Sun 13 Jul 2008
My parents have an incredibly prolific lemon tree in their yard. Last year it produced over 500 lemons! They squeeze and freeze the lemon juice in the winter so they have it all year round. Lately, they’ve been making lemonade. It’s great and not too sweet or too tart. Best of all it is easy!
1 cup water
1 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
Mix all ingredients in a pitcher and stir until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Wed 25 Jun 2008
I saw the idea for this dish somewhere (no, I can’t remember where)… It caught my eye because we get a lot of summer squash and zucchini around here during summer and I do not particularly like either (except in zucchini bread). It seems a shame to not buy summer squashes since they always look so bright and fresh at the market. When I saw the idea for a squash carpaccio I knew it was something I had to try - if only in an attempt to eat more of the yummy looking squashes at the market. I am happy to report that the thin slices avoided both the mushy texture and “raw” squash taste that I do not like.
Slice the zucchini and summer squash into circles as thinly as possible. Arrange slices overlapping on a small plate. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Shave several bits of parmesan over the whole plate. Let marinate for at least 15 minutes before serving.
Wed 25 Jun 2008
I always buy barley thinking I’ll use it… then I find it in my pantry several months later just waiting for me. Problem is I don’t like barley in its traditional guise of a starch in soup! So, I end up throwing it out and vowing never to buy barley again. I was thrilled to run into this recipe in Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian” where barley is used in a cold salad. Since I live in sweltering heat for 4+ months of the year I am always looking for new cold salads. And of course I just happened to have some barley in the pantry.
Place barley in a saucepan and cover with 2″ of water. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes, until tender. Drain and cool on a plate or under cool water.
Combine barley, cucumbers, scallions and tomatoes in a large bowl. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Mix together yogurt, olive oil and lemon juice in a small bowl. Add yogurt mixture to barley mixture and mix thoroughly. Taste and add more salt and/or pepper, as needed.
Mon 28 Apr 2008
This is a family favorite. It is basically a heart attack in a bowl. Serve it with some dripping garlic bread, a Cesar salad, and some nice wine. Mixing all the ingredients together can be rough on the biceps, but all the effort is well worth it when your guests leave with full and happy stomachs. Make sure to use good bacon and sausage because it adds most of the flavor. Also try substituting pancetta, ham, or other cured meats.
Start by cooking all the meat. I typically chop up the bacon before cooking it and drain the fat off midway through cooking. Don’t drain off all the fat, because you’re going to want to use it later.
While the meat is cooking, beat the eggs and half and half and let sit. You want this to get close to room temperature for mixing everything together.
When the meat is a quarter of the way done, start boiling the water for the pasta. While you’re waiting, share some wine with your guests (this makes it all taste better). You’ll need your strength for the rest of the procedure.
The meat is done when it is on the verge of charring. Cook the pasta al dente and drain. Add some of the bacon and sausage fat to the pot and crush the garlic into the fat over high heat. Cook the garlic till it starts to get translucent, then take off the heat. Add the pasta and more of the fat (you’ll want to add about 1/4 C total). Mix well.
Then add all of the egg mixture and the cheese. Mix well and continuously. Turn on the heat to low and keep mixing. The traditional recipe you don’t need to turn the heat back on because the pasta cooks the eggs. If you want to cook it a little (like I do) you need to keep mixing the pasta so that the eggs don’t cook too much. You want to pull it off the heat when the sauce starts to thicken.
After it’s off the heat, add all the meat and stir in. Plate the pasta and garnish with parsley and cracked black pepper.
Mon 28 Apr 2008
This is a new spin on the traditional Lebanese dish. I use a lot less parsley and substitute couscous for bulgur wheat to whip this up in no time flat. It’s a great dish for the summer. You can eat it alone or serve it with grilled chicken or fish.
The couscous is pretty easy to cook. You just add hot water to the grains and let it sit covered for a few minutes. It immediately starts to absorb all the water. Put it in the fridge to cool it for the all the fresh veggies (you don’t want wilty mint).
The parsley is pretty much the hardest part of tabouleh because you have to chop SOOO much of it. The trick is to try to get as much of the leaves off without getting the branches. I find that if you skim off the outside leaves, you can get most of them without the twiggy parts. Then chop very fine. For the mint, pull the leaves off the stalks, pile them up and chop.
Chop the scallions, up to 2-3 inches up the green. Cut the cucumbers in half and scoop out the seeds. If you want, you can also peel them, but I kind of like the extra green. Then chop them up. Chop up the tomatoes. If you’re not going to eat all the tabouleh in the next day or so, you might want to consider cutting up tomato each time you want a serving. I feel that the tomato gets a little mushy after a few days and makes the salad a little watery. Cutting up fresh tomato makes it seem fresh each time you eat it.
After all this chopping, you’re going to end up with a beautiful, big pile of veggies.
To make the dressing, squeeze the juice from the four lemons. Mix in the salt and cinnamon. Add freshly ground pepper to taste. Then mix in the evoo. Mix in the veggies, the dressing, and the couscouse and serve.