Zucchini Tart

It's been a short summer, but as usual, we've been long on zucchini. Next year, we're going to sacrifice one zucchini and just let it go to see how big it gets. You can bet there will be pictures!

We've enjoyed most of the zucchini straight from the grill... just cooked enough so it's still has some crunch. I've been busy canning, too... making zucchini salsa, and all things tomato. I saw a recipe for a zucchini tart and thought it would be a nice change.

Make your favorite pastry recipe (or buy one pre-made). Mix some ricotta and shredded cheese and spread onto the pastry. 

Spicy Ravioli Florentine

SRC Reveal Day for Group B!

The recipe today comes from Claire at The Realistic Nutritionist. Claire is passionate about health and fitness and uses whole and organic foods. She's also working on her Masters in Dietetics. You can get the list of Claire's delicious "Eat Skinny Be Skinny" recipes here. 

Zucchini Salsa

It wasn't a very good summer for our garden. Because of rains last spring, we planted two weeks later than usual. We got early spinach, lettuce and radishes, which was nice for salads, but when we should have been picking ripe tomatoes, we were sitting on the deck wishing for warmer weather and a longer season. We got plenty of zucchini, but not the quantities that we've had in years past, and maybe that's a good thing! It would be nice to have ripe tomatoes to eat all summer long, but it was a ripe one here and an almost ripe one there that my gardener would bring into the house. It didn't take long to eat them up. Our temperatures dipped the second week of this month and we covered the garden at night for a few days, then harvested everything that was left and tilled the garden.

We've been busy making sausage, too. We made 12# of Jalapeno Summer sausage and 15# Cracked Pepper & Garlic Summer Sausage. We use ground venison along with some ground pork and use a kit like this that includes the seasonings and the casings. After the casings are stuffed, into the smoker they go (each log is 3#). These are delicious sliced up and served on crackers with cheese and a glass of wine! 

My kitchen is lined with bowls and bowls of green and pink tomatoes, a few zucchini on the counter and a few small jalapenos and bell peppers. I already made several jars of piccalilli using green tomatoes and went looking for something different. I found Zucchini Salsa at allrecipes.com. Despite thinking "Eww... zucchini in salsa??", it got such rave reviews and I decided to give it a try. It turned out absolutely delicious and you'd never know there was zucchini in it! I'm going to make a few more batches using green tomatoes. We opened a jar at breakfast the other day and by the time we'd finished, half the jar was gone!

We went antelope hunting earlier this month and I got to take some pictures of this beautiful country, which I'd like to share with you. Oh, yes, we got an antelope and I saved the heart and liver, so I'm going to have a couple special posts for those soon. And yes, I've got the Zucchini Salsa recipe for you, but first, a few pictures...

October Sunrise in Montana

Another view of the sunrise

A few cattle.

A few more... my friend, Rhonda told me that there are 3 cows to every person in Montana!

A couple of trees out in the middle of nothing but rolling hills.

It takes a lot of hay to feed all those cattle in the winter!

Old fence posts.

Mountains

Ok, on to the salsa... this recipe got a 5-star review from 85 people and in reading the reviews, it was no surprise to see that everybody made theirs just a little different, adding this and leaving out that according to their tastes, which is exactly what I did with the original recipe. 

We both loved this salsa, so another couple batches will be made next week. I'll still make a few changes to the recipe below by adding a few more jalapenos and leaving out the tomato paste, which I thought gave the finished salsa too much of a canned tomato taste. I think by leaving it out, we'll end up with a fresher taste.


I plan to do a blog post on canning soon, but there is lots of information to get you started here.


Edit 10/23/11: I made another batch of salsa with the following changes: Omitted green peppers and tomato paste. Used a total of 10 jalapenos with seeds. This made a hot salsa, which we prefer. If you prefer spicy, find that recipe here.

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Zucchini Salsa - adapted from Food.com

10 cups peeled and grated zucchini
4 large onions, chopped
4 green peppers, seeded and chopped
¼ cup plus 1 T Kosher salt, divided use
5 large jalapenos, seeded and pureed in food processor
2 T dry mustard
1 T granulated garlic
1 T cumin
2 T red pepper flakes
1 T black pepper
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup lemon juice
5 cups chopped red or green tomatoes
12 ounces tomato paste

Day one: In a large pan combine zucchini, onions, green pepper and ¼ cup salt. Mix well, cover and let stand overnight. Do not refrigerate.

Day two: Transfer vegetables to a colander and let drain for one to two hours. Return mixture to the pan and add pureed jalapenos, mustard, garlic, cumin, red pepper flakes, black pepper, vinegar, lemon juice, 1T salt, tomatoes and tomato paste. Mix all ingredients well.

Cover pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately ladle into sterilized jars and seal. Process in a water bath for 20 minutes (for altitudes between 1000 and 6000 feet).

Zucchini-Nutella Bread

I haven't shared much of our garden this year, but after a late planting, it's finally doing well. We've harvested all of the spinach and most of the radishes and a few ripe tomatoes, but the majority won't get ripe for another few weeks. We have red onions, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, sweet cherry peppers and bell peppers yet to come. 

One of our neighbors dubbed this summer for us as "The Summer of the Deck" and I have no doubt that my gardener ageed with her. He's been working on the deck, weather permitting, since he began tearing down the old one last March. We started with plans of replacing just the flooring, but the more we uncovered, we found pretty much all of the wood was rotten and needed to be replaced. So, it was built from the ground up. You can see a little of it in the picture above, but I'll post pictures of it another time.

Oh, zucchini. I love you. I hate you. 

But mostly, I love you. 

We check the garden nightly now for zukes, because if left on their own for too long, they tend to grow to the size of baseball bats. My gardener found one that he swears was three feet long. Take into consideration that my gardener is also an avid fisherman ;) He joked that he was glad his brother had a 2.5 ton pickup so he could take the thing home with him.

When I saw Emily's Marbled Nutella Banana Bread on her blog, Sugar Plum, I thought hmm, how about Zucchini-Nutella Bread, and so it was born.

This is one of those recipes that tastes much better than it might sound. This is an amazingly moist bread with all the goodness of Nutella and all the healthfulness of homegrown zucchini.

I adapted my favorite Banana Bread recipe from Emeril for this. 

I made another loaf today with bananas, but I'm sending that to my granddaughter, Kayla, so she can have a slice for breakfast before she starts her first day at Kindergarten next Monday.

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Zucchini-Nutella Bread

10 T butter, cut into 1/2" pieces

2 c grated zucchini

1/2 c sour cream

2 large eggs

1-1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

3/4 c plus 2 T sugar

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 c toasted, chopped walnuts

1/2 c Nutella

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 9x5 loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray. 

Puree the grated zucchini, sour cream, eggs and vanilla in food processor.

Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer with a whisk attachment. Add butter and mix on low until blended. Add the zucchini mixture in 3 batches, scraping the sides of the bowl and mixing on medium speed between each addition. Fold in the nuts.

Divide half the batter into a medium bowl. Stir in Nutella until combined. Alternate spoonfuls of each batter into loaf pan. Swirl gently with a knife.

Bake until lightly browned and bread bounces back to the touch, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cook for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Three years ago today, I was sitting at my computer (looking up recipes, no doubt!) when I stumbled onto someone's blog. I then googled "food blogs" and found lots more! Having just moved from California to Montana and with plenty of time on my hands, I thought, hmm, I could do that! I went to Blogger and clicked on "create a blog" and the rest is history.

I've had so much fun with Karen Cooks these last three years and the best part has been because of you, and you, and you! I've met so many wonderful people in the last three years! So with my thanks for following, today I'm giving away a copy of Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess". Just leave me a comment and you're automatically entered to win!

Seafood Paella

My gardener and I aren't big restaurant people. Dinners seem rushed; often the food and service is mediocre and the noise levels are always louder than we like. (Gee, I make us sound old!)

We usually save dining out for celebrations. But, when we celebrated our 3rd anniversary last month, we decided to stay home and cook a celebratory meal instead of going out, and I couldn't think of a better meal to make than Seafood Paella.

Yes, this looks like a lot of food for two people! Leftovers became our lunch or dinners for the next few days, but it's so good we didn't mind.

There are a lot of steps in making paella and it takes a while, but it's totally worth the time and effort. This took about 3 hours to prepare, so if you're looking for a quick dinner, this isn't it. 

Making the sofrito is essential to the success of this dish. Using a box grater, grate halved tomatoes and discard the skin. Onion and seasonings are added to the tomato which is then cooked until reduced to the consistency of jam. This step alone can take 45 minutes to an hour.

Another step essential to a good paella is letting the rice toast on the bottom of the pan until it becomes crispy. This is called socorrat and is an indication of an authentic, well made paella. Smoked paprika adds a flavor and spice to this recipe that you just won't get with plain paprika.

Do you have a celebration coming up? I guarantee you'll celebrate in style with this dish and you won't have to leave a tip!

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Seafood Paella

2 medium onions, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 T fresh parsley, finely chopped

2 large tomatoes

4 T olive oil, divided use

2 tsp smoked paprika

1-1/2 cups Arborio rice

8 oz. clam juice

2 cups stock (vegetable or chicken), heated

Large pinch of saffron

1-1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup frozen peas

1# frozen uncooked jumbo shrimp, thawed

1# clams or mussels

2 links Italian sausage, cooked

1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts, quartered (not marinated in oil)

1. Using a box grater, process the tomatoes and discard the skin.

2. Make the sofrito: Heat 2 T olive oil in paella pan, and over medium heat, cook the onion, parsley and garlic for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes and smoked paprika. Cook until all the liquid from the tomatoes has evaporated and the sofrito is the consistency of jam. This may take 45 minutes to 1 hour. Put the sofrito into a small bowl. Wipe pan clean.

3. Heat 2 T olive oil in paella pan over medium heat. Cook red and green peppers for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add the sofrito and rice to the paella pan; stir to coat the rice. 

5. In a medium saucepan, add stock, clam juice, salt, pepper and saffron. Bring to a simmer. 

6. Add hot stock to the sofrito. Stir to combine and bring to a medium-high simmer and cook for 15 minutes without stirring.

7. After 15 minutes, scatter peas over the paella. Push shrimp, clams and mussels into the rice. Top with artichoke hearts and cooked sausage.

8. Turn up the heat to medium-high for a minute or two until you can smell the rice toasting at the bottom, then remove pan from heat. The toasted rice on the bottom of a paella is called socorrat.

9. Cover the pan with foil and let paella rest for 10 minutes.

10. Serve directly from the paella pan along with lemon wedges.

Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

I've made Stuffed Cabbage Rolls and love the flavor, but doubt that I'll ever make them again. Just too much fuss with having to boil the leaves, stuff the leaves, then roll the leaves.

I'd thawed some antelope burger and was trying to decide what to do with it for dinner. When I saw that Pam made Loose Savoy Cabbage Rolls, I got the half head of cabbage that was in the fridge and whipped this up in no time.

I made a few changes, based on what I had on hand. I really liked this dish. You get all the goodness of stuffed cabbage rolls with none of the fuss! Thanks, Pam for a great dish!

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Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

1-1/2# ground meat

1/2 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 T Worcestershire sauce

3/4 cup uncooked rice

8 oz. canned mushrooms, drained

2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes

1 cup white wine

1/2 head green cabbage, sliced

Brown meat, onion, and garlic in a large skillet until meat is cooked. Add Worcestershire, rice, mushrooms, tomatoes, wine and cabbage. Put mixture into a large baking dish. Cover and bake at 350F for one hour until cabbage is tender and liquid has been absorbed.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

I've made my Portuguese New England Boiled Dinner many times, but have never used corned beef in what a lot of people call a traditional New England Boiled Dinner - or Corned Beef and Cabbage. When I saw that Cathy at Wives with Knives made it recently using her crockpot, I decided to give it a whirl. Cathy also let us in on a little secret to finishing the beef under the broiler, which is the way her mom has always prepared it.

I put a couple stalks of celery on the bottom of the crockpot, then layered whole peeled potatoes, sliced onions and peeled carrots. I put the beef on top of the vegetables then poured water in to almost cover the meat. I cooked this on high for 3 hours and then on low for 5 hours. I then removed the beef and vegetables to a roasting pan, covered it with foil and let it sit in a 250 degree oven to keep warm. I poured the broth from the crockpot into a pan and put the quartered cabbage in it to simmer until done, about 45 minutes. 

Cathy's tip: Mix together 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons Dijon, a dash of cloves and 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar. When the beef is done, remove the fat and spread with this mixture. Broil the beef until  the topping is hot and bubbly. I sliced my beef first and painted the slices with the sugar mixture. It really added a nice finishing touch to the beef. I also mixed some sour cream and prepared horseradish to serve with the meal. 

I'm linking this to Cuisine Kathleen's 3rd Annual St. Patrick's Day Blog Crawl! Check there on Tuesday, March 15 to see the roundup!

Parsnip and Caramelized Onion Tart

Parsnips look like anemic carrots, but don't let their looks fool you. They are sweet, creamy and delicious and have become one of my favorite veggies. A one-cup serving has only 100 calories and a whopping 6.5g of dietary fiber. It's high in vitamin C, which is good news for those of you who rely on it to keep winter colds at bay.

Although they can be eaten raw, when it comes to cooking, parsnips are very versatile. They can be boiled, roasted, baked, fried or cooked and pureed for soup. The sweet flavor of parsnips marries well with sweet potatoes, carrots and apples. 

I love caramelized onions and as soon as I saw this recipe I knew where my parsnips were headed. 

The crust for this tart is the easiest thing ever. A mix of melted butter, vegetable oil, water, sugar, salt and flour are combined to make a dough that is pressed into the tart pan with your hands. No need to roll out dough for this tart! It came out beautifully crisp and held up well when removed from the pan for cutting.

If you haven't made friends with parsnips yet, I hope you'll give them a try!

Parsnip and Caramelized Onion Tart - Adapted from here.

The crust was made first using this recipe.

For the filling:

1 ¼ cups milk

½ cup Cheddar cheese, grated

2 T butter

3 onions, sliced

1# parsnips, peeled and quartered lengthwise

3 eggs

Preheat to 350° F.

Melt butter in frying pan and add onions.  Cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes, until golden and caramelized.  Cut any woody centers out of the parsnips and discard. Cook the parsnips in boiling water for 5-7 minutes, until tender. Drain well and put into a bowl. Mash until smooth.

Beat the eggs and milk together and stir in half the cheese, season and stir in the onions and parsnips. Pour the mixture into the tart pan and scatter the remaining cheese over the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until just set in the middle. Remove from the tin and serve warm with a crisp green salad.

Oven Dried Tomatoes

Among the tomatoes that we planted this year, one plant was La Roma II Red. These are the biggest Romas I've seen - most of them being at least 3 inches long. They were meaty and worked well in a sauce when combined with other varieties of tomatoes, but I knew I wanted to dry some in the oven.

I took about 36 tomatoes and after cutting off both ends, halved them and put them on a parchment-lined tray. Yay for parchment! It makes cleanup so much easier. I dusted the tomatoes lightly with pepper and Kosher salt and drizzled just a bit of olive oil over them.

These went into a 300° F oven for 3 hours. Some of the bigger ones still had quite a bit of juice in them, so I turned the tomatoes and continued roasting them for another hour.

This is what they looked like out of the oven. As soon as they had cooled some, I tried one, then another. And another. These are so flavorful! For lunch today I toasted a slice of french bread, added a little Dijon, some thinly sliced ham and topped it with three of the tomato halves. So good! I can't wait to use these tomatoes in recipes.

Our summer garden has been dug up after a freeze last weekend. It looks so barren and sad...

... compared to what it looked like it its heyday. We planted the garden the end of May, so it's a short season up here; only four months. We did get plenty of goodies, though - zucchini, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, sweet onions, green onions, radishes, garlic, bell peppers, jalapenos, yellow peppers, and rhubarb.


Here are some of the recipes I made with this year's harvest:
Zucchini Pancakes
Stuffed Zucchini
Zucchini & Tomato Saute
Sauteed Radishes
Fresh Spinach Frittata
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Rhubarb Pie
Tomato Soup
Piccalilli (made with green tomatoes)
Stuffed Tomatoes with Bleu Cheese

Zucchini Pancakes

Our garden zucchini was only moderately productive this summer. We ate all we grew except for a few that I stuffed and gave to the neighbors. We've eaten it fried, sautéed, grilled, baked, and boiled, so when this recipe came to my inbox from King Arthur Flour, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

This is a good recipe, as are most of the recipes that come from King Arthur. We had these pancakes for dinner with Oven Fried Buttermilk Chicken from Arlene at The Food of Love, and for breakfast the next morning with (venison) steak and eggs. I ate one cold for lunch with some Ranch dressing on the side, and it was just as good then!

The recipe calls for 1/4 to 1/2 cup oil, which I thought was a bit much. I only used 3 T oil and it turned out fine. 

Zucchini Pancakes - From King Arthur

4 cups grated zucchini

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan, Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or other cheese (or a combination)

4 eggs, beaten

1/4 to 1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly grated black pepper

1/4 cup (or more) chopped chives or onion

1 T freshly minced basil (or 1 tsp dried)

1 T freshly minced oregano (or 1 tsp dried)

1-1/2 to 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Grate the zucchini and cheese. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and oil until light. Beat in the salt and pepper. Blend in the chives or onion, herbs, zucchini and cheese. Add enough flour to hold the mixture together when dropped from a spoon. Heat a griddle until it is moderately hot, and grease it lightly. Drop the batter into the hot pan by the 1/4 cupful and brown the pancakes on both sides. Serve them as soon as they're done or keep them warm in the oven.

Piccalilli

We've had a tepid Summer in Montana with lots of rain. It wasn't weather that our garden needed to flourish. So, here it is the end of September and there are more green tomatoes on the vines than we've picked red tomatoes.

My friend, Jady at Cucino Panzano urged me to try her grandmother's recipe for Piccalilli that dates back to the 1800's! Jady says that this recipe is so perfect, she hasn't tweaked it a bit over the years.

The simplest of ingredients turned out to be a flavorful and aromatic relish. I haven't tried it with any meats yet, but I had more than a few spoonfuls before I canned it! It is delicious!

If you're lucky enough to have a garden with lots of green tomatoes leftover at the end of the season, or a neighbor with a garden, I hope you'll try this lovely, sweet relish for yourself!

Piccalilli - adapted slightly from Cucina Panzano

8# sliced green tomatoes (weigh after slicing)
3# sliced onion (weigh after slicing)
1/2 cup salt
4 cups apple cider vinegar
5 cups granulated sugar
16 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks

In a large pot, alternately layer sliced tomatoes and onions, sprinkling with salt between each layer. Cover pot and let stand overnight, unrefrigerated.

The next morning, drain the vegetables, but do not wash them. Put the cider vinegar into the pot, add sugar, cloves, and cinnamon sticks. Heat to boiling, until sugar has dissolved. Add tomatoes and onions and cook slowly until the vegetables are just tender. Remove from heat, cover pot, and let set overnight, unrefrigerated.

The next morning, bring the piccalilli to a rapid boil, stirring well. Do not cook anymore. Remove cinnamon sticks. With a slotted spoon, fill canning jars with vegetables. Fill jars with hot liquid leaving 1/8" headspace. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

This recipe made six 1-pint jars (2 cups).

Sauteed Radishes

How many radishes can you eat? I could eat one or two raw, maybe a few more in a salad, but the sting of a raw radish isn't something I appreciate. 

With more radishes coming from the garden than any two people really needed, I looked for something different to try. These sauteed radishes are mellow and sweet and caramelized and don't really taste like radishes at all! Next year I won't sigh as my gardener brings in handfuls of radishes - most of them will be going into the frying pan!

Sauteed Radishes adapted from Martha Stewart
10 radishes, halved or quartered depending on size
3 T butter
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper
freshly chopped parsley


Melt butter in a frying pan and saute radishes until browned. Add water and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and parsley. Serves 2.

Fresh Spinach Frittata

For the last week or so, I've been harvesting fresh spinach from the garden. We've had it in salads, in sandwiches, and I've cooked some as a vegetable side for dinner. I've been able to freeze some, too. After vaccum packing it, it freezes beautiful so we can have freshly cooked spinach long after the warm Montana sun gives way to Old Man Winter.

This frittata makes a nice light dinner, (which means there's room later for ice cream and berries)!

I used Cotija cheese, but you can add whatever type of cheese you like in this recipe. Any other ingredients you'd like to add can also be included. Think artichokes, asparagus, cubed ham, crumbled bacon, etc. After chopping the tomatoes, blotting them with paper towels to absorb most of the moisture will ensure your frittata bakes up light and fluffy instead of swimming in juices.

Fresh Spinach Frittata

½ large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 T fresh parsley, chopped

3 handfuls of fresh spinach

6 eggs

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 cup Half & Half

1-1/2 cups Cotija, crumbled

Salt & pepper to taste

2 Roma tomatoes, chopped

Olive oil

Saute onion and garlic in a cast iron (or ovenproof) skillet until soft and fragrant. Add parsley and stir. Add spinach, a little at a time and cook until wilted.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs until light.  Add red pepper flakes, Half & Half, Cotija, and salt and pepper. Blend well. Add tomatoes.

Pour egg mixture over spinach mixture and bring slowly to a simmer. Move pan to a 400 degree oven for 30-35 minutes, or until center of eggs are set and frittata is browned and puffed.