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Day 217: Beet & Orange Salad

~ recipe & photo updated in 2007 ~ 2005: Minus the chipotle, this would be one great salad. I'll make it again but without the heat and the chickpeas added in a vain attempt to moderate the fire. Whew! That stuff is HOT! 2007: Nothing like swinging from HOT! to bland. A bit of the chipotle would be great, just to contrast with the earthy sweetness of the beets and the acidic sweet of the orange sections. VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES ~ more beet recipes ~ BEET & ORANGE SALAD Hands-on time: 15 minutes Time to table: 15 minutes Serves 4 1 pound cooked beets ( baked or roasted ), chopped or sliced 1 tablespoon olive oil Zest from an orange (2007: I added lime zest too) Sections from an orange (2005: two would be still better, 2007: the beets stain the orange sections so for color contrast, you might want to arrange sections on top of the chopped beets) 1 tablespoon lime juice (2005: I used lemon but think lime would be better, 2007: lime is good!) 1 chipotle pepper plu

Day 216: Spinach Dip with Standing Veggies

"Presentation" rarely ranks high on the priority list but this easy way to serve fresh vegetables struck the right note in both function and form. As for the spinach dip -- the recipe looked interesting in its own right but especially because all the ingredients were already on hand -- yes! no grocery shopping! The dip turned out only okay but is worth trying again. Next time I would: Roughly chop the cooked spinach instead of pureeing it into an awful-looking green gruel Omit the goat cheese added in an attempt to 'save' the dip after the fatal pureeing Let it rest before serving (the inspiring recipe suggests at least one day and as many as four) Serve as a spread for bread not vegetables VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES ~ more appetizer recipes ~ SPINACH DIP with STANDING VEGGIES Active time for dip: 35 minutes, only 15 hands-on Time to table: 2 - 4 days Makes about 3/4 cup SPINACH DIP 4 garlic cloves 8 ounces fresh spinach (bagged spinach work

Day 215: Roasted Zucchini with Lemon ♥

~recipe & photo updated in 2007~ All summer, I forgot to make these lemony zucchini chunks even though they're favorites! But now that eastern Missouri is enjoying a looooonnnng stretch of Indian summer -- that means day-time temperatures in the lovely 70s! -- a big plateful was in order! (And besides, there're all those southern hemisphere-folks who are in the middle of their spring and whose zucchini plants are just about to blossom.) These roast at very high temperature (so does this maple glazed salmon which pairs beautifully) and oh! are they good, lemony and sweet both at the same time. When I first tried 'em, my Dad reported that it was the first time he'd ever wanted seconds let alone thirds on zucchini. And Word to the Wise: second and third helpings are a good thing because the leftovers are less than inspiring -- make only what you'll eat right away. [Hmmm. If you'd like to know just how good these zucchini really are, I just this minutes edited

Kitchen Parade Extra: Trio of Sandwich & Cracker Spreads ◄

The entertaining season is nigh! This week's Kitchen Parade column features fast, make-ahead spreads perfect for sandwiches or crackers -- and thus perfect for relaxed gatherings with family and friends.

Day 214: Winter Vegetable Soup

Hungry friends scraped to the bottoms of big bowls of this vegetable-creamed soup tonight. Especially since it was an Indian Summer 70 degrees outside, that's a good sign! That said, the color isn't so appetizing, more brown than gold, more flat than creamy. And it's a make-ahead soup, one where a day's rest is needed for the flavors to meld. All this sounds as if I didn't like it -- I did! It's just not one I'll likely make again, it wasn't that 'special', except that it DID use up lots of leftovers! Still, the substitutions weren't so far off that it couldn't be reproduced on another night in another kitchen. VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES ~ more soup recipes ~ WINTER VEGETABLE SOUP Hands-on time: 15 minutes up front, then 10 to finish Time to table: 60 minutes if you're in a rush, better to let rest a day Makes 9 cups 5 cups vegetable stock (tonight's batch was made with Light Vegetable Stock ) 3 tablespo

Day 213: Light Vegetable Stock Recipe ♥

Vegetable stock seems such a waste! In my kitchen, chicken stock simmers away every couple of weeks where vegetable stock appears maybe (maybe) every couple of years. And I know why: Chicken stock extracts the last bits of flavor and value from a roasted chicken - leaving feelings of virtue and thrift, like getting something for nothing in the waste-not-want-not fashion Vegetable stock takes all those perfectly lovely vegetables bought specially for stock and then leeches out all the vitamins and sucks out all the flavor -- and then you throw them all away!! Talk about guilt! (Hmmm. Maybe a compost pile is in order?) Still, after coaching my back-door neighbor through a potful a week ago -- she raved about the results, later -- it was definitely time to consider the possibilities of good vegetable stock. So here's the first batch. All 22 cups went into freezer bags so taste reports must follow. That said, the sample spoonful was fragrant and a lovely gold color, an apparen

Day 212: Acorn Squash Roasted Face Up ♥

Just simple acorn squash, adorned with nothing more than salt and pepper, then roasted. And ohhhhh so good in a homespun kind of way. Only the knife work is tricky. Tonight I tried the microwave trick to soften the flesh a bit before slicing open the squash. Maybe more than 2 minutes is needed? It didn't seem to make a difference. Usually, the timing is NOT tricky, an hour at 400F. Tonight it proved to be. I'm learning that: A pizza stone can really mess up heat distribution; since the flame is coming from the bottom of the oven, now I'm experimenting with moving it from the bottom to the top Cooking squash cut-side down (only if no butter or brown sugar is involved, of course) seems to cook the flesh more evenly and creates crispy caramelized edges -- to check for sure, I'll try a side-by-side comparison some time soon. VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES ~ more winter squash recipes ~ ~ more roasted vegetable recipes ~ ACORN SQUASH ROASTED FACE UP Hands-on