmesan I had in the fridge.  

From there, it was simply assembly time.  I am a huge fan of Barilla's "no boil" lasagna noodles.  No pre-cooking necessary, and the baked noodles taste very similar to home-made pasta.  A layer of tomato sauce to prevent sticking in the bottom of the pan, then a layer of noodles, another layer of tomato sauce, a layer of white sauce (bechamel), noodles, tomato sauce, bechamel, noodles, sauce, bechamel.... you get the picture.  Once the casserole dish was full, I topped it off with a bit of grated mozzarella and my last bit of grated parm, covered it with foil, and baked it for about 45 minutes.

one of the things I love about lasagna -- nearly all of the kitchen

cleanup can be done while it bakes

Forty-five minutes in the oven, another twenty minutes without foil, and a ten minute rest out of the oven produces a perfectly golden dish of cheesy goodness.  You can certainly add meat, but in this case, I didn't think it was necessary.  A bowl of crisp salad, some crunchy grilled garlic bread...  Yum...

peach cobbler

The peaches here in the Carolinas are to die for at the moment.  They aren't very big, but they are packed with flavor and juice.  I think they are wonderful simply eaten out of hand, bent over the sink so all of those juices don't run down the front of my shirt.  But I do like to make a dessert for Jim on occasion, so all those gorgeous peaches made me think of a cobbler.  There are a couple of different styles of cobbler -- one style is more cake-like, made with a batter -- but I prefer a cobbler topped with a biscuit-like dough with a crunchy top.

The first order of business is peeling the peaches.  The easiest way to peel peaches is to blanch them in simmering water for half a minute or so. 

once the peaches cool, the skin slips away easily

against the edge of a knife

once the peaches are peeled, they can be cut into segments roughly the size of orange segments.  This is best done over a bowl, to catch all of the juices.

I used a mix of yellow and white peaches -- 

whatever I could find at the fruit stand already ripe that day

When it comes to fruit desserts, I am a purist.  I want the fruit to be the star.  While wandering around the internet, looking at cobbler recipes, I was appalled at the amount of sugar in most of them.  For about 4 cups of peaches, many recipes called for about a cup of sugar.  Fruit abuse, in my opinion.  I added about 3 tablespoons of sugar to my already sweet peaches.  A touch of cinnamon is traditional, but I think it muddies the fruit flavor, so I left it out.  I do, however, think that lemon really enhances the flavor of most fruits, so I added the zest and juice of a lemon.  I added a tablespoon of flour just to thicken the fruit juices a bit.

Next came the "cobble".  The "cobbler" moniker comes from the resemblance the topping has to a cobbled street.  I make my favorite biscuit dough -- flour, salt, baking powder, butter, sugar, and light cream  -- and then add a bit more cream to make a loose, sticky dough.

the "cobble" was the texture of a drop biscuit

If you are interested in making a cobbler, just find a good biscuit recipe, and increase the moisture a bit, to form a sticky dough.  Once you have dropped it over the peach mixture, sprinkle on a tablespoon or so of sugar to help crisp the top.  Bake it at 425 for about 20 minutes, or until the topping is crisp, and the peaches are bubbling at the edges.

a very easy, and scrumptious, dessert

pretty elegant-looking for a simple dessert