And . . . another hot week! I’ve tried to include some no/little heat dishes like the panzanella–it’s definitely panzanella week with the tomatoes, cukes, onion and basil. And if you didn’t make the chickpea and celery salad from a few weeks ago, do. It’s such a winner!
Sauteed Celery with Tomatoes and Parsley
Panzanella
Pasta with Sweet Corn Pesto and Basil
Chard and Chickpea Stew with Tomatoes and Cumin
Long-cooked Chard and Onions
Cucumber, Watermelon, Tropea Onion Salad with Feta and Black Olives
Corn and Zucchini Fritters
Raw Zucchini Salad with Basil and Toasted Nuts
Sauteed Celery with Tomatoes and Parsley
This is a delicious dish–the combination of the cooked celery, tomatoes, garlic and parsley is unusual—inspired by an old Italian cookbook I have and totally worth making. It’s good with a frittata or even over pasta or quinoa or some such.
Serves 4
1 small bunch celery, trimmed and cut into 1-2-inch pieces (about 8-10 stalks)
1 tablespoon good olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes or 1 14-ounce can tomatoes, roasted or plain
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, parsley, 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 grated Parmesan if you’d like.
Panzanella
This is the classic Tuscan bread salad made at the height of tomato season. Tuscan bread goes stale very quickly so there are lots of recipes to use it up in flavorful ways. The success of the dish depends on using really flavorful, ripe tomatoes and good olive oil. And you can use fresher bread if you don’t have stale—see directions below.
I know that when you order Panzanella in restaurants in the US you get toasted chunks of bread more like croutons, tossed with tomatoes, etc. This version is what I learned and ate in Tuscany. Please give it a try. The texture is completely different than what is served here but much more integrated and I think better. Would love to hear reports if you make it.
Serves 4-6 (I serve this almost like a main dish)
4 cups diced stale bread (white or partial whole wheat is fine – Grand Central Como or Peasant is perfect for this or something similar—it just can’t be soft, enriched sandwich bread)
4 ripe and juicy medium tomatoes, cut into large dice
1 cup or more chopped cucumbers
3 tablespoons capers, rinsed and roughly chopped
1 small Tropea onion, very thinly sliced and soaked in cold water for 30 minutes, drained and patted dry if the onion is sharper than you like to eat raw. I probably won’t soak them.
1-2 garlic cloves, minced or grated
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
If the bread is quite stale, soak it in water for 15 minutes (Tuscan bread gets much harder than the bread we typically have here) If it’s not terribly stale you can just sprinkle it with a bit of water to moisten it slightly. If your bread is fresh then just tear or cut it up as is and skip any moistening steps.
Combine the vegetables, basil and garlic in a large salad bowl. When ready, drain the bread cubes (if you soaked them) and squeeze all the water out of them using your hands. Crumble the bread over the vegetables. In a small bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and stir well. Pour over salad and toss to combine really well. Adjust seasoning to taste. This salad should have a good vinegary kick and be strongly flavored with the basil, capers and garlic.
Pasta with Sweet Corn Pesto and Basil
This dish is ridiculously good and I include it every year. It’s sort of height-of-summer comfort food, in a very good way. To make this vegetarian, instead of the bacon you can sauté the corn in butter or olive oil and add 1 teaspoon of pimenton (smoked Spanish Paprika) and then add a few squeezes of lime juice at the very end.
Serves 4
3 bacon slices, diced
3-4 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from about 5 large ears)
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 teaspoons sea salt
Plenty of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or 1 serrano chili minced (with seeds if you like heat)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan or aged Asiago or Pecorino cheese
1/4 cup almonds, pine nuts, walnuts or hazelnuts (I typically use almonds because that’s what I have on hand)
1/3 cup good olive oil
3/4 lb penne or fettucine or tagliatelle
3/4 cup torn basil leaves, divided
Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp and brown. Remove from pan and set aside. Pour off all but 1-2 tablespoon bacon fat (and reserve for frying potatoes or some such). To the skillet with the bacon fat add corn, garlic, about 1 teaspoon sea salt, red pepper flakes or serrano pepper, and some black pepper. Sauté over medium-high heat until corn is just tender, about 4 minutes. Transfer 1 1/2 cups corn kernel mixture to a bowl and reserve. Process almonds until finely ground, add cheese, process again, then scrape remaining corn mixture into processor. With machine running, add olive oil and blend until pesto is almost smooth. Set pesto aside.
Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot. Add corn pesto, reserved corn kernels, bacon (if using) and 1/2 cup basil leaves. Toss pasta mixture over medium heat until warmed through, adding reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to thin to desired consistency, 2 to 3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Transfer pasta to a serving dish. Sprinkle with remaining basil leaves and serve immediately.
Chard and Chickpea Stew with Tomatoes and Cumin
I think this was inspired by a photo in Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty but it came about in a great hurry one night when I had cooked chickpeas on hand and a few other things in the crisper and dinner needed to happen soon. Also, my six-year-old loves pretty much any dhal or Indian-inspired dish so I added cumin and brown mustard seeds to this dish and sure enough, he loved it. If you have carrots on hand by all means use a couple here if you’d like.
You could add ground lamb or beef to this dish after you’ve sauteed the onions if you’d like.
Serves 4
Olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, scrubbed and cut into small dice (see headnote) (optional)
1 bunch chard, well washed and chopped, stems washed and chopped fairly finely
11/2 teaspoons whole cumin seed (or 2 teaspoons ground)
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes or 1 minced, seeded Serrano or jalapeño pepper
1 cup diced tomatoes, juice too
2-3 cups cooked chickpeas, drained (you can use some cooking liquid if you have home-cooked ones)
1 cup water or chickpea cooking liquid
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Greek yogurt for serving
In a large skillet, heat some olive oil. Add the onions, chard stems, and carrots, if using, and sauté for about 10 minutes until softening and browning. Add the cumin and mustard seeds and red pepper flakes or hot pepper and cook for another 2 minutes or so. Add the tomatoes, chickpeas and chard and water or cooking liquid, stirring well, and a few pinches of salt. Bring to a lively simmer, then turn down and cook gently for about 10 minutes so the chickpeas have a chance to absorb the flavors. Taste and adjust seasoning. You can add a squeeze of lemon juice at this point if you want. Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt and enjoy.
Long-cooked Chard and Onions
This is a bit of an atypical way to cook chard since you cook it for a quite a long time. It is well worth it though—silky and rich.
Wash a large bunch of chard. Separate the leaves from the stems and reserve stems for another use or slice them thinly and use them in this dish. Cut the leaves into 1-2 inch ribbons. Slice a large onion and begin stewing it and the stems, if using, in some olive oil in a good-sized sauté pan. When the onion has softened a bit add the chard, season with salt and pepper, cover and stew, stirring occasionally for 20-30 minutes. The moisture from the leaves and onions should be enough to cook it, slowly, but if it gets too dry you can add just a little water. Remove from heat when the vegetables are silky and tender.
I’ve used this as a pizza topping with some feta, as a pasta sauce or just a side to whatever else I made for dinner. It’s also wonderful with eggs.
Cucumber, Watermelon, Tropea Onion Salad with Feta and Black Olives
–Slightly adapted from Racheleats.com
Sweet, salty, cool, crunchy and full of herbs. This is just a powerfully fun combination.
Serves 4-6
1/3 cup thinly sliced mild red Tropea onion
2-3 tablespoons just barely chopped parsley leaves
About 12 mint leaves, torn a bit
1/4 cup black olives, pitted and cut in half
1 lb watermelon, peeled, deseeded and cut into bite-sized cubes
1 medium cucumber, peeled if skin is tough/chewy, and diced (if the cucumber is quite seedy remove the seeds–this will also prevent the salad from getting too watery)
4 ounces feta, cut in medium cubes or crumbled
3 tablespoons good olive oil
Lime or lemon juice to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt (go easy with the salt because of the olive and feta)
Put the watermelon, cucumber, feta, parsley, mint, onion and black olives into a shallow bowl or on a platter. Drizzle with the olive oil, lime juice and some pepper and just a touch of salt. Toss the salad gently so that the feta and melon don’t lose their shape. Taste, and add more lemon or lime juice, olive oil or pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Corn and Zucchini Fritters (panfried)
Addictive!
Yields about 14 – 16 4-inch fritters
11/2 lbs zucchini or any summer squash
2-3 ears of corn
3 tablespoons finely diced Torpedo onions
2 eggs
1/3 cup cold water
1/3 cup flour (of any kind)
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.
Raw Summer Squash Salad with Toasted Almonds and or Basil
I am not generally a fan of raw zucchini or summer squash but this salad I like. The toasted almonds are key to the success, offering a nice crunchy contrast to the soft vegetables.
3 small or 2 medium zucchini or other summer squash (use the smallest, densest ones you have)
2 tablespoons, finely chopped Tropea onion
1/3 cup chopped toasted almonds
2 tablespoons chopped basil
Juice of 1 lemon (might need a little less so start with ½ a lemon)
Good olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Trim the squash and depending on what shape/kind they are, you have various options of cutting them. You can use a vegetable peeler which takes some time but gives you lovely, thin ribbons. Or if you have a box grater with a single slicing blade on one side you can use that or you can just use a sharp knife and cut them as thinly as you can by hand.
Put the thinly sliced squash in a colander and toss with a little salt. Let sit for 15 minutes. Gently squeeze out any liquid you can but don’t try too hard or you’ll break down the pieces. Put the squash in a bowl and loosen it up a bit. Add all the remaining ingredients and toss well and taste and adjust seasoning with more lemon juice, salt and/or olive oil.