More hot weather and more, more or less quick dishes this week. The gazpacho should be a welcome, refreshing dish on these hot nights. I finally just made a batch of Veggie Bouillon with my leftover celery yesterday (and carrots and leeks from the share) so if you still have them lying around, take advantage. The poblano and corn pizza is delicious as is the slightly unusual German, braised cucumber dish I included last year as well and got rave reviews from some of you. And alas this week I’m really lacking in photos but I’ll try to add some throughout the week.
Happy Cooking!
Hot and Sour Eggplant
Gazpacho
Sautéed Celery with Tomatoes and Parsley
Homemade Veggie Bouillon
Quick Veggie “Bolognese” Sauce
Schmorgurken (German Braised Cucumbers)
Poblano Notes
Corn, Poblano and Feta Pizza
Hot and Sour Eggplant
This is quick and delicious. Serve this over rice and if you have time make the baked brown rice below. It’s converted the most ardent brown-rice haters.
2 large eggplant or several smaller ones, cubed (skin on)
1 medium Torpedo onion, diced
1 sweet red pepper (optional), diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or fresh, minced jalapeno or other hot pepper
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
3-4 tablespoons olive or sunflower or other oil
Stir together soy sauce, vinegar, red pepper flakes (or minced hot pepper), and cornstarch in a small bowel.
In a large skillet or work heat the oil and sauté onions and pepper (if using) over medium-high heat for about 5-7 minutes until they soften. Add eggplant and cook until softens and browns a bit, about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the sauce and sir well to mix and coat veggies. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes until sauce thickens and veggies are tender.
Serve hot over rice.
Baked Brown Rice
–from Alton Brown
I often make a double batch and freeze the other half.
1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon sea salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.
Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.
Gazpacho
There are many versions of this classic Spanish soup, served cold or at room temperature (when it was first made, before refrigeration) and most include tomatoes, cucumbers, stale bread, a bit of sweet pepper and olive oil and wine vinegar. You can play with the ratio based on what you have and/or your tastes. I’ve written it to include a poblano pepper here for a twist on the classic (and a little ground cumin) to take advantage of what you have this week.
Serves 4
1.5 – 2 lbs ripe, juicy tomatoes (about 4 medium)
1 small-to medium cucumber, peeled
1 poblano pepper, broiled until the skin is blistered and black and peeled and deseeded
About 2 tablespoons chopped Torpedo onion (optional)
1-2 slices good, day old crusty bread (crusts removed) (if you want a thinner soup use the smaller quantity)
1/4 cup good olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup water
Salt
If you have the time, bring a small pot of water to a boil and dunk the tomatoes in the boiling water for few seconds. Remove and peel the tomatoes. The skin should slip right off. You can omit this step and the soup will be fine.
Put all the ingredients in a food processor and process for a few seconds. You can leave it a bit chunky or puree it until quite smooth. I prefer a bit of texture. Taste and adjust seasoning. Refrigerate briefly. I prefer mine not too cold but chill as you please.
Garnish with a drizzle of good olive oil and/or finely minced red onion, sweet pepper or cucumber (or any combination of them) or toasted bread crumbs.
Sautéed Celery with Tomatoes and Parsley
–adapted from Cooking From an Italian Garden by Paola Scaravelli & Jon Cohen
This is a fun side dish–the combination of the cooked celery and the parsley both stewed and fresh at the end is delicious. It’s good with a frittata or even over pasta or quinoa or some such. You can easily halve this dish too and save some of the celery for the pasta sauce, etc.
1 medium bunch celery, trimmed and cut into 1-2-inch pieces (reserve leaves for soups, salads, etc.) (I wrote this recipe before I saw the size of the celery bunches so I would use about 8 stalks or so)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 ½ cups diced tomatoes
3 tablespoons parsley, chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan, for serving (optional)
Steam celery for 5-7 minutes, until just tender when pierced with a knife. Remove from the heat and drain.
In a large, heavy skillet heat the oil over medium-high heat and add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until it’s fragrant, about 30 seconds and then add the tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of the parsley and salt and pepper. Stir together, then stir in the celery. Cook, stirring often, until the tomatoes have cooked down and the mixture is reduced and thickened, about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Serve with the remaining parsley and scattering of grated Parmesan if you’d like.
Quick Veggie “Bolognese” Sauce
It really makes no sense to name a sauce in this way since Bolognese connotes ground pork and beef but somehow the classic sofritto that is the foundation of a good Bolognese is the star of the show here. And of course you can add the meat if you’d like and make it “real”. Assuming you have a couple of carrots leftover you can make this. . . .
Olive oil
2-3 medium carrots scrubbed and finely diced
1 Torpedo onion, finely diced
3 stalks celery and a handful of celery leaves, finely chopped
Sea salt
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup dry white or red wine (optional)
6 cups diced tomatoes (blanched and peeled if you’re feeling ambitious though it really is a cinch to dunk tomatoes in boiling water for a few seconds and then peel them)
Heat about 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large, heavy skillet. When hot add the onion, carrot and celery and a few pinches salt. Saute over medium-high heat, stirring often. When things begin softening and browning turn the heat down a bit. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes are so until the vegetables are very soft and fragrant.
Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the wine and cook for a couple of minutes until evaporated. Add the tomatoes and a bit more salt. Stir well and then simmer for about 15 minutes until reduced and saucy. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve with any kind of pasta, over rice or quinoa or other grains or polenta.
Homemade Veggie Bouillon
Repeat from last week. . . You may have some of the ingredients leftover from previous weeks that you need for making this workhorse (and more fresh celery this week), fresh veggie stock I always keep on hand (you can skip the celery root this time of year and use a bit more stalk celery, carrot etc. and you can also skip the dried tomato). If you made it and used it in the soup above you would need to buy more leeks so you can also just use water in the soup above and skip making the bouillon.
5 ounces leek, sliced and well-washed
(about 1 medium)
7 ounces carrots, well scrubbed and chopped
(about 3-4 medium)
3.5 ounces celery (about 2 big stalks)
3.5 ounces celery root (celeriac), peeled and chopped (about a 3” x 3″ chunk)
1 ounce sun-dried tomatoes
(about 6 dried tomatoes)
3.5 ounces onion or shallots, peeled (2 small shallots or 1/2 a small-medium onion)
1 medium garlic clove
6 ounces sea salt or kosher salt (scant 1 cup)
1.5 ounces parsley, loosely chopped
(about 1/3 of a bunch)
2 ounces cilantro, loosely chopped (about ½ bunch)
This recipe requires a food processor. As Heidi notes you can also just make this with what you have. Onions, celery, carrots and parsley are enough. Use the proportions that work for you. Use 1/3 cup salt for each 2 cups of finely processed veggies/herbs.
Place the first four ingredients in your food processor and process until well broken down. Add the next three ingredients, and process again. Add the salt, process some more. Then add the parsley and cilantro. You may need to stir up the vegetables and herbs, so they all get processed evenly.
You should end up with a moist, loose paste of sorts. Pack the paste into a quart jar or container and freeze it for the next 2-3 months. Because of all the salt the bouillon stays scoop-able when frozen for easy use.
Start by using 2 teaspoons of bouillon per 1 cup (250 ml), and adjust from there based on your personal preference.
Schmorgurken (German Braised Cucumbers)
There are many variations of this dish in Germany and I grew up with this simple, sweet and sour vegetarian one. Often ground beef or small meatballs are added to the mix and sometimes also tomato. I don’t know of any cooked cucumber dishes in the states but having grown up with this one it doesn’t seem odd to me and is well worth a try. The quantities are squishy for this recipe, confirmed by my mother when I called her about the recipe. Just scale up or down to taste and depending on what you have.
Olive oil
2 large or 3 medium cucumbers, peeled and cut in half lengthwise and seeds removed with a teaspoon
½ cup sour cream
1 tablespoon white wine or cider vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
Salt and lots of freshly ground pepper
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (you can substitute parsley but dill is best)
Cooked rice for serving.
Put your rice on to cook—we grew up eating this over long grain white rice but you could by all means use brown as well.
Cut the halved cucumbers into ½-inch half rounds. In a large, heavy skillet sauté the cucumber slices in a bit of olive oil over medium to medium-high heat, stirring frequently. They will release quite a bit of liquid, which is great. It will add to the sauce. When they are translucent and softening (about 10 minutes) add the sour cream, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer for about 5 minutes more until the cucumbers are completely tender and the sauce has thickened a little. Add the dill, taste and adjust for salt and pepper and serve hot over rice.
Poblano Notes
Poblano peppers are central to Mexican cuisine. They are meaty, fragrant and very flavorful and greatly vary in their level of heat/spice with most of them being fairly mild. They are usually roasted (or broiled) and peeled and seeded before either stuffing or adding to salsas, soups, sauces, etc. Chiles en nogada and chile relleno are the two most famous Mexican dishes featuring poblano peppers. Poblano peppers turn red and almost black when fully mature and when dried are called chili ancho.
Corn, Poblano and Feta Pizza
This pizza was a last minute creation last year and became part of the repertoire. Grand Central Bakery’s whole wheat pizza dough is perfect here. By all means make your own if you have time.
1 ball pizza dough (14 ounces, more or less)
Kernels form 3 ears of corn
2 tablespoons minced onion (optional)
3 poblanos, broiled until black and blistered, peeled and deseeded and finely chopped
½ cup crumbled feta
½ or so cup finely diced tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt
Preheat oven (or grill) to 500 degrees with a pizza stone if you have one.
Flour a pizza peel or the back of a cookie sheet. Stretch out your dough into a nice big round-ish shape and place on the peel. Working quickly brush the dough with a bit of olive oil and then evenly distribute the remaining ingredients. Sprinkle the whole thing with salt.
With a decisive but careful couple of jerks of your wrist transfer the pizza directly onto the hot stone. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the edges are browned and the toppings are beginning to brown as well.