A couple of years ago I spent a week participating in the Farm Culinary 101 program at Quillisascut Farm School in Eastern Washington. The first night that we were there, the chef on staff prepared a delicious meal that started with courgette soup. At the time, I didn't have a clue what a courgette was, all I knew was that I was eating some of the best soup that I have ever tasted. When I returned home, I looked up courgette to find that it is the British term for zucchini (duh).

I set out to create my own version of this delicious soup. Over the last couple of years I have refined my recipe into the version that I make today. The additional step of roasting the squash seems to be the real key to making this soup really shine.

This summer this recipe has come in especially handy. Two of my three weekly clients have been growing their own vegetables this year. If you've ever grown your own zucchini, you know that at some point you are going to be swimming in zucchini (and there is only so much zucchini bread that one person can make). This soup tastes great and freezes nicely (it's a nice little blast of summer flavors in December or January).

This soup is best made when the zucchini are little so the seeds are small and the skin is tender. If, though, your zucchini got away from you and ended up really big, once you have cut them in half you can simply scrape out the seeds, then once the zucchini are roasted, scrape the flesh out of the tough skin and discard the skin.

Here's the ingredients:

2.5 pounds zucchini (or any other summer squash)
1 Walla Walla Sweet onion (other onions work well here too, but a sweet onion make it extra delicious)
3-4 cup chicken (or vegetable) stock
1/2 cup cream (totally optional but it gives the soup a nice mouth feel)
olive oil
salt and pepper

To start I preheated the oven to 450 degrees. I also lined a sheet pan with aluminum foil (because I'm lazy and it make clean-up a snap). Next I cut the ends off of each of the zucchini and then cut them in half lengthwise. I arranged these on the sheet pan and drizzled them with olive oil and salt and pepper. Then I julienned the onion, spread it over the cut zucchini and drizzled with a bit more olive oil and salt and pepper.

I popped the pan into the oven. Forty minutes later the onions were slightly caramelized and the zucchini were roasted through.

I put the whole mix into a stock pot added the cream and enough stock to almost cover the veggies (you can always add more stock later, and I did, but if you add to much at this point the soup can get too thin).

Next I took the stick blender to it.

Keep going...

And...done. At this point I checked for seasoning and added just a little more stock so the soup was a good consistency.

Yum. A client favorite and a chef favorite. This made a lot of soup, about eight cups in all. I stashed a bunch of the soup in the freezer for quick meals come winter (and had a bit of it for lunch). The roasted sweet onion really makes this soup sing (but it really is good with regular onions too). I can hardly wait for winter when I pop this out of the freezer.

Labels: almost vegetarian, soup, squash, summer

You may have noticed a whole lot of basil being used in my recipes lately. Well, that's because I have two huge basil plants in my herb garden. And, luckily, I love basil.

I wanted to create an easy alternative to traditional potato salad that would take advantage of my wealth of basil. This version contains just six ingredients (salt and pepper doesn't count).

Here they are:

1 pound new potatoes, cut into eighths
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 clove garlic, minced
1/2 Walla Walla sweet onion, diced
2 big handfuls fresh basil, julienned
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper

To start, I cooked the potatoes in boiling water until they were tender, drained them, put them in a single layer on a sheet pan (so they would cool faster) and then drizzled them with the vinegar.

While the potatoes boiled I worked on the dressing. I placed the garlic in a medium bowl and added 2 Tablespoons of the boiling water (from the potatoes) just to take the edge off the garlic. Then I stirred in the onion, basil and sour cream.

Once the potatoes were cooled, I added them to the dressing, stirred it together and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

How was it? Yummy, good and summery. And so easy to make (my traditional potato salad has nine ingredients, which doesn't sound like that many, but six of them need to be chopped, diced or mashed). I think this might be a good option for an upscale BBQ or summer party. It's going to be a definite addition to the permanent repertoire.

Labels: potatoes, salad, summer

Holy smokes, it is hot outside. Gonna need something cool for dinner tonight.

The other day, I was watching the Today Show. Martha Stewart was on demonstrating shrimp and corn salad and I thought it was an interesting idea, but that I could make it better (don't shoot me Martha fanatics). Now I haven't tried Martha's recipe, so it may be a good thing (and I'll admit that bibb lettuce would have been way better than the way too bitter dandelion greens).

Here's the ingredients:

1 pound of shrimp
1/3 pound shell pasta
2 ears corn
1/2 Walla Walla sweet onion, diced
a whole mess of basil, julienned
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoon sherry vinegar
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 bunch of dandelion greens (but as I said, a milder lettuce would have been way better)
1/2 cucumber, sliced

I started by cooking the pasta in salted water and grilling the corn until is was nicely charred. When the pasta was done I cooled it down with cold water right away than left it to drain. When the corn was cool enough to handle I cut it off of the cobs.

Meanwhile I boiled the shrimp in water seasoned with salt and a bit of cider vinegar for three minutes, then immediately plunged them into an ice bath to cool.

While everything was cooking, I made a creamy vinaigrette with the garlic, mustard, sherry vinegar and mayonnaise. Then I simply stirred together the shrimp, corn, pasta, basil and onion.

To plate I made a bed of greens and cucumber, then topped it with a generous scoop of the salad.

How was it? Delicious. Seriously, the only mis-step here was the dandelion greens (they were just way too strong for the delicate flavor of the pasta salad). The cucumbers, however, were a lovely accompaniment. It was nice to have a cool, tasty meal on a day that was way too hot. The husband really liked it too (and he's not even a big fan of shrimp). The best part? Plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow (it's still supposed to be way to hot then too).

Labels: pasta, salad, seafood, summer

While in Kansas, it seemed like every time we turned around someone was trying to feed us. No light food either, there was nary a salad in sight. In one day we had a cheesy potato breakfast casserole with bacon, ribs with potato salad and beans for lunch, and supreme pizza for dinner (then beer, lots of beer). Now I'm not saying it wasn't good (the ribs were some of the best I've had) there was just so darn much of it.

Since I've been home I've been craving really light food (and spicy Asian-style food, but that's another story). Today I decided to make myself a light, but indulgent lunch. And, I decided my tomato was finally ready.

Here's the ingredients (for one person):

A couple handfuls of campanelle pasta (I decided on this shape because I thought it would hold the diced tomatoes nicely)
1 Roma tomato
several leaves of basil (these are from my garden, too)
1 clove of garlic, mashed to a paste
olive oil (the good stuff)
a bit of really good Parmigiano-Regianno cheese

I started by cooking the pasta in well-salted water. While this cooked, I diced the tomato (into 1/4" dice), julienned the basil and mashed the garlic. If you've never done this, here's how.

Start by chopping the garlic.

Sprinkle it with kosher salt.

With the knife almost parallel to the cutting board, mash the salt and garlic together.

Keep going until you get a paste.

Once the pasta was cooked through, I drained it, returned it to the pan and added the garlic paste right away (just to take the edge off of it). I added a generous drizzle of olive oil, the diced tomatoes and the basil. The heat of the pasta warmed the tomato and made a nice light sauce. I topped the dish with a bit of cheese and a sprinkle of sea salt.

So good, and exactly what I had been craving. Light and summery and so flavorful. It was so exciting to take my first harvest from my garden and turn it into something so delicious.

Labels: garden, pasta, summer, vegetarian

I was really excited when I saw that we would be receiving corn in our box this week. In my opinion, corm is one of summers greatest gifts.

I decided to use the corn, along with several other items from the box (and my garden) to make a nice cool salad for the hot summer day we are experiencing.

Here's the ingredients for the salad:

2 ears corn
2 yukon gold potatoes, diced into 1/2-inch pieces, par cooked for 3 minutes in the microwave
12 or so green beans, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 green onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 slices bacon, diced and cooked
a handful of lettuce (I used red lettuce from my garden), chopped
1 ounce goat cheese

I started by grilling my corn right on the grill (meaning not wrapped in foil or anything) until it was cooked through (it changes color as it gets done) and charred a little.

Once it was done I cut the kernels off the cob.

Then put them in the refrigerator to cool.

While the corn was on the grill I cooked the bacon until it was nice and crispy.

Then I removed the bacon from the pan and then sauteed the green beans in the remaining fat for about 30 seconds (until they were crisp tender).

Then I removed the green beans (to the fridge to cool) and sauteed the par cooked potatoes until they were nicely browned.

Then I put them in the fridge to cool.

While everything cooled I put together the dressing. Here's the ingredients:

1 clove garlic, minced,
1 orange, juiced
most of a lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon mayonnaise
1 handful basil, julienned
salt and pepper
2 teaspoon key lime honey (not in the picture)

I whisked together all the ingredients. Tasted for seasoning and decided that it needed a little sweetening, so I searched the pantry and came up with key lime honey (score), so I added it to the mix.

Once the dressing was seasoned to my liking, I stirred in all of the salad ingredients (except for the goat cheese) and tossed the salad together.

I put this into the bowls and topped it with the goat cheese.

This was pretty tasty. Nice and light for the summer. A couple of tomatoes would have been a great addition to the mix. The husband said it was pretty good, but a little tangy for his taste. Overall, I'll give this dish a solid "B" (although the dressing get's an "A"). Room to improve, but not bad in any sense.

Labels: almost vegetarian, salad, summer

Today was a beautiful day in Seattle. The husband and I spent quite a bit of the day doing yard work, then retired to the deck for a nice sit in the sun. The grill started calling my name and decided it must be time to cook.

A couple of days ago I pulled a pork loin out of the freezer to thaw. So, I knew that would be my protein. I searched through the fridge and found red beets and baby potatoes.

I started cooking without really knowing where the meal would end up (therefore I don't have any "here's the ingredients" pictures).

I made a beet salad by boiling the beets, peeling them, chopping them and then dressing them with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and the good olive oil. Then I topped it with blue cheese and cashews.

The potatoes were even easier. I washed them, boiled them and then tossed them with butter, chives and smoked salt.

My first thought for the pork was to make the Whiskey and Brown Sugar glaze that I made a while back for some grilled acorn squash. Alas, we had consumed all the whiskey. I started throwing a few thing in the pan and ended up with this.

Spicy-Sweet Soy Glazed Pork Tenderloin
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup triple sec
1/8 cup molasses
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
Sriracha to taste
1 pork tenderloin

I started by combining everything but the pork loin in a small saucepan. I put it over medium heat and let it reduce by half. Meanwhile I preheated my grill and then added my seasoned pork loin to cook. When the pork tenderloin was almost done I started brushing it with many coats of glaze. When it was done I let it rest for a few minutes and then sliced it. I served the leftover glaze alongside as a sauce.

I enjoyed everything and the husband liked most everything. The potatoes (which are one of my clients favorites) were yummy. He said the beets were great after he got rid of the blue cheese and cashews (but I liked them with). And the pork tenderloin glaze ended up kind of like a spicy teriyaki sauce, what's not to like about that.

The best part was sitting on the deck, eating in the sunshine and open air. Summer's coming, I can feel it!

Labels: beets, pork, potatoes, summer