Garden Pasta with Grilled Tuna

Mmm no recipe here, it was the kind of night where you grab a glass of wine, head out into the garden and say, "whatdaya got for me?" this night the garden gave me two japanese eggplants, two squash, two zucchini and a handful of San Marzano tomatoes to I took all the vegetables and sliced them the long way into thirds, put a little olive oil on them with salt and pepper and grilled them each side four minutes. I also took some tuna steaks and gave them the same treatment at the vegetables. 


While those were cooking I took a red onion from the garden along with a handful of basil and tarragon - I sauted the onion in a bit of butter and olive oil, added some garlic and when they were soft added two spilt of champagne  - when that had cooked down a bit I added the herbs to make a nice champagne herb sauce - yes, it tastes as good as it sounds. 


While the sauce was doing its thing I boiled a box of rigatoni to all dente. When all were cooked I cut up the vegetables and tune, and in a large bowl combined the veggies, tuna, pasta, and herb champagne sauce - mixed it all together gave it a little salt, pepper and parmesan cheese and a great dinner was on the table - so simple, so easy, so awesome to get almost all of it out of the garden. I must, repeat must move to a state with a longer growing season, one that has fig trees - that will be my barometer of the locale...


Me: "excuse me, realtor person, would it be possible to have a flourishing fig tree in the backyard here?"
Realtor: "No ma'am, this zone would not allow a fig tree to grow here year round, you'd have to cellar it in the winter."
Me: "I've seen enough - we'll continue either south or west from here, thank you for your time."


I got a manicure today - so of course I cut the nail with my big knife while chopping swiss chard, that's the way things always go, I never stub my toe unless I've just paid $30 for a manicure, and you always have the best hair dat of your live the day you are going to get it all chopped off.


Rating = Damn Good (and local too)

Cucumber Gratin | Vegetarian Times

 

So, if you haven't yet tried cooked cucumbers, go for it, its really good. As I mentioned before, I've got a virtual porno flick of cucumbers growing in the garden so I needed to get a little creative, and I didn't want to make soup or another salad or just eat them plain, I wanted to dress them up a bit. The latest issue of Vegetarian Times had an article on using cucumbers in multiple ways, and this was one of the recipes. I am lucky enough to have an awesome herb garden growing along side the vegetables, so I pretty much used two to three times the amount of tarragon and dill than the recipe called - and it was great. 

This recipe is based on a Julie Child recipe, and really, who doesn't love Julia. If you try it, let me know if you like it, also, let me know how you might dress it up a bit to make it a little more randy.

Cucumber Gratin | Vegetarian Times

2 Tbs. unsalted butter (use vegan margarine/butter)
2 English cucumbers or 3 garden cucumbers, peeled, halved, seeded, and cut into 2-x1/2 inch strips (about 4 cups)
3/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. sugar
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
2 tsp. chopped fresh tarragon
1 tsp. coarsely chopped fresh dill
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (use vegan Parmesan cheese)

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Cook 3 minutes, or until beginning to brown.

2. Toss cucumbers in 13 x 9 inch baking dish with 1 Tbs. brown butter, salt, and sugar. Bake 25 minutes.

3. Remove dish from oven, and preheat the broiler. Add chives, tarragon, dill, and lemon zest to cucumbers, and toss to coat. Season with pepper, if desired.

4. Stir together breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and remaining 1 Tbs. brown butter in bowl. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over cucumbers. Broil 2 minutes, or until crumbs are golden brown.

Per 1/2 Cup Serving: 85 cal.; 2 grams prot.; 6 grams total fat (3 grams sat. fat); 7 grams carb.; 13 mg chol.; 355 mg sod.; <1 gram fiber; 2 grams sugar

Rating = Good

Wine Snitch Wine Blog

Because I have been doing so much wine tasting, traveling and general imbibing I've created another blog dedicated purely to wine. Its called Wine Snitch and I just posted my first review today. Please check it out.

I may have planted too many cucumbers | Japanese Cucumber Salad

Last year my cucumbers performed miserably. I don't know why, but it was frustrating as I think nothing is as good as a fresh cucumber with a little salt on it in the middle of a hot summer afternoon. This year, I clearly overcompensated for my cucumber failure last year because I literally walk out of the back door and get slapped in the face with cucumbers, which exploding overnight are testing the endurance of their vines, begging to be picked. 

Sunday was Hot As Balls and I was not about cook, so I broke out the trustee mandolin slicer and made this quick and refreshing cucumber salad. Super Simple and Refreshing, that's really the best way to describe this salad, which I found on the Eating Well website located here.

Let me know if you make it, and also if you have any favorite cucumber recipes, I'm gonna need them, also, Japanese Eggplant, mine have become almost as big of a nuisance as the cucumbers.

Rating = Good

Broccoli Rabe

Now that I have three summers of organic gardening under my belt I have discovered a few things that should be filed under "Shit That Is Not Worth Growing On Your Own!" and, Broccoli Rabe is one of them. I love it and its kind of spendy in the market, but you know what - don't plant it jut pay for it. From last years garden adventure, watermelon and broccoli are added to that list.


Over the winter I became mildly addicted to the brocolli rabe with mushrooms and red pepper flakes in the prepared food part of Russo's in Watertown so I decided instead of paying $6 per pound for it in the summer I would grow my own and I would be in Broccoli Rabe heaven all summer. Not so much, I can't seem to get to the rabe before it bolts and flowers, and at that point it's too bitter to eat - the picture above is broccoli that was harvested in my garden right before it bolted, and it was still very bitter. 


I tried to recreate the dish by sauteing red onion (home grown) with a little garlic and then adding quartered button mushrooms and then adding the broccoli rabe (blanching it first) and then at the last minute adding salt and a good dose of red pepper flakes. It tasted like what I buy from the market, except for the fact that the broccoli rabe was so bitter.


So - I'll just continue to buy it,  Boo Hiss! And I will rip up the rabe and replace it with Swiss Chard because I cannot get enough of it now.


Also, on a complete side note, if you happen to go out for sushi and end up eating about two pounds of seaweed salad because it's so good and you just can't stop yourself - your bathroom the next morning will indeed smell like Casey Anthony's trunk. Just saying, open a window, give it five or ten minutes.

Swiss Chard Erin's Recipe

This conversation between Chris and I should give you a little insight into how many times I have cooked Swiss Chard since Chris and I have been together.

Me: I hope you like Swiss Chard because that's what were having for dinner tonight?
Chris: Swiss Chard, Is that a fish?
Me: (blank stare) - (I mean I guess there is a fish called Artic Char, so maybe its not that big of a leap to think Swiss Chard might be a fish.)  - (Yes it is, that was terrible Chris)

So I made Erin's recipe that is in the comments with just a few minor tweaks due to lack of ingredients, I used sunflower seeds instead of almonds, a red onion from the garden instead of shallot, and cider vinegar instead of red wine vinegar, and you know what? It rocked. I ate the whole thing....I can't wait to make the other suggestions that were left in the comments or sent to me, including the rolled stuffed grilled chard and some sort of card augratin that someone told me about.

Seriously, I would have this as a side dish everyday of the week. I didn't plant chard, I've been eating my neighbors while I tend to her garden while she is away. Next year, chard will be front and center in on of my raised beds.

Next challenge....KALE, we've got lots of it, suggestions?

Rating = Damn Good