I was reading my friend Keren’s blog, Frantic Foodie, the other day and she talked about kale chips (which she had read about in Edible Seattle). Kale chips! She inspired me to embark on making my own assortment of veggie chips. The other day it was Golden beet chips and today it was kale.

I’d never thought to roast any green leafy vegetable into a “chip state” – frankly, I didn’t think it could be done – but the result made me giggle with delight. So delicate (too much so to package up) and light they are almost like fine glass ornaments. That is, iff glass were edible. And they didn’t take nearly as long as I thought they would to become crisp.

If you need a mega vitamin boost to your diet or you’re simply looking for an uber-healthy snack, roast up a bunch of kale. I could easily have eaten a whole head myself if I didn’t need to share with Barnaby.

Click here for the Kale Chips recipe.

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(Another fabulous post from contributor Betsy Dorfman!)

“Eat colors!” is just plain good advice. Most meats, starches and carbs are not colorful; chances are if your plate holds an array of bright colors you are eating vegetables and fruits, always a good thing. We’re talking natural colors here, not jello or frankenfoods. This mélange of vegetables was the preamble to a vegetarian meal served over rice. Our mix included Bermuda onion, green pepper, eggplant, and both orange and yellow carrots, the latter courtesy of Trader Joe’s. I like to julienne the carrots and leave the onion and green pepper strips rather long as they make a nice presentation draped over the rice, and they stay crisper than if chopped fine. The dish would have been more colorful but I held the eggplant too long in the crisper (which we call the rotter) and the purple skin became mottled brown and so was pared away. The eggplant was first precooked in the microwave and was added, as was a can of black beans and two chopped Roma tomatoes, at a later stage.

A recipe for the finished dish follows. The amounts of vegetables are arbitrary, depending upon how many mouths you have to feed. Any other vegetable can be added, to your liking. The quantities below fed three adults with lunch portions left over for the next day.

Eat Colors mélange:

INGREDIENTS
2-3 carrots, peeled and julienned
2 green peppers, pared, seeded, and cut into thin strips
1 large bermuda or other sweet onion (2 if small), peeled and sliced
1 eggplant, cubed and peeled if the skin is tough or bruised
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced or put through a grater
1  12 oz can of black beans, unsalted if possible, drained with liquid preserved
2  roma tomatoes, pared and rough chopped. Peel if skins are thick and/or waxed
1/2 half cup of cashew nuts, chopped fine for topping
2 TB olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tsps Ras-al-hanout seasoning, or to your taste. Tandoori seasoning is also a fine option.
plain nonfat yogurt for topping
3-4 cups cooked white or brown rice

TECHNIQUE
Place the cubed eggplant in a microwave safe dish, mix with the minced garlic cloves, cover tightly and microwave on high until softened but not fully cooked, approximately 5-7 minutes.

Sauté carrots, peppers, and onion in 2 TB olive oil over medium heat until onion is becoming translucent and the carrots are softening but still al dente. The vegetables should not brown.

Add the eggplant and garlic, together with any cooking liquid left in the microwave pan. Add the drained black beans and the chopped tomato and stir to distribute.

Stir the ras-al-hanout into 1/2 of the reserved black bean liquid. When blended, add to pan. Cook 3-6 minutes until heated through. If too thick add remaining bean liquid or other liquid. Taste and add salt and pepper, adjust seasoning as needed.

Serve over or aside rice with a dollop of yogurt and chopped cashew nuts as topping. Also good served with chutney.

Healthy, delicious, and satisfies all the senses!

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These Persian cucumbers were so delicious we skipped adding anything and ate them as is. In fact, a good portion of them disappeared before the main dish was served. These are not technically “seedless” but the seeds are small and soft and entirely edible. The skin is generally edible too unless you happen to find a deviant grocer who has felt the need to wax them. If waxed it is better to peel them, alas.

Similar to Japanese cucumber these are crisp and slightly sweet with, common to all cucumbers, a high water content. They can go “mushy” pretty quickly if stored one atop the other in a closed container. Don’t wash them until ready to use and weed out any that have fainted in the crisper. Like Victorian aunts, if one keels over the others will follow suit.

We especially like these cucumbers (had the remains for lunch today) sliced and sprinkled with sushi vinegar or other seasoned vinegar containing a bit of sugar. The salt plus sugar content in the vinegar perks them up but doesn’t mask the delicate taste as a heavier or oily dressing might do.

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Tonight Barnaby, Sheri, and my husband John and I are joining other friends and Barnaby’s parents for dinner. We are making Donna Brazile’s mama’s gumbo from her book Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in America.  Donna graced us with her presence at an event for the Washington Women Lawyers last week and inspired us personally, politically, and yes – gastronomically. As our contribution, John and I are bringing this corn pudding and two South African wines – Goats in Villages, a Shiraz Pinotage blend from South African winemaker Goats Do Roam, and a Sauvignon Blanc from Porcupine Ridge, another South African bottle from the Cape of Good Hope. Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Corn Pudding

Butter: 1 stick
Corn: yellow or white, frozen or fresh, 5 cups (approx 6-8 ears)
Shallots: 1/2 cup (finely minced)
Jalepenos: 1/4 cup (or to taste, seeded; finely minced)
Onion: 2 tablespoons (finely minced)
Milk: 1 cup
Half-and-Half: 1 cup
Yellow Cornmeal or Polenta: 1/2 cup
Ricotta Cheese: 1 cup
Eggs: 5 large or 4 extra-large (I don’t use extra-large eggs, my mom said they come from older chickens – not sure if that’s true, but it’s turned me away from the big ones – if you have thoughts on this, I’d love to hear it.)
Herbs: chives or basil is nice, though you can experiment with the herbs or include a mixture (approx 3 tablespoons or to taste)
Sugar: 1 tablespoon
Salt: Kosher, 1 tablespoon
Pepper: 3/4 teaspoon (I prefer a mixture of black and white, but you may use either or include pink and green peppercorns as well if you like)
Cheese: I like to ad 3/4 cup of finely grated extra-sharp cheddar, though you may also want to try other cheeses (save a little to sprinkle on top)
Optional Ingredients: You may also add finely minced red pepper, replace the shallot with onion, add green onions, the choices are almost limited. Experiment and let me know what you think works well.

I am preparing this dish for a dinner party tonight and prepared the batter in advance to bake at my Barnaby and Sheri’s house. I plan to assemble the ingredients and bake at their house in order to serve warm and fresh. I was concerned that joining the ingredients too early would cause my pudding to be too oniony – so, I prepared my ingredients into 5 main components: (a) dry ingredients; (b) wet ingredients (milks, eggs, ricotta); (c) butter with vegetables (onions, shallot, jalepeno, etc); (d) grated cheese; (e) herbs; (f) corn (fresh or thawed frozen). I plan to assemble at their house and bake. Next time I make this, I might try to make it souffle-style by beating my egg-whites separately and folding them into the ingredients just before baking. I haven’t tried this yet – so when I do, I will let you know – but if you have, please speak up. I’d love to hear how folding in egg-whites would change the result.

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My step-father makes the best stuffed roasted peppers. Really, they truly are the best. I’ve tried to think of a word that perfectly describes them, and the only one that best sums them up is this: bitchin’. Yup, they are that good.

Bitchin’ good.

Here’s what I think is the key (other than all the yummy goodness he puts inside): roasting the peppers. And roasting good quality peppers. Roasting them brings out their natural sweetness and adds a wonderful smokey flavor, otherwise they’d just be plain old good stuffed peppers, right?

Stuffed Roasted Peppers
From “Dr. Bob”

3-4 large peppers
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 lb ground beef
1 small can tomato sauce
½ can tomato paste
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cilantro
3 tomatoes, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded (you may use chili sauce or hot sauce instead)
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup cooked corn
Cheddar cheese

Fire the peppers on the grill or under the broiler until they’re black, then put them in a paper bag for a few minutes. Once cooled a bit, remove the peels (they should just slide off). For longer peppers (e.g. pasilla) make a slit down the center to remove the seeds. Keep the cap on for presentation. If your peppers are the regular bell pepper size then remove the cap to stuff from the top. Then, without cutting through the pepper, slice a bit off the bottom so the pepper will stand upright.

Sauté the chopped onion. In a large saucepan brown the ground beef, then add the onions. Add 1 small can tomato sauce and 1/2 can tomato paste. Mix in the minced garlic, diced tomatoes, and jalapeno pepper. Add the cooked rice and corn, then mix well.

Stuff peppers and cover with grated Cheddar cheese.

Bake at 325 degrees for 30 mins.  Serve with refried bean

Note: for a vegetarian version use tofu or soy meats.

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My lemon cucumber plants did absolutely nothing this year. Actually, that’s not entirely true. One plant did manage to produce a scrawny thimble-sized cucumber. And I carefully picked it, washed it, sprinkled it with a little kosher salt, and popped it in my mouth. At least I got a taste.

Lemon cucumbers are an heirloom variety that date bake to the late 1800’s. They are round like lemons and range in color from pale to bright yellow. The paler the shade the more tender the skin, so no peeling is necessary. They also don’t have much of the chemical that makes other cucumbers bitter, thus they’re more delicate and sweet.

Unfortunately, they are difficult to find. Rarely do I see them in supermarkets, but you can find them briefly in farmer’s markets. My grandfather used to grow them in abundance on his ranch in Sonoma, California. My brother and I would stuff ourselves silly with them. And we ate them skin and all as we always picked them young. The best way to eat them was to simply slice them and sprinkle with salt and pepper, or on top of fresh Sonoma French Bread with Grandpa’s heirloom tomatoes.

Do I love them so much because they are so tender and delicious, or because of my memories with Grampa in his beautiful garden?

Yes.

Memories or not, I’m sure you too will fall in love with these gems.

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Who ever thought of grilling lettuce? I certainly never had. I thought we only ate it in salads and on sandwiches and such. Shows how much this foodista knows!

The first time I had grilled Romaine lettuce was at the French Laundry, Thomas Keller’s famous restaurant in Yountville, California. If memory serves, it was a called a Caesar salad, but what arrived was a tiny, perfectly grilled head of baby Romaine. Brilliant!

We decided to give it a try at home. Since our Romaine was “full-grown” we sliced it down the middle. Then, we sprayed it with olive oil, drizzled it with a good balsamic vinegar, and gingerly sprinkled with salt and pepper.

After grilling it for a few minutes on each side, we dug in. The result was was a beautiful “salad” that was sweet, tender and possessing the wonderful smokiness of the grill.

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Unless you have some fancy-schmancy dinner party planned, I find it best to go to the farmer’s market with nary a menu in mind, and let the recently harvested fruits and veggies dictate what I’ll be serving. Coming home with my fresh loot, I spread everything on the counter, take a step back, and look at colors and textures. Then, it all starts to come together.

When food is this fresh I don’t mess around with too many ingredients. I prefer the natural flavors and aromas of the food to reach their full glory all on their own, without much coaxing from me. When I saw the beautiful golden and red beets, tender fingerling potatoes, fragrant fennel, and the deep green and orange of the Japanese pumpkin, Kabocha, I got giddy with grilling glee!

Slowly roasting vegetables releases their natural sugars, creating a delicious caramelization that marry all their glorious earthy flavors into one beautiful dish.

Balsamic Roasted Vegetables
Use as much or as little of each vegetable, or add your own market picks. The beauty of roasting is there are no rules!

Golden beets
Red beets
Fennel
Red onion
Fingerling potatoes
Kabocha (or acorn squash)

Clean and top the beets and, along with the fingerling potatoes, drizzle with olive oil. Roast whole at 400 degrees until softened, but not completely cooked (about 30 minutes). Remove from the oven and carefully peel the beets, then cut in half. You can leave the fingerlings whole, and slice lengthwise in half before serving, or halve them and continue roasting (both ways are delish!)

Quarter the fennel and red onion lengthwise, and cut the kabocha into 1/2 inch wedges.

Toss all the veggies in a bowl and drizzle enough olive oil to sufficiently coat. Then, add a big splash of balsamic vinegar, a couple hearty pinches of Kosher salt, a few good turns of fresh ground black pepper, and a small sprig of fresh rosemary. Let roast another 30-40 minutes, turning every so often to get an even roast.

Go to your local farmer’s market this weekend and let us know what you created!

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There’s something so gratifying in growing your own food. Not only does it taste better, but it’s such a wonderful feeling to “forage” for your dinner.

The weather in Seattle has been less than perfect. With March-like rain and temperatures, my poor tomatoes sit in their well-watered pots, yearning to produce, and farmer’s market favorites such as tomatoes and berries now won’t be available until July.

Come on, sun! We know what we got ourselves into choosing to live in the Pacific Northwest, but really!

The good news is that without the hot temperatures, like our Eastern friends are experiencing, my lettuce isn’t bolting and is fairing quite well! My three little varieties are sprouting nice and slow, and remaining oh so tender. Growing just as fast as we can eat it, and no more.

I just love cooking in my newly painted kitchen and walking out the back door to pluck baby lettuce from my own garden.

Life doesn’t get any sweeter. (Well, it would be if my berries would come out).

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