Oh this is blissful cooking weather! The beautiful escarole (and frisee for some) will stand up nicely to strong flavors like the blue cheese in the recipe below. It likes mustardy dressings and toasty nuts and most any strong cheese. Happy cooking!
Corn and Sweet Pepper Sauté with Dill
Sweet Pepper and Onion Tian
Spiced Red Lentils with Tomatoes and Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
Deviled Eggs with Lots of Dill
Farro (Barley, Wheatberry) Salad with Carrots and Dill
German-style Kohlrabi with Dill
Kohlrabi Pickles (link)
Eggplant and Green Sauce Sandwiches/Wraps
Escarole with Apples and Blue Cheese
Corn and Sweet Pepper Saute with Dill
This is a quick, savory pan-full of late summer goodness. The dill adds a nice herby touch. And this is more technique than recipe. You can omit the potatoes, use Anaheim or Poblano peppers for some heat, add mushrooms. . . you get the idea.
Serves 3-4 as a side
Olive oil
1/2 an onion, diced
Kernels from 2-3 ears corn
2 sweet red peppers (or other–see headnote)
2-3 red (or other waxy) potatoes, scrubbed and cut into small dice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon chopped dill
Just a little sherry or red wine vinegar, if needed and to taste
In a large heavy skillet heat 1-2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, peppers and potatoes and several pinches of salt. Cook, stirring frequently until the peppers and potatoes are tender. Add the corn and a tablespoon of water and cook for another 3-5 minutes until everything is tender. Stir in the dill and taste and adjust seasoning. Add a little vinegar if you’d like.
Sweet Pepper and Onion Tian
–slightly adapted from Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison
If you have a full share and can part with your onions and peppers in one dish, make this. It’s very, very good. All you need is some time. The preparation is dead simple but it takes 90 minutes to bake. It’s just as good or better the next day so you could make it one night while you’re making something else for dinner and then have it the next day.
The first day, prepared according to Deborah Madison’s simple recipe in Vegetable Literacy, this is delicious. The second day (breakfast) it’s even better with a fried egg, and the third day it might turn into a most memorable pasta sauce.
Serves 4-6 (makes great leftovers, see headnote)
2 regular red onions or 3-4 small-ish Torpedo onions or any onions you have
2-3 sweet red peppers
2 medium-sized tomatoes
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
5 to 6 thyme branches or several pinches of dried
6 small garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine, sherry or balsamic vinegar (or to taste)
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Peel and quarter the onions, leaving the base intact. Halve the peppers both crosswise and lengthwise, remove the seeds and veins, and cut them into pieces roughly 1/2 inch wide. Remove the core from the tomatoes and cut them into sixths.
Spread a bit of olive oil over the bottom of a gratin dish, scatter the thyme over it, and add the vegetables, including the garlic and arrange in the dish. Drizzle the remaining oil over the vegetables, being sure to coat the onions and peppers. Season with salt and pepper.
Cover the tian and bake for 1 1/2 hours. The vegetables should be very soft, the tomatoes melting into a jam. Remove it from the oven and pour the liquid that has collected into a small saucepan. Add a teaspoon of vinegar, bring the liquid to a boil, and reduce until it is thick and syrupy. Taste for vinegar and salt; then pour the syrup over the vegetables.
Serve warm or at room temperature with most anything–good crusty bread or fried slabs of polenta is excellent.
Spiced Red Lentils with Tomatoes and Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
-adapted from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
This is a bit similar to a previous red lentil dish I’ve posted but this is thicker a bit spicier and doesn’t haven any coconut milk. If, like me, you have jalapenos and cucumbers left over from the last week, this will be a great dish—and of course it uses this week’s tomatoes.
The ingredient list looks long but once you make the spice paste it does come together pretty easily.
Serves 4
1 small bunch cilantro (stems and roots if possible), well washed and shaken dry
½ a red onion, roughly chopped
2 1/2 inches ginger, peeled and roughly hopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeds removed or left in for more heat, roughly chopped
1½ teaspoons black mustard seeds
3 tablespoons sunflower or olive oil
1½ teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1 ¾ cups tomatoes, chopped
1 cup red lentils
Salt
1½ tablespoons lime juice
Reserved chopped cilantro leaves
¾ cup Greek yogurt
1 cup finely diced cucumber
Salt
Cut the cilantro bunch in two to get a leafy top part and a stem/root bottom part. If you don’t have a bunch with roots just use all the stems for this part. Roughly chop the leaves and set aside. Put the stems/roots in a food processor with the onion, ginger, garlic and chili and process to a rough paste, see above.
Put the mustard seeds in a heavy-bottomed pot and place over medium heat. When they begin to pop, add the oil and onion/cilantro mix, stir and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Add the spices and continue cooking and stirring for a few minutes longer. Add the lentils and 3 cups water, the tomatoes and a couple of pinches of salt. Partially cover and simmer for about 25-30 minutes, until the lentils are nice and tender but still have just a bit of their shape.
Before serving, whisk together the yogurt, cucumber and some salt. Stir in the lime juice and chopped cilantro, taste and season with salt if needed. Divide into bowls, spoon yogurt on top. You can serve this over rice if you’d like or enjoy as is.
Deviled Eggs with Lots of Dill
I like lots of fresh herbs in my deviled eggs and preferably homemade mayonnaise, which really is quite simple to make. You can scale this recipe however you’d like. You want a creamy consistency for the filling so just start adding and adjust and taste as you go.
6 hardboiled eggs*, peeled
1-2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
3 tablespoons homemade (or store bought) mayonnaise
2 tablespoon finely chopped dill
2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Slice eggs in half lengthwise. Scoop out yolks and put into a bowl. Mash with a fork and add the remainder of the ingredients until well mixed. Adjust seasoning to your liking. Fill mixture back into egg halves with a teaspoon. Decorate with a bit of the chopped herbs if you like.
*Note on hard boiling eggs: Cover eggs generously with cold water and bring to a boil. As soon as the water boils turn off the heat. For eggs where you want the yolk firm but not dry, leave in hot water for 10-11 minutes depending on the size of the eggs. Drain and fill pot with cold water to stop cooking. For eggs that have solid yolks but have a slightly creamier interior (for salads, Salad Nicoise, etc.) take out of hot water after 8-9 minutes.
Farro (Barley, Wheatberry) Salad with Carrots and Dill
This is a substantial but light grain salad. Carrots and dill are a classic combination and with the addition of plenty of lemon juice and green onions (or red onions) it’s a beautiful and fresh dish that keeps well–good for potlucks and picnics. You can also add kohlrabi or use those instaed of the carrots. You can substitute most any grain here and quinoa would work well too and be quicker cooking if you’re in hurry.
1 cup farro, hulled or pearled (pearled cooks more quickly but I prefer just hulled—more of a whole grain)
2 cups carrots, cut on the bias into ¼-inch slices and/or 2 cups kohlrabi, peeled and diced ½-inch
3 tablespoons dill, chopped
1 medium clove garlic, minced
2 greens onions, thinly sliced or 1 tablespoon finely diced or sliced red onion (optional)
3-4 tablespoons slivered almonds, toasted (optional but very good)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or more to taste or red wine vinegar)
2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Put the farro in a sauce pan with 3 cups water and ¾ teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer and cook, covered, until the farro is tender—some kernels will break open which is just fine. This will take about 45 minutes if it’s hulled farro and a bit less for pearled. Test occasionally for doneness. When tender, drain well and put in a bowl and let cool a bit.
Meanwhile, sauté the carrots, and/or kohlrabi in ½ tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat with a few pinches of salt until tender and caramelizing a bit—about 10 minutes.
Add the carrots (kohlrabi) to the farro and all the remaining ingredients. Stir well and adjust seasoning.
German-style Kohlrabi with Dill
I grew up in Germany eating kohlrabi where it is often par-boiled and then sautéed with dill and cream and finished with a little lemon juice or vinegar. An elegant, simple and satisfying preparation.
2 medium kohlrabi, peeled and cut into ½-inch or slightly larger dice
1 1/2 tablespoons butter (or olive oil)
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup kohlrabi cooking water
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream or sour cream
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice or white wine vinegar (more to taste)
2 tablespoons chopped dill
Put the kohlrabi in a sauce pan, barely cover with water and simmer until its tender—about 7-10 minutes. Drain the kohlrabi reserving 1 1/2 cups of cooking water.
Melt the butter in a skillet, add the flour and whisk until smooth and cook this roux for about 2 minutes over medium-low heat, whisking almost constantly. Slowly whisk in 1 cup of reserved, hot cooking liquid. Season with salt and cook until thickened a bit which should just take a minute or two. If it’s too thick add more cooking liquid and if quite thin continue simmering until it thickens. Add the cooked kohlrabi and cream or sour cream to the pan and mix well. Add the dill, freshly ground black pepper and let is all bubble for a minute. Finish with the lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Kohlrabi Pickles (recommended by a SIO member–they sound delicious!)
Eggplant and Green Sauce Sandwiches/Wraps
Messy and delicious. We have these for dinner in the summer. And you can skip the brad or wrap and just compose all the ingredients into a lovely salad of sorts.
Enough for 4 sandwiches/wraps
1 small globe eggplant, sliced ½-inch thick and broiled or panfry or grilled until browning and tender
1/4 cup very thin red onion slices
2 medium tomatoes, sliced 1/4 -inch thick
2 ounces Feta or goat cheese (optional)
Green sauce (see below)
Good crusty bread, pita bread or large tortillas (warmed or toasted if you’d like)
Green sauce:
Handful of mint leaves
2 tablespoons dill
1 cup of cilantro leaves and stems (and roots if you have them) well washed and dried
Juice of a quarter lemon
1/3 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts or pine nuts
1/4 cup olive oil
1-2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon raw sugar
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
Process all the ingredients for the sauce starting with 1 tablespoon water, in a blender or food processor until smooth. If the sauce is too thick add a little more water.
Layer the eggplant with some thinly sliced Walla Walla Sweet, a slice of tomato if you have it, a bit of feta or goat cheese if you’d like and generous amount of green sauce in pita bread, between slices of regular bread or tortillas or any other vehicle you can think of.
Escarole with Apples and Blue Cheese
–adapted from Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters
Pears, apples, figs, and even persimmons would all be wonderful in this salad. The sweetness is a nice balance to the bitterness of the greens.
Serves 3-6 (depending on size of head of escarole that is—scale ingredients below up if the head is huge and your using it all)
1 head escarole, well washed and trimmed of any tough, outer leaves (you can save those and add them to a soup or to any sauté or sauce) and roughly torn
1 apple or pear (see headnote), peeled and thinly sliced
1/3 cup walnuts (toasted at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes and then cooled)
3-4 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoons sherry or white wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
Whisk together the salt, pepper, oil and vinegar. Dress the greens with the vinaigrette and toss thoroughly. Add the nuts and cheese at the end and gently toss again. Taste and adjust seasoning.