Shiitake and squash quesadillas

Ah squash, perhaps the most abundant vegetable ever.  After sighting the first one of the year I made a commitment to use this summers lengthy squash/zuchinni season as an opportunity to innovate! I want to make squash exciting!  Here's take 1........

Squash and shiitake quesadillas

1 large squash sliced

2 cups shiitakes (caps only)

1/2 onion thinly sliced

1 green pepper thinly sliced

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 cup cheddar cheese

4 flour tortillas 

Heat oil in skillet, add in shiitakes cook until shiitakes begin to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add in squash, onion, and pepper.  Cook for 5-10 minutes until vegetables are softened.  Remove vegetables from pan.

Place 1/4 cup of veggie mixture and 1/4 cup of cheese on a flat open tortilla.

Place flat tortilla in a lightly oiled skillet set to medium heat. Cook until cheese is melted, fold and them cook until crispy on each side.  

Some quesadilla tips.....

Until recently I've had bad luck with making crispy quesadillas so this time I scoured the Internet for some crispy quesadilla techniques, here's what I found. 

1. Less is more,  don't put too many goodies inside your quesadilla or it will have trouble staying together.  About a 1/4 cup of filling plus cheese for a 10 inch tortilla is ideal.

2. Less is more part deux.  Though we all love cheese too much will make your quesadilla oily and soggy.  Stick with a lighter sprinkling, just enough to bind both sides of the quesadilla together.

3. Don't use too much oil.  Lightly coat the bottom of the pan with oil.  Use just enough so that the tortilla doesn't stick. 

4. Start with a flat open tortilla, not a folded one.  This allows you to place the ingredients on the tortilla and have the cheese bind them in place without everything falling out.  After the cheese has bonded the ingredients together you can fold the tortilla and crisp both sides. 

Hope this helps everyone!  These were lessons long learned for this girl, glad I can share! 

Leek and Potato soup

I adapted this recipe from a book I recently read called The Dirty Life.  It's a wonderful true story of a New York reporter who gives up her city life to start a CSA farm in northern Pennsylvania.  The book is filled with humorous and heartfelt stories that really make you appreciate where your food comes from. I highly recommend both the book, and the soup! 

Potato and Leek soup

2 lbs potatoes finely sliced

1 bunch leeks finely sliced

1 cup Ryals farm cheddar grated

1 qt chicken or veggie stock

4 cloves garlic minced

1 tbsp butter 

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat butter in a deep pot.  When butter is melted add in leeks and garlic, sautéed on medium heat until fragrant, about 5 minutes.  Add in sliced potatoes and stock.  Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes.  

When potatoes are softened remove pot from heat.  Use an immersion blender to purée all ingredients together.  Stir in salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with cheese sprinkled on top. 

Mardi gras rice

When I first moved to the Big Easy my favorite culinary discovery was jambalaya.  "It's like Cajun fried rice!" I exclaimed.  After many attempts to make my own jambalaya, without the box,  I've created this recipe.  Not quite the traditional jambalaya that us New Orleanians are used to but delicious none the less.  

Mardis gras rice

2 green peppers diced

1 purple onion diced

4 smaller carrots diced

4 cloves garlic minced

3 creole tomatoes crushed

2 cups cooked rice

2 tbsp cooking oil

2 tsp salt

4 tbsp soy sauce

Shredded chicken (optional)

Heat cooking oil in large pan.  Once oil is hot add all the chopped veggies besides the tomatoes.  Sauté until cooked through, about 10 minutes.

It's mardi gras in a pan!

Once veggies are cooked add in crushed tomatoes and salt and let ingredients simmer together, about 5 minutes.

Add in rice, soy, and chicken if using,stir well.  Add salt to taste, and enjoy! 

Polenta pizza

When making polenta I always make a lot extra.  It's great leftover,  you can cut it and make it in to polenta fries, and most recently I discovered polenta pizza! 

5 cups cooked polenta

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 eggplants sliced

1small zucchini sliced

1/2 small red onion sliced

1 cup shredded cheese

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 tsp salt

Toss eggplant, squash, onion, cooking oil, and salt until coated.  Spread mixture evenly on to a baking sheet.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes tossing mixture occasionally. 

While mixture is cooking spread polenta out evenly in to a cast iron skillet.  If you don't have a cast iron a rimmed metal baking dish will do. 

Top polenta "crust" with the tomato sauce, followed by the roasted vegetables, and topped with the cheese. 

Cook for 15 minutes at 375 or until cheese is melted.  I like to broil it at the end to get the cheese nice and toasty but this step is optional. 

Polenta with summer sauce

I am a die hard fan of Italian food.  Pizza, pasta, bread, if it has complex carbs I love it.  The Eat Local Challenge always forces me to find healthy substitutions for  these not so healthy items.  Insert polenta with summer sauce, it's so delicious, you won't even miss the noodles! 

Summer Sauce

2 small carrots diced

1/2 onion diced

4 cloves garlic minced

4 tomatoes crushed  (to crush tomatoes run them along a box grater)

2 tsp salt

2 cups water 

1 cup red wine (optional but highly recommended!)

10-15 basil leaves 

1 tbsp pecan oil or butter 

Place oil and onions in skillet on high for about 2 minutes or until onions become fragrant.

Add in carrots and 1/2 cup of water, and a bit of the wine let this cook together stirring frequently until water is evaporated.

When water is evaporated add in garlic and another 1/2 cup water and a bit more wine cook until liquid is gone about 5 minutes.

Add in crushed tomatoes, the rest of the liquid, and salt.  Reduce heat to medium low and let the sauce simmer 10-15 minutes.

While sauce is cooking chiffonade the basil.  

Remove sauce from heat, stir in the basil and serve! 

Asiago Polenta

4 cups water

1 cup polenta

1/4 cup asiago (optional)

1/4 cup cream (optional)

Bring 4 cups of water to a rolling boil.

When water is boiling add in polenta stirring continuously until polenta no longer falls to the bottom of the pan.  This usually takes 2-3 minutes.

Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer stirring occasionally for 20-30 minutes.

When polenta has a smooth non grainy consistency stir in cream and cheese if using and cool for 5 more minutes. Add salt to taste and serve! 

This recipe is great on its own though I served grilled green tomatoes and boudin from Cleaver and Co alongside mine.  It was a great pairing! 

Moroccan meatballs with cucumber salsa

I love making exotic meals out of local ingredients and Moroccan meatballs are the perfect example of that love.

Moroccan meatballs

4 tbsp chopped mint

1 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup diced onion

2 cloves diced garlic

2 tsp salt
1 lb ground beef or pork

1 egg

Combine all ingredients in large bowl and mix with hands until combined.

Roll in to meat balls and place on greased baking sheet.

Cook at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until meat is cooked thoroughly.  I usually cut 1 in half to check for doneness.

Cucumber salsa 

1/2 onion diced

1small cucumber diced

1 small tomato diced
2 tsp chopped fresh dill

1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vinegar

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Salsa is ready to serve immediately but it's even better if it has about 30 minutes to sit and let the flavors marry.

Spoon cucumber salsa generously over meatballs.  

I served my meatballs and salsa over brown jasmine rice but it would also be great over polenta, spinach, or even on their own.  

Mambo Italiano!

I’ve been having an amazing amount of good fortune lately, so I thought I would pay the universe back by cooking all of my besties an Italian feast!  Also who doesn’t love a good theme night?  I made my dads famous Italian salad and sausage with peppers, served a top some pesto linguine.

 

 

Friends, vino, peroni, food, and Sinatra.  What more do you need!

Drawing out of a hat to decide that the next theme night will be Greek!

Chanterelle my belle

This week chanterelle mushrooms were in the box at Hollygrove.  These are super fancy mushrooms so I saved them for a belated birthday dinner with my good friend.  I now understand why these mushrooms cost a million dollars at whole foods, because they are delicious!  I added these spicy exotic beauties in to a cream sauce and slathered it on top of breaded eggplant, add in two bottles of wine and  delightful dinner we had!

I love how pretty the chanterelle mushrooms are, they are a beautiful golden color and the larger ones are shaped like flowers.

                         To make the cream sauce

                                                      2 cloves garlic finely minced

                                                                 1/4 cup butter

                                                             2 cups chanterelles

                                                                  2 pints cream

                                                                  1 tsp paprika

                                                              1 tsp white pepper

                                                              1 cup dry white wine

1. In a medium saucepan sautee garlic in butter for about 3 minutes or until butter starts to bubble.  Add in wine, cream and spices and bring to a boil.

2. meanwhile dry sautee chanterelles in a separate pan until moisture is evaporated. 

3. combine mushrooms in to sauce mixture and simmer for 30 minutes stirring frequently.  At the end it should look like this……..

 

                                                           For the eggplant

                               1 large eggplant peeled and sliced in to 1/4 inch pieces

                                                             2 eggs beaten

                                      3 cups  home made breadcrumbs (recipe below)

                                                              salt to taste

1. to bread the eggplant lightly salt, dip in egg mixture, then coat both sides with the bread crumbs.

2. Cover the bottom of a baking dish with a light coat of olive oil, place eggplant pieces in pan evenly spaced and not covering each other, drizzle olive oil on top and bake at 400 for 45 minutes flipping pieces half way through cooking.

I like to set up an eggplant assembly line that looks a little like this………

                                                        Making bread crumbs

Once I made my own bread crumbs my world was changed.  It is so easy and they taste so much better!  You can also add in whatever flavors you would like taking recipes using bread crumbs to a whole new level.  For this recipe I added in parmesan, asiago, and dried basil. 

To make bread crumbs simply dry out bread slices in the oven.  Cook for about 15 minutes at 400.  I used a baguette here but any bread will work as long as it gets nice and crunchy.  Place bread, spices, and cheese if you are using in to a food processor, pulse, and voila!

 

I served all of this over angel hair with asparagus.  The asparagus and cream sauce complimented each other quite nicely.

asparagus beans….yes

Last weekend at Hollygrove market I came across some interesting long purple bean pods.  At first thought they looked like a haunted house prop (reminder for Halloween theme party).  After further google-ing I discovered that these curious beans were in fact asparagus beans…..um, yum.  Paired with some thai basil, and some other local veggies they made a delicious Sunday dinner.

                                                      Exotic deliciousness

 

                                                   Asparagus bean stir fry

                       4 cloves garlic minced

                         1 bunch green onions  cut in to 2 inch pieces and halved

                                                           1 red pepper

                                                         3 carrots sliced

                                  1 bunch asparagus beans cut in to 1 inch pieces

                                                         2 sprigs thai basil

                                                     1 tbsp peanut or olive oil

                                                           my asian trinity

The three things you need to make any delicious Asian meal, siracha (asian hot sauce), sesame oil, and Braggs liquid aminos, a healthy alternative to soy sauce http://www.bragg.com/ (seriously obsessed with these products).  These three friends have helped me make many meals and I’m sure you will love them as well.   

1. Place peanut or olive oil and veggies in wok or frying pan.  A wok works best but a frying pan will certainly do.

2. When veggies begin to sizzle add in 1/2 tbsp sesame oil, 2 tbsp braggs liquid aminos, and 1 tsp sirracha (depending on how hot you prefer)

3. cook veggies in this mixture stirring frequently until softened.

4. remove from heat and add chopped thai basil leaves and more braggs to taste (use this like you would soy sauce) mix all ingredients thoroughly and enjoy!  I topped mine with green onions and cucumbers which gave it a nice cool finish

 

The soup on the side is a simple boiled miso soup packet  with shitakes and greens added in.  Miso makes for a great soup base if you are looking for a quick and easy way to add some veggies in to your day.  I used turnip greens and it was fantastic!

Impromptu Greek Night

Nothing like a themed dinner party to liven up a Sunday night.  This one was done at random, but rest assured next Greek night will include Ouzo and outfits.  Heres how take 1 turned out……        Shrimp kabobs, watermelon feta salad, olive scalloped potatoes, and grilled okra.

 

                        Olive scalloped potatoes

                                              3-4 potatoes peeled and thinly sliced

                                   1 cup assorted green, black, and kalamata olives sliced

                                                         3 cloves garlic minced

                                                          1 tbsp fresh rosemary

                                               1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

                                                      1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

                                                           salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place a layer of sliced potatoes in the bottom of a baking dish.

2. cover layer of potatoes with 1/3 of the olive mixture, 1/3 of the garlic, and 1/3 of the feta.

3. Cover olive layer with another layer of potatoes and repeat 2 more times finishing with olives and feta on top.

4. pour chicken broth over layered potatoes and top with rosemary.  Cover with tinfoil and bake 45 minutes.  After 45 minutes uncover potatoes and broil for 5 more minutes.

5. Enjoy!  This is my all time favorite way to prepare potatoes.  If you like olives you will love these Greek style potatoes!

 

                                                                             Watermelon and feta salad

                                                      1/2 watermelon diced

                                        1/4 cup feta cheese cut in to small chunks       

                                                 1/4 cup sunflower seeds toasted

                                                                   1 tsp salt

                                                           1 can black olives

                                                       2 cups chopped spinach

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stir thoroughly, refrigerate for 30 minutes and enjoy!

 

Both of the previous recipes went great with grilled okra (if you haven’t tried this light up the charcoal and get ready) and shrimp, pepper,tomato, and mushroom skewers marinated in olive oil with basil and oregano.  Simple summer deliciousness.  OPA!!!!                

Omaha…Somewhere in middle America

A photo diary from my recent-ish trip home…. Old alley ways, green fields, and a fair amount of adult beverages.

 

And some music to go along with it all…..