Curried Squash Soup

It’s a great night to go orange and your local farm stands still has a lot of squash to choose from for this tasty curry soup. Heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large soup pot before adding two peeled and chopped squash, a chopped onion, and some freshly ground black pepper.

After ten minutes add about six cups of chicken stock or enough to cover your squash, as well as a couple of heaping teaspoons of Thai red curry paste. Bring to a boil, add a can of coconut milk and simmer for at least 30 minutes. Add salt and Sriracha to taste in addition to more curry paste if needed. Puree with a stick blender or food processor, if it’s too thick you can always thin it out with some more chicken stock. Serve topped with crispy spiders.

Couscous with Pistachios and Mint

It doesn't get any easier than couscous and the last of the mint from the garden along with some nearly stale pistachios made for the perfect last minute side dish.

The hardest thing about cooking couscous is measuring; it’s a cup and a half of water for each cup of couscous. Add the water and a tablespoon of butter or oil to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then remove from the heat, stir in the couscous along with a half a teaspoon of salt, cover, and let sit for at least ten minutes. That’s it.

At this point I stirred in a quarter cup of chopped pistachios, mint, and the juice of half a lime. However the possibilities are endless; herbs, dates, apricots, raisins, olives, pine nuts, fennel, and lemon come immediately to mind. And probably lots more possibilities lingering in the back corners of your fridge or pantry…you just need to have the couscous on hand.

Italian Sausage with Peppers and Onions

Here’s a great one for the world series regardless of your team, Italian sausage with peppers and onions. Heat up a bit of olive oil in a large non-stick pan while slicing half an onion and green pepper for each sausage you’ll be making. Sauté over medium heat with salt, black pepper, and a pinch of chili flakes for at least thirty minutes while stirring frequently. Add a couple of minced garlic cloves ten minutes before serving.

In the end your onions and peppers should be very soft and brown around the edges. There are no shortcuts, better to start early and leave them on a low heat to ensure perfection. Grill or fry your sausages until cooked through and serve. Bun is optional…cold beer is not.

Caramelized Cauliflower Steaks

This preparation is so easy and adaptable it has instantly become part of my veggie repertoire. From a head of cauliflower cut away the green outer leaves and cut into half inch slices, don’t worry if some of the end pieces break apart. Place in a large straight sided pan and add a quarter inch of water, a tablespoon of sugar, a teaspoon of cumin powder, three tablespoons of butter or olive oil, the juice from half a lemon, and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook over high heat for about fifteen minutes or until the water evaporates, once the cauliflower is browned flip and turn the heat down to medium low and brown the other side. Instead of cumin powder you could substitute smoked paprika, garlic powder, chili flakes, ground ginger, or five spice powder depending on what else you’re cooking. You could even top it with grated parmesan cheese. Have fun with it!

Maple Glazed Root Vegetables

There are lots of root vegetables at the farmer’s market these days and this preparation adapted from a David Chang recipe is a fantastic combination of salt and sweet. While you’re preheating your oven to 375 cut approximately two pounds combined of parsnips, carrots, and potatoes into ¾ inch chunks. Add them to some hot oil in a large ovenproof skillet and cook over moderately high heat until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. 

Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Return them to the stove top and add a ¼ cup each of soy sauce and maple syrup and leave on medium heat until the sauce becomes syrupy, approximately ten minutes. Before serving stir in a couple of chopped scallions, a few drops of sesame oil, and a tablespoon of sesame seeds.

Stewed Squid and Potatoes

For me cooking dinner is a lot like golf, most shots are okay but every once in a while you really nail one…and I hit the sweet spot with this squid stew. In a large pot sauté a chopped shallot in some olive oil until translucent before adding the zest of a quarter of a lemon, a quarter teaspoon of dried chili flakes, and at least three minced garlic cloves.

While that’s cooking cube six small red potatoes, finely chop a half a bunch of parsley, and open a 28 oz. can of chopped tomatoes. Next, slice a pound of squid into half inch pieces and add to the pot followed by the potatoes, tomatoes, and a bottle of clam juice then simmer for 45 minutes. Add the parsley fifteen minutes before serving along with a great piece of bread.

Chicken Parmesan

Chicken Parmesan is such a satisfying combination of flavors and textures, and this time of year it provides a great excuse to turn on your oven. Preheat your oven to 400 while heating about an 1/8 of an inch of olive oil in a large frying pan. Next, pound your boneless chicken breasts or tenders between a couple of sheets of saran to a ¼ inch thickness then liberally salt and pepper.

For the breading add a cup of flour, three lightly beaten eggs with a splash of milk, and two cups of breadcrumbs or panko to three separate bowls. When your oil is hot individually dredge each piece of chicken in the flour, egg and breadcrumb mixtures in that order and fry on each side until golden, about three or four minutes. Lay them all out in a large baking dish and top with tomato sauce and sliced mozzarella and bake at 350 for fifteen minutes. Serve with pasta, in this case I did an orzo with basil pesto.

Bread with Tomatoes

If it’s this easy to achieve food bliss why try any harder? But if you’re going to get there you can’t skimp on the ingredients: Local tomatoes, local artisan bread, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and flaky Maldon salt.

It’s important not to slice your bread too thick, right around a 1/4 inch, then toast on medium. Your tomatoes should be sliced even thinner, about an 1/8th of an inch. Once out of the toaster drizzle your bread with olive oil then cut a garlic clove in half and rub each slice with the exposed side of the clove…like an eraser on a chalk board.

After that simply lay on your sliced tomatoes, squish them gently into the bread with the flat side of a chef’s knife, and sprinkle liberally with flaky salt. Chew slowly, they’re only going to be available for a couple more weeks.

Charred Eggplant Dip

This is one of the best ways I’ve found to prepare eggplants for a dip or side veggie. I adapted it from a recipe on one of my favorite foodie web sites, Smitten Kitchen.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Then prick two medium sized eggplants with a fork and char by rotating over a gas flame or under your broiler until there’s no purple visible. Once they’re cool enough to handle take off the stem, cut lengthwise, and place cut side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Roast for 35 minutes then let cool to room temperature before scraping the flesh from the skin and chopping coarsely.

In a bowl whisk until smooth two finely mince garlic cloves, a handful of chopped parsley, the juice of one lemon, three tablespoons of tahini, a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch each of cayenne and ground cumin. Combine with the chopped eggplant, salt to taste, and serve with toasted pita.

Zesty Zucchini and Pasta

Wondering what to do with all those zucchinis? Here’s a zesty way to use four of them. Finely chop a red onion and sauté over medium heat with some extra virgin olive oil. While that’s cooking mince five cloves of garlic then on the coarse side of a box grater shred four cucumber sized zucchinis.

Add the garlic to the pot with the onion along with a can of anchovies and a tablespoon of capers. Once the anchovies have dissolved stir in your shredded zucchini along with some black pepper.

What’s going to make this sauce great is to let the zucchini cook down and sporadically scrape the bottom of the pot with a spatula to work the caramelized bits into the sauce. Let it go for about fifteen minutes but make sure the heat isn’t so high that you burn it. Before serving over pasta add an eighth of a cup of your best olive oil and salt to taste…alongside a tomato salad. It is August after all.

Quinoa Tabouli

There’s no better time of year to make tabouli and while it’s traditionally made with barley, quinoa is both quicker and lighter for a summer meal. Start by cooking a cup of quinoa in 1 ¼ cups of water with a bit of salt in a covered saucepan, after ten minutes remove from the heat and leave covered.

While your quinoa rests mince a garlic clove and combine with the juice of half a lemon in a small bowl. After that, fluff up your quinoa with a fork and place it in a large bowl to cool. Now it’s all about chopping. Into a separate large bowl chop up a couple medium tomatoes, a large cucumber, a full bunch of parsley, a handful of mint, and half a red onion. I had some green beans around so I chopped those up and threw them in as well.

When you’re ready to serve combine all of your chopped veggies and herbs with the cooled quinoa then toss with the lemon juice, half a cup of extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. This is the bounty of summer at its best.

Steak with Shallots and Garlic

Next time you throw a steak on the barbecue take a few minutes extra to make it into a restaurant worthy meal with some shallots, garlic, and butter. Fifteen minutes before you start grilling your steak peel, halve, and cut six shallots into 1/8 inch slices and sauté with some extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Give them a stir every few minutes until they’re translucent and just starting to brown.

At this point turn the heat to low and add a couple of minced garlic cloves and a ¼ inch piece of butter…or two.  It will be ready to go once the butter has melted but if you're not going to serve it immediately turn the heat down to simmer so you don’t brown it. Onions of any kind would substitute nicely but shallots really stand up to the meat.