Lemon curd and blueberry tart

Happy 5 year anniversary KP and Elizabeth! Here is to another 5 years of delicious abundance and love. If the food is any indication of goodness yet to come, the homemade spreads and crackers, deviled eggs, chocolate macaroons, pink cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and flourless chocolate cake with cookie dough icing make a good prognosis!

This tart is one of my favorite summer desserts - I love lemon curd and whipped cream. The fresh blueberries are a new addition, swapped for raspberries in the original recipe. I tried making a mini-tart in a muffin tin with some of the left-overs...an experiment because I had thought about making mini tarts all together. It worked, but the crusts don't look quite as finished. See the original recipe here at Saveur.

Pickled Beets

It has been so hot lately that I only want cold things to eat. I am also thinking ahead to fall - making pierogi with pickled beets and sauerkraut a la Bedlam. Beets are $1 a bunch at the farmer's market right now, and they are gorgeous! I tried this easy refrigerator pickling recipe and they smell and taste amazing - warm cinnamon spices with apple cider vinegar. The beets/brine will stay good in the fridge for up to 6 months, and you can replenish beets as they get eaten. I suspect these would be amazing on salad greens with goat cheese and pecans. yum.

garden veggie fritters with cucumber tomato raita

this recipe was inspired by a cooking class i didn't attend and loads of zucchini and cucumbers from the garden/csa.

the fritters and raita made a very yummy combination for an impromptu mid-day get together. lucky for me, as i would have otherwise been forced to eat them all myself.

fritters:
3 zucchini (or other summer squash)
2 carrots
1/2 white onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger (or more), minced
1/4 c chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 eggs
1/4-1/3 c flour
canola oil

use a box grater to grate zucchini, carrots, onion. mix together and toss with salt. put veggies in a colander and let them drain for 30 minutes. transfer veggies to a clean kitchen towels and squeeze moisture out (i skipped this part but tried to squeeze as much liquid out as i could). in a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and stir in the flour, along with curry powder and pepper. fold in the shredded veggies, garlic, ginger and cilantro until well combined.

heat a small amount of oil in a skillet. drop 1/4 cup portions in the skillet and fry on both sides until golden brown.

raita:
1 1/2 c plain yogurt
1/2 c peeled, diced cucumber
1/2 c diced cherry (or other) tomatoes
1-2 tablespoons minced green onion (omitted cause i didn't have any)
1/4 c chopped cilantro (can add mint too)
salt and pepper to taste

mix all in a small bowl.

Zucchini ricotta galette

Zucchini and cheese - what is not to love?! I planned to make this for the TYSN potluck in p-horn today, but discovered a flood in the basement mid-recipe. Alas, I never made it to the potluck, but did have a lovely rendez-vous with the wet vac and mop for a couple of hours. I was able to return to my thoroughly sweated zucchini and a very well chilled crust though - so no harm to the galette.


This recipe is from the smitten kitchen, where she has a few recipes that involve sweating your zucchini slices. Very interesting - I had only ever done that with eggplant. I don't know that I have ever had a galette before, but this one is delicious! And better for a small dinner party with salad than a potluck anyway.

cold pink borscht

I ate a lot of borscht when I was a kid; I just didn't know it had such a fancy name. We called it "vegetable soup" and my mom and grandma pulled it out often in the dead of winter. At Grandma's house we ate it with heavy whipping cream, but my mom could never seem to remember to buy such an unhealthy condiment when she made it.
Alas, fond memories persist and to this day I can't think of a better use for a bunch of beets. I found this recipe in the New York Times Magazine last week and made it tonight for friends.

A few things if you decide to try it yourself:
1.) We don't own a kitchen scale, so either my oh-so-reliable arm scale was off on the beet measurement or 8 cups of water is WAY too much for this recipe. (Either way, the excess is in the freezer- a tasty broth for later!)
2.) I used half golden and half regular old red beets hoping for an orange-y color. Unsurprisingly (and a bit disappointingly) it's just pink.
The title links to the recipe online.

Pesto omelette and beans

An omelette is a good food choice on days when you get up a little later than you meant to and decide to have an early lunch to go with your morning coffee. Also, an omelette is a good choice for using up leftovers. This is one my sweetie made for me-- it's got tomatoes and mushrooms from the kabobs I made a few days earlier and pesto we froze from our garden last fall. He served it with a side of beans which I pretty much ask to have with every meal. These are sauteed in garlic and butter but you could use olive oil if you prefer. The beans are from our garden and are a kind of purple bean called Royal Burgundy Beans that turns green when you cook them. Their purple color makes them easy to see in the garden when you pick them and I'd grow them again next year just because they're pretty. Our favorite bean, two years in a row now is the skinny green bean in this picture. I saved the packet and wrote "Jamie's Favorite" on it so I remember to order more. They're called Tavera and they seem to stay delicious a little while longer. This is nice because as much as I'd like to I can't go out and pick beans every morning.

Smoked Trout Goo and Crackers

The other night Alex made this goo, and I made the crackers.

Goo: Mix all ingredients in the food processor.
Smoked trout (from the Smoke Haus in Duluth!)
Cream cheese (or neufchatel for less fat, eh)
Dill
Chives
Lemon juice

Crackers:
1 cup flour of your choice (I used 1/2 whole wheat bread flour and 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour, but you could use barley flour, buckwheat, whatever)
2 Tbsp. cold butter
Plenty of salt (depending on how you like it)
Flavors/Seeds you like: I used poppy seeds, sesame seeds, thyme, and garlic salt. Nutritional yeast is nice too but we were out.
Water as needed (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup)

Pre-heat oven to 400. Mix the dry ingredients in a food processor, then add the butter. When the mixture is kind of like cornmeal texture, add the water. Once you can form it into a ball, dump it out, break it into 2 or 3 smaller balls, and roll them out one at a time on a floured surface. You have to get them very thin so that they'll bake up crispy, but not so thin as they'll burn. It took me practice to start getting consistent crackers, but it's not really hard. Once you've got a ball rolled out to the right thickness, put it on a floured baking sheet, score it with a knife into cracker-sized sections, and bake for about 10 minutes.

Like kp, I've got Mark Bittman to thank for this one as well, though I've added different stuff, and it's still hard for me not to call him Bobby Bittner. (Don't ask.)

Parsley pesto

I love this blog!
Tonight I made parsley pesto, which I thought would be gross but turned out all right. Thanks for another quick and easy dinner idea, Mark Bittman (of course, I couldn't follow it exactly cuz I'm a rebel like that.)

2 c loosely packed parsley
1-2 cloves garlic
1/2 c olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
some walnuts (or pine nuts if you've got the money)
salt

I almost regretted adding the walnuts, but they do make the flavor a bit more interesting and thickened the paste to boot.
I think I'll try it with some pasta and veggies for work lunches this week.

Blueberry-cardamom smoothies

Although I suppose smoothies fall outside the realm of "dinner," these are so delicious. Thanks to the sisters Kerman for the recipe!

1/2 to 1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 to 1 cup other frozen berry (I have used cranberries and strawberries)
1 or 2 bananas
1 to 2 tablespoons flaxseed (ground is better)
1 to 2 spoonfuls unsweetened, plain soy yogurt (or dairy)
1/2 to 1 cup rice milk (almond milk would also be good)
1 tablespoon flax oil (optional)
Cardamom (1/2 teaspoon or more, depending on how much you like cardamom!)

Put everything in the blender and puree.

Daikon Potstickers

This is my go-to recipe when I'm having a friend over for dinner--these potstickers are very easy to make and fun to eat!

(Slightly modified from Didi Emmons' Vegetarian Planet version. I highly recommend this cookbook!)

For the stickers:
3 T. canola oil
2 t. minced fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups minced daikon radish
1 cup grated carrot
1/3 cup crumbled firm or extra-firm tofu (I always double this)
2 T. shoyu or tamari
Wonton/gyoza/potsticker skins

For the sauce:
3 T. shoyu
1 T. honey or sugar
2 T. water
2 t. Dijon mustard (I love mustard, so I typically add a bit more)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T. minced fresh ginger
1/2 t. or more wasabi powder
2 T. sesame oil
2 t. sesame seeds

(Whisk everything together, adding the sesame oil in last. This sauce is also great with soba noodles, on veggies, etc.)

To make the stickers:
"In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and garlic, and let them sizzle for 10 seconds or so. Quickly add the daikon, and stir constantly for 2 minutes. Then add the grated carrot. Stir constantly for 1 minute. Add the tofu and soy sauce (or shoyu/tamari) and cook for 1 minute more. Take the skillet off the heat, and let the mixture cool.

Lay 4-5 of the wonton skins on a work surface. Place a tablespoon of the filling in the center of each wrapper. Wet the rim of the skin. Fold one corner to the opposite one to form a triangle, and pinch the edges tight. On the long side of the triangle, turn the two ends up like two small dog ears (I love that she says this!)."

Then, fry 'em up. Heat the oil in a large skillet and fry the stickers for about 2 minutes per side, until they become golden brown.

Ugly food, good flavor

This doesn't look very good, but it actually was! Alex made it, so I can't list all the details. All I know is he roasted big slices of sunburst squash in the oven with olive oil and apple cider vinegar, and then finished them with herbs (oregano and basil from the garden), breadcrumbs, and parmesan cheese. You could do this on the grill too, I think.

I didn't get Megan's invitation to this blog until dinner was over and we'd put the leftovers away -- otherwise, I might have come up with a better presentation (and gotten more info from Alex). But I thought I'd share anyway, because I really don't like summer squash, and this was a preparation even I could enjoy. (Cheese makes so many things so much better...)

There was another, even less photogenic component to this dinner, and one I liked even better, but know much less about. It was a bean and barley thing Alex made in the slow cooker. It looked like brown lumpy mush, but it had delightful vinegary and sweet flavor, and the barley added a nice chewiness. If I get more info from him, I'll post it.

Migas for breakfast!

I love leisurely weekend mornings! After sipping coffee and reading for a good couple of hours, I attempted some migas with the zucchini and scallions I got yesterday at the farmer's market. This recipe is modified from the Rebar cookbook and made a sizeable breakfast for my hungry self!

1 zucchini
1 scallion, chopped
2 eggs
1 T chipotle puree
salt
olive oil
2 corn tortillas
cheese
cilantro

First I chopped the zucchini to bite size pieces, but so that each piece had several flat edges to sear. (Cut with the knife at an agle and turn the zucchini a quarter turn with each cut.) Toss the pieces with olive oil and salt while heating a dry cast iron skillet. When the skillet is hot, add the zucchini and let them sit a few minutes to sear. Toss the pan/flip the zucchini so that all the sides sear (make sure to let them sit a few minutes so they don't get mushy...this is key to their deliciousness). Yum - this is my fave way to cook zucchini, taught by my pal Kate.

Set the zucchini aside and put a little butter in the pan. Slice the corn tortillas into 1" strips and fry in the butter for a minute or so. Meanwhile whisk the two eggs with chipotle puree and some milk/cream. Add the egg mix and chopped scallion to the pan and cook until set. Stir in the zucchini and grated cheese, and some cilantro. Serve! (I had a little sour cream and left over avocado to top the whole thing, but they actually seemed unnecessary.)