Lots of recipes this week for this late summer bounty. It’s going to be another hot week. And if you have children who like to help in the kitchen there are plenty of hands-on activites, from making kabobs to topping pizza and chopping or grating vegetables. Happy Cooking!
Corn and Summer Squash Fritters
Chickpea, Tomato, Egg and Wheat Berry Salad
Onion, Squash and Beef Kabobs (with Jalapeno Yogurt Sauce)
Pizza with Tomatoes and Red Onion
Green Salad with Corn and Cumin Lime Dressing
Fresh Salsa (Pico de Gallo)
Bean and Salsa Salad
Cilantro Jalapeno Yogurt Sauce
Carrot and Harissa Salad
Tacos/Quesadillas with Corn and Squash
Corn and Summer Squash Fritters
This is quite similar to the plain summer squash pancake but the addition of corn, cumin and some herbs gives it a different and slightly heftier character.
2 medium zucchini or any summer squash
2 ears of corn
3 tablespoons finely diced onions
2 eggs
1/3 cup cold water
1/3 cup flour
Salt and Pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons oregano, parsley or basil, chopped (optional)
Olive oil for frying
Grate the zucchini/squash on the large holes of a grater onto a clean kitchen towel. Sprinkle with some salt and let it rest while you gather and prep the remaining ingredients.
Wrap the zucchini in the towel and wring as much liquid out of it as possible, discarding the liquid.
Cook the ears of corn in boiling water for just a minute or two. Cut the kernels off the cob. If you do this in a large bowl the kernels will be pretty much contained and not fly all over the kitchen.
In a medium bowl whisk the eggs with the water and flour and then add the drained zucchini, onion, corn, cumin and freshly ground pepper. Add herbs if you’re using any. Mix well and taste and adjust seasoning.
Add a scant tablespoon of oil to a large skillet. Place the pan over medium-high heat. Spoon about 2 tablespoons (about a ¼ cup) of batter into the pan. Depending on the size of your pan you should be able to fry about 3-5 at once. Flatten them a bit with the back of a spatula and cook until the fritters are golden brown on each side, 4 to 6 minutes.
Serve with a simple fresh salsa or tomato sauce or some Greek yogurt or just plain.
Chickpea, Tomato, Egg and Wheat Berry Salad
This is a meal-in-one and can be adapted and scaled as you see fit. Use barley or frikeh or any other grain you have.
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 cup cooked wheat berries or barley or frikeh
2 hardboiled eggs, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons basil or parsley or a combination, chopped
A bit of onion diced or sliced
2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2-3 tablespoons good olive oil
Combine the mustard, vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil in a small bowl. In a large bowl gently toss the salad ingredients with the dressing. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Onion, Squash and Beef Kabobs (with Jalapeno Yogurt Sauce)
This is a simple a lovely combination. If you don’t have a grill you can also broil these, with our without skewering the veggies, turning often to ensure somewhat even cooking.
The below jalapeno yogurt cilantro sauce is a lovely accompaniment to the sweet, smoky vegetables.
1-2 Red Cabernet onions, trimmed and cut into 1-1/2 inch squares/chunks, more or less
2 summer squash, cut into bite-sized pieces
Cubed beef (however much you want- ½ lb is probably about right for 4 people)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Finely chopped parsley and oregano or other herbs of your choice
Juice of one lime
In a small bowl mix the olive oil with the herbs, lime juice and plenty of salt and pepper. Taste the marinade. It should be bright and salty.
Toss the vegetables and meat in the marinade and let sit for 15 minutes, if you can. Thread the vegetables onto skewers and grill, turning occasionally, until beginning to char and the vegetables are tender but not soft.
Serve with jalapeno yogurt cilantro sauce and good, crusty bread or a bean or grain salad.
Pizza with Tomatoes and Red Onion
You can either make a super quick sauce with your tomatoes or just slice them and use them raw on this pizza. I generally like sauce but I occasionally like the combination of fresh tomatoes, red onion rings, a little oregano or basil and feta or mozzarella for a pizza too.
If you have read made pizza dough (Grand Central, Hot Lips, New Seasons, Pastaworks, etc. ) this takes no time to make. You could add thinly slice rounds of summer squash as well.
1 ball pizza dough (14oz more or less)
2 medium tomatoes, sliced thinly into rounds on the equator
½ an onion, thinly sliced into rounds
1 tablespoon chopped basil or combination of basil and oregano
Olive oil
Salt
Cheese of choice (feta, mozzarella, Parmesan. . . )
Baking on a baking sheet:
Stretch out your pizza dough into a large round. If you don’t have a pizza stone on which you can bake the pizza directly, place the dough on a large cookie sheet, arrange the tomatoes evenly, top with onions, generous drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of salt, herbs and cheese and bake at 425 degrees until browning in spots and cooked through.
Baking directly on a pizza stone:
If you have a stone preheat your oven to 500 (probably the highest your oven will go) with your pizza stone in it. Let it heat up for 20-30 minutes if you have the time. Remove the top wrack in the oven to give yourself more room to maneuver later. And if you don’t have a pizza peel (the long-handled wooden tool with which you slide the pizza onto the hot stone) then flour the back (or front if it’s flat with no rims) cookie sheet and spread your stretched out pizza dough on the floured sheet.
You can dust the back of the cookie sheet with a mix of cornmeal and flour which will help the pizza slide off onto the stone. Then top it evenly with tomatoes, onions, generous drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of salt cheese and herbs. Now with your oven and stone hot, and pizza on a well-floured cookie sheet, open the oven. Place the far end of the cookie sheet towards the back of the pizza stone at a 25 degree angle (or thereabouts) and then with a quick jerk of the wrist pull the cookie sheet back and let the pizza slide onto the hot stone in the oven. It should come off very easily at this point. And be very sure not to have any topping pieces or even drips of oil or sauce come between the baking sheet and the bottom of the pizza. The slightest bit of this will make the pizza stick.
Bake until the edges are dark brown and the topping is bubbling and add the basil just before it’s done.
Pizza Dough
–adapted from Jim Lahey
Pizza dough freezes beautifully. So if you’re only going to use half of it or want to make a double batch and save some for future use, just lightly oil a 1 qt freezer bag and put ½ a recipe worth of pizza dough in. Thaw it thoroughly and bring it to room temperature before using. Then handle exactly the same as fresh dough.
In Jim Lahey’s original recipe he has you bake the pizzas on a sheet pan. I do that sometimes, especially for his potato pizza because there’s so much topping, but usually I bake them right on a pizza stone which makes them wonderfully crisp. If you’re using a pizza stone you don’t need any oil and just place the stretched out piece of dough onto a well-floured pizza peel (or the back of a cookie shit if you don’t have a peel) and after you’ve added the toppings you slide it right onto the hot stone.
I have tried this recipe with half whole wheat flour and half white. It turns out fine but is a bit of a different animal—not as crisp a bit nuttier and chewier—as you might expect.
500 grams bread flour (3 3/4 cups)
2 1/2 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast (10 grams)
3/4 teaspoons table salt (5 grams)
3/4 teaspoon sugar, plus a pinch (about 3 grams)
1 1/3 – 1 1/2 cups room temperature water
extra-virgin olive oil for pans
In a medium bowl, stir together the bread flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until blended, at least 30 seconds. The dough should be able to contain all of the flour, if it seems dry or if there is excess flour at the bottom of the bowl, add water a tablespoon at a time.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let sit at room temperature until the dough has doubled in volume, about 2-3 hours.
Punch down the dough and cut in half to make two balls.
Green Salad with Corn and Cumin Lime Dressing
6 cups lettuce, washed, dried and torn or chopped
1 medium tomato, diced or ½ pint cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons thinly sliced or diced onion
1-2 sweet red peppers, seeded, quartered or halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (optional)
Kernels from one two ears corn (briefly cooked)
½ cup roughly chopped fresh herbs such as cilantro, basil, dill, mint or chives (in any combination)
1/3 cup toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds (optional)
1 tablespoon lime juice
3 tablespoons good olive oil
Plenty of freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Sea Salt
Put all salad ingredients in a large salad bowl. Mix the dressing in a small bowl and pour over salad or just add dressing ingredients to the vegetables. Toss, taste and adjust seasoning with more lime juice, oil or salt or pepper. Serve immediately.
Fresh Salsa (Pico de Gallo)
You have all the ingredients for the sweetest, freshest and most savory salsa in your share this week.
1 – 11/2 lbs tomatoes (4 medium more or less), washed, cored and finely chopped or diced
½ – 1 jalapeno, finely minced (de-seed the pepper if you’re unsure of your comfort with the heat level—my guess is that you can leave the seeds in, for at least part of it)
2 tablespoons, finely chopped onion
¼ cup cilantro, well washed and dried and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced and then mashed with some coarse salt and the side of a chef’s knife into a paste (or just mince)
Sea salt
Mix everything together well and adjust seasoning with salt. Serve with chips or with fish tacos or any kind of tacos or with quesadillas or as a side for grilled fish or vegetables or pretty much anything.
Bean and Salsa Salad
This is so delicious, hearty and fresh. I could eat it daily. You could add shredded cooked chicken to this for more heft too.
3 cups cooked and cooled black beans (or pinto or cranberry or pretty much any kind of bean)
1 ½ cups (or more) of the fresh salsa above
More chopped cilantro
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1 lime
½ cup of crumbled feta (optional)
Mix everything well and taste and adjust seasoning with salt and/or lime juice/zest. Serve at room temperature or cold.
Cilantro Jalapeno Yogurt Sauce
I’ve given you this idea before but minus the jalapeno. Adding some of the pepper gives it even more depth and of course heat.
Toss ½ a bunch or so of cilantro into a food processor (or chopping finally) with a 1/3 cup of Greek yogurt (or plain, whole milk yogurt), a minced jalapeno (with or without seeds and membranes depending on how much heat you like) some minced garlic, some lemon zest, salt, pepper and a little olive oil. This is delicious on any grains or fish or with steamed or roasted veggies. It would be delicious over roasted or boiled potatoes. You could put it in fish tacos or pita sandwiches, etc.
Carrot and Harissa Salad
–adapted from smittenkitchen.com
This salad is addictive. And if you don’t have harissa in your pantry it will likely be a worthwhile addition. It’s a wonderful addition to dressing and rubs and soups, etc. You can also use cilantro instead of the mint and parsley below or any combination of the three.
4-5 medium carrots, scrubbed, trimmed and grated on the large holes of a box grater
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds or about half as much, ground (I used seeds but ground them first)
3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds or about half as much, ground (I used the seed but ground them first, again)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
¾ – 1 teaspoon harissa (for a solid kick of heat; adjust yours to taste, and to the heat level of your harissa)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons mint, finely chopped
2 ounces feta, crumbled
In a small sauté pan, cook the garlic, caraway, cumin, paprika, harissa and sugar in the oil until fragrant, about one to two minutes. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Pour over the carrots and mix. Add the herbs and mix. Leave to infuse for an hour and add the feta before eating.
Tacos/Quesadillas with Corn and Squash
I made this on the fly for dinner last week and it was devoured. Alas it was devoured so quickly that I forgot to take pictures. Hardly a recipe but a good idea for this time of year. . .scale up or down as you see fit, and adapt away with herbs and/or spices.
Oil
¼ onion, cut into small dice
Kernels from 2-3 ears corn
1 medium summer squash, cut into small dice
1 clove garlic, minced
½ jalapeno, minced (seeds and all) or more
Salt and pepper
Chopped cilantro
Corn tortillas (or whatever you have)
Grated cheese or sour cream or Greek yogurt
Salsa/hot sauce (optional)
Saute onion, jalapeno and squash in a bit of oil for about 5 minutes until softening. Add corn and garlic and good for another 5 minutes. Add a little water or oil if too dry. Salt and pepper to taste
Now you have several options. You can warm up your tortillas and then spread with a little sour cream or Greek yogurt and top with the corn sauté and then top with a little grated cheese and cilantro, or you can omit the cream/yogurt and make quesadillas, filled with the corn mixture.
Either way dress up with salsa and cilantro or enjoy as is.