Archive for the ‘zucchini’ Category

Summer Pasta Sauce

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

If you have an abundance of tomatoes, this is an easy, rich, tasty way to consume them.

Onions and white wine

Summer Pasta Sauce

  • 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 1 1/2 c. white wine
  • 1 zucchini, chopped
  • Tomatoes – as many as you can peel and fit in your pan.
  • 2 cloves garlic
  1. Saute the onions until they are just starting to brown.
  2. Add the white wine and reduce completely
  3. Before the wine is completely gone, add the zucchini
  4. Once the zucchini is softened, add the tomatoes
  5. Salt the tomatoes
  6. Add the minced garlic
  7. Let this bubble away until it’s no longer watery (may take a while)
  8. Puree in the food processor (a batch at a time if needed)

Tomatoes and zucchini

Soup Night XXXIV

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

I host a soup night, ideally once a month, but really it happens when we have a free weekend night. I make a huge pot of soup, customized each time for the number of people coming and the allergies/preferences/aversions of the guests. It’s really, really fun and it gives us a way to actually get together with our friends regularly even when life is hectic. It’s a different group of people each time…and if there is every a time that everyone on the invite list can show up, I’m not sure what we’ll do, our house isn’t nearly big enough!

This time I live-tweeted the making of the soup, just for fun. A sort of step-by-step recipe without instructions! This is enough soup for 16-18 people.

3 onions:

Onions

Onions

4-5 quarts chicken stock simmering on the back burner:

Chicken Stock Simmering

Chicken Stock Simmering

3-4 carrots (mulitcolored, they looked cool!):

Added Carrots

Added Carrots

1 fennel bulb and 4 stalks celery:

Fennel and Celery

Fennel and Celery

Cooking all that stuff down, entertaining myself with the camera:

Waiting for veggies to cook down

Waiting for veggies to cook down

4 yellow potatoes:

Potatoes will go in next

Potatoes will go in next

3/4 bottle white wine and 6 cloves garlic:

Added white wine and garlic

Added white wine and garlic

One bunch kale, somewhat “julienned”…I’d say finely shredded:

Shredded Kale

Shredded Kale

6 small zucchini:

Zucchini

Zucchini

Snap peas, halved:

Lastly, snap peas

Lastly, snap peas

In there with the zucchini went 3 cans of cannellini beans and then the soup was ladeled over spaghetti that I broke in half before boiling (so it would be possible to eat it with a spoon!)

To serve it was first pasta, then soup, pesto on top of that (basil-walnut-lots of lemon), and for everyone but me, shredded parmesean.

Topped with pesto for serving

Topped with pesto for serving

Yum.

Sand Sole with Zucchini Fritters

Friday, September 18th, 2009


I had one large zucchini left from my dad’s garden. I’d already made zucchini bread, I’d already frozen a bunch of it for zucchini bread in the winter, I’d sautéed, I’d put it in pasta, I needed something new! Well, there’s my tried and true ‘mashing things together and frying into a cake technique’… I’ll try that! It worked!

Shred one large zucchini, salt, and place in a colander to drain.

Mix together:
2 minced garlic cloves
2 T. marjoram
3 T. Parsley
juice of half a lemon
1 t. lemon zest
1 egg

After about 20 or 30 minutes of it being in the strainer, squeeze the zucchini out with paper towels. Get as much liquid out as you can. Mix the zucchini thoroughly into garlic/herb/egg mixture.

Now to the tried-and-true portion of the method. Heat about 1/4 inch of olive oil until it’s a very hot but not smoking. Take a small handful of the zucchini mixture in your hands, flatten slightly and gently place it in the hot oil. Don’t touch it or move it until the underside is very brown therefore holding together the fritter. Carefully turn it over and repeat! Remove from oil and place on paper towel to drain.

I cooked the fish very simply. Salt and pepper on the fillet, dust with semolina flour, pan fry in butter.

I squeezed a little lemon juice over both the fish and the fritters and topped with chopped fresh basil. I sprinkled it with a little Big Sur Sea salt I just discovered in my pantry!

Bon appétit!