Recipe: Zucchini & Herb “Pasta”

 We’re always looking for new ways of eating zucchini and try to eat as much of it as we’re able
to in the summer.  Recently a friend lent us her spiralizer and we liked it so much that we
decided to get our own (Vincenzo’s has them).

It has many uses but the best use for us is for turning a couple medium zucchinis into a very
quick and tasty pasta dinner.

Simply turn the zucchini in the spiralizer as if it were in a pencil sharpener and watch as nice
long strands of zucchini emerge that can then be quickly stir-fried and then tossed with whatever
pasta sauce or herbs you like.

Our preference right now is to make a quick pesto and add in some soft goat cheese along with
one or two sausages and the total time it takes to make is easily less than 30 minutes.  I suppose you could make this without a spiralizer but it would be a bit of work to get the zucchini cut into
noodle-like pieces. 

Zucchini & Herb “Pasta”

1-2 zucchinis, spiralized
Other veggies, like broccoli, kale, onions, pretty much anything else that sounds good
Oil
Fresh Italian herbs, mostly basil, minced
Handful of walnuts, pecans, or other heartnuts, chopped
Small chunk of hard cheese, like parmesan, grated
Soft goat cheese
Italian sausage, chopped and cooked

Make the “pasta” by shredding the zucchinis in the spiralizer.  Heat a large frying pan or wok
over medium high heat with a bit of oil.  Fry the zucchinis and any other veggies you want to
include, stirring frequently.

Toss in the minced herbs, chopped nuts, grated cheese, and cooked sausages, and cook another
minute or two. Serve while still sizzling hot.

Recipe - Tofu Báhn Mì

My first memory of a Báhn Mì comes from about 5 years ago, and it is one of amazement.  A friend in Atlanta and I were going to a concert and she brought along some Vietnamese sandwiches from a shop near her house.  

I was seriously amazed.  How did I not know this existed?  It’s like the original fusion food, from long before the invention of Korean burritos and Mexican pizzas.

It was another few years before the thought occurred to me to make my own and I have to say that too often I forget about what a wonderful meal Báhn Mì sandwiches make.  Recently I remembered them and made them for dinner and we all enjoyed just how fresh and bursting with flavour they are!

You can make these with meat, tofu, tempeh, eggs, or even just a ton of delicious veggies.  As one blog has pointed out, a good Báhn Mì is the sum of its parts, thus the important thing is to have a nice array of super fresh fillings. 

Summer is the best time for these sandwiches because veggies are at their most abundant and tastiest.  Fresh cilantro, mint, lettuce and other greens, thinly sliced carrots, radishes, and cucumbers, peppers, grilled zucchini and other veggies, there is no limit to what you can put on these guys!  For garnish a bit of mayonnaise and sriracha sauce (Vietnamese sweet hot sauce) is enough, but you can certainly add more.

The marinade for the meat or protein can be a simple mixture of soy sauce, garlic, oil, and lemon balm (if you have it growing rampantly in your yard like we do!).  

This recipe is loosely modeled on The Kitchn’s recipe for Báhn Mì with Lemongrass Tofu, but we added a half pound of bacon for some extra fun and crispiness.  Almost all the ingredients can be sourced through Bailey’s, including the tofu!  Substitute a locally made hot sauce or salsa for the sriracha to keep things really local.  

Tofu Báhn Mì Sandwich

Serves 4-6

Tofu and Marinade:

1 package firm tofu, sliced into 6-8 long slabs

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon local oil

1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

2 handfuls lemon balm, minced (or lemongrass)

1 clove garlic, minced

Veggies (this is flexible so use what you have):

1-2 carrots, julienned (sliced in matchsticks)

1-2 cucumbers, julienned

1 daikon radish, julienned

1 red onion, thinly sliced

Rice wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Cilantro

Mint

Lettuce

Jalapeño peppers, sliced

French bread or ciabatta bread

Mayonnaise

Sriracha sauce

Optional (but definitely voids the vegetarian/vegan aspect!):

Bacon!  

To make the marinated tofu, mix together the soy sauce, oil, lemon balm, and garlic, add the tofu and marinate in the fridge for an hour or more.  

Mix together the julienned veggies, add a few splashes of rice wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.  Remove long or tough stems from the cilantro and mint.

Fry the marinated tofu in a bit of oil over medium-high heat until it is golden brown on both sides.

Serve by putting all the fillings on the table, slicing open the bread, and let everyone make their own sandwich.

Recipe: Potato Mushroom Pizza

Although Spring is finally beginning there is still a month to go before the first true spring vegetables arrive.  In the meantime I find it nice to keep cooking with the year-round vegetables.  These include all the wonderful root crops that have been stored since the  fall, as well as the ones that are grown in greenhouses or are simply grown indoors year-round, like mushrooms. 
So really this pizza recipe is one that can be made all year long!  You just need some potatoes and mushrooms, along with some dried or fresh rosemary and your favourite cooking oil or butter.  The roasted potatoes become the base for the pizza, so make sure they are thick enough that while they are crispy on the outside they are creamy on the inside.

Ingredients:
1 medium potato, sliced in thin rounds (a bit thinner than 1 cm)
1-2 tbsp. oil
Salt and pepper
Several sprigs fresh rosemary, or 1-2 tbsp. dried
½ pound Crimini or Button mushrooms, sliced thinly
2-3 tbsp. butter or oil
Pizza dough
Shredded mozzarella
Balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400◦F.  Toss the potato slices and half the rosemary with oil, salt and pepper.  Spread them out on a baking sheet and roast until the potatoes are beginning to turn gold but before they turn brown.
Meanwhile heat a frying pan over medium heat with the butter (or oil, but butter is better in this case…).  Add the mushrooms and remaining rosemary, a dash of salt and pepper, and fry until they have released their juices and are very fragrant.  Turn off the heat and add a few glugs of balsamic vinegar and toss the mushrooms around with it. 
Raise the heat of your oven to 500◦F.  Stretch your pizza dough (here’s a how-to video), and top the pizza with the roasted potatoes.  Cover the potatoes with a layer of shredded mozzarella followed by the fried mushrooms.  Make sure to get all the melted butter out of the pan and onto the pizza! 
Bake the pizza until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to turn gold.  Remove, slice, and enjoy!  For some extra decadence drizzle some truffle oil on top of the finished pizza.

Ellie’s Green Bean Salad

There was a time when my family lived on green beans. 

We first began focusing on eating local, seasonal foods when we lived in Atlanta, Georgia.  The local food scene in Atlanta was in its beginning stages and we enjoyed the fledgling farmers’ markets that began popping up around town and meeting the new farmers. 

For some reason during much of the year one of the only reliable local crops was green beans.  Not just during the extremely hot and humid summer, but during most of the year.  Thus we would buy and eat green beans whenever they were local.  Which, like I already said, was for most of the year!

Basically we were eating green beans all the time.  This caused us to get just a little bit sick of them.  It also forced us to use them in more than one way.  We started thinking about how green beans didn’t just have to be boiled and served with a bit of salt and butter.

Fortunately one of our favourite farmers noticed the bean fatigue on his customers’ faces and he shared this family recipe with everyone. 

The recipe has become a family favourite and we love passing it along to others.  We’ve been using our own beans from our garden this summer which makes it extra exciting, but it will work wonderfully with any fresh local green beans.  Try mixing together a few colours of beans for some extra visual interest!

250g green beans, trimmed, chopped, and steamed

2 tbsp. walnuts, chopped and lightly toasted

2 tbsp. parsley, finely chopped

2 tbsp. red onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp. local oil

1 tsp. local vinegar

1 tsp. mustard (any kind)

Salt and cayenne pepper

To steam the beans bring an inch of water to a boil in a pot or pan and set a steamer over it, then add the beans and cover, steaming for 4-5 minutes.  Remove the beans after steaming and transfer them to a bowl.  Chop the walnuts, parsley, and onion.

Briefly toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan over medium heat, until they are fragrant (just a couple minutes).  

Make the dressing  by whisking together the oil, vinegar, and mustard.

Mix everything together in a bowl, but reserve some of the walnuts and parsley to top the salad.  Season lightly with salt and a dash of cayenne.  

Salad Season - Simple Vinaigrette on Bacon & Radish Salad.

My goal these days is to eat as much salad as possible.  That’s mostly because our backyard garden is bursting with lettuce, kale, spinach, and more!  It’s also because I want to stock up on the leafy goodness before the weather gets too hot and they start turning bitter.  Ultimately though it’s mainly because I love salads and never seem to get sick of the endless possibilities and combinations!

Rather than dump store-bought salad dressings on these wonderful local greens, I find it better to create a spontaneous salad dressing for each unique salad.  The easiest way to make a salad dressing is to start with oil and vinegar (both of which can be local too!).  Then I follow with some garlic or herbs, a bit of mustard, honey, sometimes a bit of mayonnaise or yogurt to help make it more creamy, and finally some salt and pepper.  Here’s what a typical dressing recipe looks like:

·        ¼ local oil (sunflower, soy, canola, etc.)

·        2-3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (preferably raw)

·        1 clove garlic, minced

·        1 tbsp. homemade mustard

·        1-2 tsp. honey

·        1 tbsp. yogurt

·        salt and pepper

If the salad features lots of heavier greens like kale and mature spinach I like to add some bacon to the mix (there are some health arguments in favour of this*).  My favourite way to do this is to fry 1 or 2 pieces of bacon, chopped up, and then toss the greens in the pan after turning off the heat.  The greens don’t need to cook, they just get quickly coated with the delicious bacon grease and then thrown in to the salad and everything gets tossed together with a bit of cider vinegar.

Recently I took the bacon idea a bit further and fried pieces of stale sourdough bread and thin slices of fresh radishes in the bacon grease.  This salad turned out awesome.  The end result was a salad featuring fresh lettuce, a bit of kale, croutons and radishes.  A nice addition would have been some crumbled goat cheese but alas, I didn’t have any! 

Another great addition to salads is fruit.  When adding fruit—dried or fresh—I usually leave out the sweetener in the dressing because I don’t want the salad to taste too sweet.  Now that strawberry season is here I’m excited for all the new possibilities!  How about you, care to share any favourite salad additions, or family recipe tips?

*http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20040727/fat-helps-vegetables-go-down

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401137/Is-Lard-Healthy.html

http://nourishedkitchen.com/green-beans-bacon-shallots/

Last Year’s and This Year’s Veggies!

This is an amazing time of year, when the full promise of the growing season is before us.  And yet there are things left to eat from last year!  So why not make a meal that celebrates last season and this new season?

Beets, potatoes, and many other storage vegetables are still in good supply having lasted through the winter.  But maybe they’ve lost their appeal (and grown thicker peels) after a long winter and many meals.  Here are two ideas from the new Oh She Glows Cookbook* that might help these vegetables make one more lap around your table.  And what about the new fresh vegetable?  Make an easy side of fresh asparagus, by lightly steaming it and then briefly frying it with a bit of butter and salt.

The whole meal is: fresh asparagus, Roasted Beet Salad, and Taco Fiesta Potato Crisps.

Beet Salad (Adapted from the Oh She Glows Cookbook)

4-5 medium beets

½ cup walnuts or other local nuts

4 tbsp. Balsamic Reduction

1 tbsp. oil

6-8 sprigs fresh thyme, minced

Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Place the beets in a covered ovenproof bowl, like Corningware.  Roast for 45-90 minutes, it really depends on the size of the beets, “until a fork slides easily into the largest beet.”  Let the beets cool until they can be handled, then rub them under cold water until their thick skins fall off. 

Slice the beets as thinly as possible.  Toss the beets with the balsamic reduction, oil, thyme, and nuts.  Alternatively, arrange them on a plate and drizzle with the vinegar and oil, topping with the nuts and thyme. 

Taco Fiesta Potato Crisps (Adapted from Oh She Glows Cookbook)

Potato Crisps:

1-2 large potatoes, sliced into ¼-inch rounds

1 tbsp. oil

Salt and Pepper

Walnut Taco Topping:

1 cup walnuts, toasted

1 tbsp. oil

1 ½ tsp. chili powder

½ tsp. cumin

¼ tsp. salt

Dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

Additional toppings:

Sour Cream or thick yogurt

Salsa

2-3 green onions, sliced

Pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon baking mat.  Place the sliced potatoes in a large bowl, drizzle with oil and toss by hand until the oil is evenly distributed.  Arrange the potatoes on the baking sheet in a single layer, with none touching.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast for 30-35 minutes, flipping halfway through, until they are golden, bubbly, and tender. 

While the potatoes are roasting prepare the Walnut Taco Topping: In a food processor, mix together the walnuts, oil, chili powder, cumin, salt, and cayenne, processing until they form a fine crumble. 

When the potato crisps are cool enough to handle arrange them on a plate (or leave them on the baking sheet) and top with a dollop of sour cream or yogurt, followed by the walnut mixture, salsa, green onions, and pepper.  Serve warm. 

*Oh She Glows is a vegan food blog written by Angela Liddon of Oakville, ON, that focuses on meat and dairy-free foods that appeal to all eaters.  Angela’s meals are often also free of gluten, soy, and processed foods, so put a hold on the book from WPL or get it on Amazon. Even if you’re not at all interested in vegan eating, the meals are worth trying for their abundant and delicious use of seasonal vegetables!