Paul cooks!

Yes, he did! I was going to offer that he could do a guest post on my cooking blog, but he just told me that he's almost ready to send his book manuscript in if the preface comes in tonight, and he's all ready to start on his *next project.* So, I suppose he's not interested in blogging right now. So I'll do the honors.

This post is to try to inspire others to garden and raise chickens, because almost everything in the frittata came from our garden or chickens!

Here's how this came down: Paul is still on vacation until tomorrow, and we wanted to attend a different church on this last day. So Paul had energy and time to say, hey, after church why don't we make a frittata with zucchini and cherry tomatoes? Ooh, that sounded good. So we found a recipe for zucchini frittata in Joy of Cooking, and adapted it. Here's how he did it:

First, he sauteed one cup of thinly sliced onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a cast iron skillet, until golden brown. We added one large-ish zucchini, thinly sliced, and a small basket-full of cherry tomatoes, halved, and cooked it about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, we beat 5 eggs in a bowl with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a bit of freshly ground pepper.

Once the vegetables were finished cooking, Paul put them in a bowl to cool. Then I convinced him that even though that broth (oh, he had a Greek word to describe it....probably got it from one of our bishops who love to cook) looked very tasty, it should be drained off before adding to the eggs, so they wouldn't be runny. He saved the broth, however, so I can use it in soup.

So then he added the veggies to the egg mixture, along with 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese and about 1/4 cup combined fresh parsley and basil. He heated two tablespoons of olive oil in the skillet and then poured in the egg mixture and reduced the heat. He cooked it until the bottom was set and then put it in the broiler until it was nice and golden brown. He cut it in wedges and served it. Yum!

I sure hope it isn't next year's vacation before he cooks again!

Summer Garden Stew

Hot! Hot! Hot! It was 104 today! Yesterday it was only 86, and this is the first time this summer it's gotten anywhere close to 104. I couldn't quite think about cooking what I had planned, which was scallion crepes and bok choy from Local Flavors cookbook (which I haven't made before...hopefully I'll be able to make it sometime, as I do have plenty of bok choy in my garden!). Somehow standing over a hot griddle cooking crepes just didn't appeal.

So, I went out in my garden with colander and knife in hand. I went through and picked everything that I could. That turned out to be: one zucchini, a handful of basil, bunch of chives, 5 cherry tomatoes, 2 slightly larger tomatoes, the last of the peas, the first of the green beans, a big bunch bok choy, and one short, fat carrot.

I chopped the scallions I'd planned for the crepes and three cloves of garlic and sauteed them lightly in olive oil. Then I threw in all the other veggies, chopped if appropriate, except the basil and chives. Cooked that for a while and then added a bit of vegetable broth, not to cover, just enough to get them good and wet. I cooked them until the broth was reduced and everything was tender, then threw in the basil and chives.




I cooked a pot of pasta then served the stew over the pasta, and topped it with a dab of butter, ricotta, and parmesan.



It was delicious!

Trebol

We have a new, cool restaurant in our neighborhood! Okay, technically it's in the next neighborhood over, but just barely. We walked to Trebol, a Oaxacan restaurant, last night, on a gorgeous June evening, past the beautiful rose garden (which we stopped to browse after). We found Trebol to be a place that's more spendy than we'd like to go to frequently, but for a once-in-awhile treat, it's marvelous.

We started out with the guacamole and fresh corn tortillas. We all thought we'd died and gone to heaven. It's studded with carmelized garlic, and is just fabulous! They also bring out a plate of corn tortillas and two kinds of sauces--tamarind and serrano chile.

Paul and I both had the enchilada with spinach and mushrooms and is topped with an over-easy egg--delicious! They made a special dinner for Zac, because nothing on the menu appealed to him. They made him a black bean and cheese burrito. Hibi ordered a vegan soup but didn't like it, so they took it off the bill and brought another order of guacamole for her. She was happy! I had a tamarind margarita, and the kids both had a lavender lemonade. They had all kinds of flavors of lemonade--tamarind, mango, lavender....I can't remember them all.

We enjoyed our meal very much. But we'd really like them to offer a greater choice for vegetarians, especially vegans. The owner/chef is a former chef at Higgins, and he is following the tradition there of using only fresh, seasonal, local ingredients, which is wonderful! However, Higgins also only offers limited dishes for vegetarians. We've never brought Hibi there, so I don't know what they have for vegans.

I do hope they're able to settle into the neighborhood, and provide what this neighborhood needs. I think Trebol has great potential!

Giant Crusty and Creamy White Beans with Greens

I recently saw this book at a friend's house and I knew instantly that I had to have it. But I decided to take the prudent approach: I first got it out of the library. After it has to go back, *then* I will buy it. ;-)

Super Natural Cooking is written by a San Francisco author. And it is visually so appealing, as well as having wonderful recipes and information about the virtues of different ingredients.

Today I am taking dinner to a friend from church who is ailing. This dish seems to purr lovingly, "comfort food" to me. It came out so scrumptious! (Yes, of course I had to taste it! I had to make sure it's good, didn't I?) 1/2 pound medium or large dried white beans, cooked

3 tablespoons clarified butter or olive oil (since I wasn't cooking for a vegan, I used the butter! And I used more than 3 tablespoons...)

Fine-grain sea salt

1 onion, coarsely chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

6 or 7 big leaves chard, preferably rainbow chard, cut into wide ribbons

Freshly ground black pepper

Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for topping

Drain the beans, then heat the butter over medium-high heat in the widest skillet you've got. Add the beans to the hot pan in a single layer. Stir to coat the beans with butter, then let them sit long enough to brown on one side, about 3 or 4 minutes. The beans should be golden and a bit crunchy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside. Salt to taste, then add the onion and garlic and cook for 1 or 2 minutes, until the onion softens. Stir in the chard and cook until just beginning to wilt. Remove from the heat and season to taste with a generous dose of salt and pepper. Drizzle with a bit of top-quality extra-virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan.

I'll bring it over with a loaf of bread from Di Prima Dolci.

Garden Stir-Fry

I made a meal with vegetables completely from my garden last night! It was a simple stir-fry with peas--the edible pod kind, radishes, and broccoli rabe. I even added some fresh oregano though that doesn't seem very authentically Asian! In not too long I can add cilantro, as that's about ready to cut. I used sesame oil to stir-fry and started out by frying cubes of tofu. Then I took out the tofu and fried the veggies. Next came a couple of tablespoons of bean paste, and then 16 oz. of cooked soba noodles, then the tofu came back in. It was delicious!

What the World Eats

I found the link to this interesting photo gallery on my cousin's blog. It is an interesting look at what families eat all around the world. I found it fascinating to look at the amount of junk food compared to vegetables, processed foods compared to primary-source foods, and how much each family spends on food per week. And how much soda some families consume! Wow. I'm thinking of doing the same for our family, but I'd have to carefully document what we ate in a week to get an honest picture. Now that we don't live way out I can just run to the store that's just a mile away to pick up ice cream, or a forgotten ingredient, or whatever.

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373664,00.html

Gratin of Cherry Tomatoes with Ricotta and Basil

Cherry tomatoes are in the farmer's market now! Whoohoo! My own tomato plants are still weeks away from producing ripe, delicious tomatoes (some of which are cherry tomatoes) but they somehow have them in the market. On the upside: some of my plants have little tomatoes on them, and one has a tomato the size of a small egg!

This dish is one of my favorite summer dishes. But then I have so many favorite summer dishes! Summer is my favorite time to cook, because the ripe, flavorful vegetables of summer need so little in the way of preparation to be absolutely wonderful.

This is not veganizable. So I used the rest of the bunch of basil to make pesto for Hibi, and she ate cherry tomatoes along with ciabatta, which I served alongside the gratin to sop up the yummy juices, and pesto. She was happy! You could, I suppose, make it with a vegan ricotta, but I think you'd have to make it yourself because I know of no commercial vegan ricotta. Or just bake tomatoes with the other ingredients.




Gratin of Cherry Tomatoes with Ricotta and Basil

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds cherry tomatoes, preferably a mix of red and yellow
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup ricotta
2 eggs
2 tabelspoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 425.
Choose a shallow baking dish that is just large enough to hold the tomatoes snugly packed in a single layer. (I used a 9X13 pan.) Using 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, grease the bottom and sides of the dish. Add the tomatoes, rolling them around to coat with oil.
In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs, garlic, 5 tablespoons of the basil, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper. Sprinkle half of the mixture over the oiled tomatoes.
In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, the remaining 3 tablespoons basil and 1/2 teaspoon salt, the eggs, flour, and cream. Stir until well blended and creamy. Pour this mixture over the crumb-topped tomatoes. Sprinkle with the remaining bread crumb mixture and drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Place in the oven and bake until the cheese is slightly browned and the tomatoes have not yet burst, about 15 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature, spooned onto individual plates.

This served the three of us non-vegans with just a smidge left over, and I'll bet when I go back to the kitchen I'll find that it's gone. :-) It would, of course, serve more if it was served as a side-dish.

From The Vegetarian Table: France by Georganne Brennan