Category Archives: Veggies

GOLDEN ZUCCHINI: A TASTE OF YELLOW

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It is almost impossible to find a person whose life has not been touched by cancer. Whether friends, family members or co-workers, we all know someone who either battled this disease and hopefully beat it, or sadly, someone whose life was cut short by it.

A Taste of Yellow is a food blogging event that started through the initiative of Barbara from “Winos and Foodies”, who is herself a cancer survivor. You can read her touching tribute here.  She launched this event in support of  The Lance Armstrong Foundation, an organization with the goal of increasing cancer awareness in society.

Food bloggers participate by sharing their stories and a recipe with a yellow ingredient; Barbara assembles all the links and publishes them in her website. This year the event was postponed until October 2nd, to fall on the 10th anniversary of Lance Armstrong’s cancer diagnosis (LiveStrong Day). As everyone knows, he not only won that medical battle, but went on to win the Tour de France seven times! And after taking some time off from competing he went back at it this year and finished in third place.   Of course, he did run a few marathons while away from the “Tour”…   Talk about an inspirational story!

This is my first time in “A Taste of Yellow”. I chose yellow zucchini to convey the “LiveStrong” message.

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Even though yellow is often associated with lemons, a nice golden zucchini also says yellow in all its glory… This past week our farmer’s market had such beautiful golden zucchini for sale that I had to bring some home with me!

I went with a mix and match of recipes, joining the method from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and my favorite yogurt sauce from Mediterranean Fresh.  I tweaked the yogurt sauce ever so slightly.  Both cookbooks are amazing, by the way…

ZUCCHINI DUO WITH YOGURT SAUCE

(receita em portugues na proxima pagina)

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for the veggies:
2 golden zucchini
1 green zucchini
1 T olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper

for the sauce:
1/2 cup Greek style yogurt
1 T olive oil
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 T fresh mint leaves, minced
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt to taste

Remove both ends of the zucchini; slice them in half crosswise, then lengthwise in 1/3 inch-thick slices. Cut each slice again, into sticks, also 1/3 inch thick, as shown in photo. Sprinkle the slices with salt and place them in a colander for 20-30 minutes. Rinse well and drain, pat dry.

Prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients. If using regular yogurt, then drain it for a couple of hours, because you need thick yogurt for this recipe.

Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan, and add the zucchini sticks when its very hot. Cook them undisturbed for a couple of minutes to get the pieces lightly browned, then move them around, cooking for a total of 5 minutes.

Transfer the zucchini to a bowl and spoon some of the sauce over it when serving. Garnish with fresh mint, if you like.

ENJOY!

To print the recipe, click here.

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Beautiful Cabbage

Posted in Salads, Veggies by

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Don’t tell me you are a cabbage-hater!

I would not hold it against you, because cabbage has a bad reputation:   poor thing, it’s totally unjustified.  A plump, red cabbage is a thing of beauty!  I admit that  members of the Cruciferae family tend to emit a nasty smell as they cook,  but this recipe will not offend your senses.  I’m talking about raw cabbage, in a sweet and sour concoction that will amaze your taste buds. I promise. Give this recipe a try, cabbage-hater, and don’t be ashamed of changing teams  😉

SWEET CABBAGE SLAW
(adapted from Bon Appetit, June 2008)

3 T sugar
3 T rice vinegar
1 small serrano pepper, thinly sliced
3 cups red cabbage, thinly sliced (see my comments)
2 cups Napa cabbage, thinly sliced
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 T orange zest
chopped cilantro leaves, to taste
salt and pepper to taste
fresh lemon juice (optional)

Stir sugar and vinegar in a small saucepan over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves, no need to boil it. Remove it from the heat, add ginger and serrano pepper and mix.

Place both types of cabbage in a large bowl, add the orange zest and cilantro, mix to combine, add the reserved dressing and toss to coat the cabbage. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If it seems too sweet, add some fresh lemon juice.

Let it sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature, tossing it a few times to distribute the dressing.  You can also put it in the fridge for several hours, but bring to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy!

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AVOCADO THREE WAYS

Posted in General, Side dishes, Veggies by

This post is a courtesy of my husband…

I think you will all agree that he is a natural-blogger! 😉


We have little time to cook, but we’re always seeking something wonderful. Avocados meet us in the middle. Especially the rich, creamy Hass and Calavo avocados, from California and Mexico. Here are three quick and easy ways to enjoy them!

AvocadoAppetizer

1.  Avocado Appetizer. Hungry for something delicious and healthy? My aunt Millie showed me this one.  If the avocado’s just right, then it’s hard to top.

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Acquire a perfectly ripe avocado.  How can you tell?  Squeeze the avocado…it should be very firm but not hard, soft enough so that it yields to moderate pressure. Knock out the stem-plug and look for a green (not brown!) core.

Slice the avocado in half,
douse it with lemon juice,
sprinkle it with salt and pepper,
enjoy the solar energy!

2. Green Caprese Salad.

This is my Americanized  rip-off of the continental classic.

Assemble the following (fresh) ingredients:
tomatoes,
mozarella
avocados
basil
1/4 cup olive oil
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Cut the the tomatoes, cheese and avocados into slices or chunks; shred or chiffonade the basil and let it sit in the oil for 5 or 10 minutes.

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Assemble the components on a salad plate and drizzle-spread the basil-oil mixture over them, using a fork to help distribute the basil.  Season with salt and pepper, VOILA!

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3.  Gabriel’s Guacamole. Once while returning, exhausted, from a day of skiing at Los Alamos, we stumbled into Gabriel’s restaurant north of Santa Fe, and encountered the best guacamole we’ve ever tasted.  And the beautiful thing was that our waiter prepared it right in front of us, at our table.  I couldn’t help but remember the EIGHT components, that he added according to our specifications:

Guacamole2_optgreen onions
garlic
lemon juice
cilantro
serrano peppers
salt
tomatoes
avocados

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It’s a little time consuming to prepare all the ingredients, but worth the effort.  Note that I’ve pressed a garlic clove into a couple of tablespoons of  olive oil: use just the oil for a milder garlic flavor, or throw it all in for garlic lovers.  We also discovered, on a day when the avocados ran short, that the other components together make an outstanding fresh salsa!

now for the fun part….

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Summertime gratin

Posted in Veggies by

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The week is not complete unless I visit the farmers market on Saturday.  My favorite vendors are now used to seeing me early, in my running outfit.   Indeed, “as early as possible” is the only way to exercise this time of the year, but, the farmers market is my first priority:  how else would I get the best possible zucchini? Or ANY eight-ball zucchini, or the cinnamon rolls?  All those disappear quickly.  At the farmers’ market  the early bird definitely gets the worm (no need to remind me that only the late mouse grabs the cheese…)  😉

I usually buy  more than I should, anything that looks great goes into my bag,  as part of the fun is getting home and deciding what to make with the beauties.  Last week both the golden and magda zucchini were spectacular.   I considered many different options, but settled on an “oldie but goodie” from Fine Cooking magazine, June 1999.  I remember making it for the first time just after the issue arrived in the mail (hard to believe it’s been 10 years!). You can use any summer squash in the recipe, Japanese eggplant also works quite well.

(receita em portugues na pagina seguinte)

ZUCCHINI AND SUMMER SQUASH GRATIN
(recipe adapted from Fine Cooking, originally written by Susie Middleton)

For caramelized onions:
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
salt to taste
For gratin:
1 + 1/4 lb ripe tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 small zucchini cut into 1/4 inch slices on the bias
2 small golden zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices on the bias
3 T olive oil
1/4 cup fresh thyme leaves (I used lemon thyme from our garden)
1 tsp coarse salt
1/2 cup grated cheese (I used a Mexican fresh cheese)
freshly ground black pepper to taste
lemon juice

First, caramelize the onions: heat olive oil in a skillet, add the onions, salt, and saute’, stirring often, until golden. Don’t let it burn: use medium-heat and pay attention to it.  The difference between caramelized and burned is small in time, but huge in taste. You can do this step in advance, as it will take you at least 20 minutes (see my comments after the jump).

Heat the oven to 375F. Put the tomato slices to drain if they are too juicy, discard the juices. In a small bowl, toss the zucchini with 1.5T olive oil, some of the thyme, salt, and black pepper. Layer  the cold caramelized onions inside a gratin dish.  Now distribute the tomato slices and two colors of zucchini on top, sprinkling some cheese and thyme as you go (see my photo after the jump).  Arrange all the slices until the dish is full.  Season the ingredients with salt and pepper, add cheese on top, the remaining thyme, and drizzle the dish with 1.5T olive oil and a little lemon juice.  Cook uncovered until well-browned, with the juices well reduced. It will take between 50 and 60 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Bon Appetit!

LEMONY ASPARAGUS

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asparagus

By the time Summer hits with full force, there is no denying that the best of asparagus is over. For asparagus lovers such as myself this is a sad turn of events, but I still buy it whenever I see some that look tasty enough. There are so many ways to prepare asparagus, either as a side dish or incorporated in pastas, risottos, soups, savory tarts. I will share one of my favorite recipes: simplicity itself. I wish I knew where I got it from to give proper credit, but unfortunately I don’t remember. Only three ingredients (plus salt and pepper), and less than five minutes of your time. Have I convinced you to try it yet?  😉

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LEMONY ASPARAGUS

1 bunch of asparagus, not too thin, not too thick, just right
zest of 1 lemon
olive oil, best possible quality you can find
salt and pepper

In a small bowl, mix the olive oil with lemon zest and allow it to sit while you prepare the asparagus.

Cut the asparagus on a diagonal, reserving the tough ends for your veggie stock or your compost pile.  Add the asparagus pieces to slightly salted boiling water and boil for 2 minutes. Yes, only two. Trust me. Drain them in a pasta colander and run cold water from the faucet briefly over them. You just want to stop the cooking, but don’t allow them to get cold.

Add the asparagus to a serving dish, pour the olive oil/lemon zest mixture on top, toss, season with salt and pepper. Serve and wait for compliments.

Measurements for this recipe are not precise, in fact I often just eye-ball it.The amount of olive oil, for instance, I just use what it seems to be enough to lightly coat the asparagus pieces, and use enough lemon zest to make sure it will end up with a bright, nice, lemony taste. Sometimes I squeeze some lemon juice together with the olive oil, sometimes I add fresh thyme, but for the most part I keep it simple.

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It is important that the asparagus is still warm when you add it to the olive oil mixture. But you can enjoy this dish warm or at room temperature. Leftovers keep quite well, I love to have them in my bento box for lunch, with grape tomatoes, maybe some couscous or a slice of bread.

para receita em portugues, proxima pagina