Grilled Veggie Skewers
- At August 30, 2009
- By megan
- In Grilled, Hazel Dell, Maple, Mushrooms, Peppers, tomatoes
0
Fresh from the farm to the table. Heirloom tomatoes, green pepper, and Hazel Dell mushrooms on bamboo skewers. Marinated in:
- 2 TB maple syrup
- 1 TB olive oil
- 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
- 1 TB soy sauce
Grill for a few minutes, turning them at least once. Don’t let all of the tomatoes burst! A perfect summer meal.
Chive Butter
- At August 30, 2009
- By megan
- In Butter, cream
- 0
Chops some chives. Chop them well- practice your knife skills and makes lots of tiny chive disks. Put them in the KitchenAid mixer bowl. Pour in a couple tablespoons or more of heavy whipping cream (depending on how much butter you want to make). With the wire whisk attachment, whip this on speed 10 for 3-4 minutes. Add a dash of sea salt while it is whipping. And, voila- you have homemade butter.
Macaroni and Carrots and Cheese
- At August 25, 2009
- By megan
- In carrot, Cheddar Cheese, favorites, pasta
- 3
This is a must-try for anyone who loves the comfort food of baked macaroni and cheese but cringes at the fat content. My grandmother’s is the best, but it has tons of cheese, milk, and butter. I basically stopped making macaroni and cheese, but then I created this dish and look for excuses to make it again and again.
Ingredients:
- 8 oz whole wheat shells, macaroni, or whatever shape pasta you want
- 1 pound carrots (approximately) peeled and chopped into smaller pieces
- 3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 medium sized onion, sliced into smaller strips (I used a walla-walla onion because it is in season. Otherwise, use a yellow onion.)
- 1 TB olive oil
- 1 pepper, thinly sliced into inch long, super thin strips
- 1.5 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (I prefer Tillamook)
- sea salt
- fresh ground black pepper
In a large pot, bring water to a boil with the unpeeled garlic and bay leaves. When it reaches a boil, add some salt and then the carrots. Boil them for 30 minutes to make them really soft.
While that is boiling, start to heat the olive oil in a pan. Sauté the onions on medium heat until they are soft, golden brown, and fragrant. Transfer them to another dish and add the sliced pepper to the hot pan. Sauté for a couple minutes and then turn down the heat. These don’t need to be cooked to death, so if they really are thinly sliced, a couple minutes is all they need to soften up and get some flavor from the onion and olive oil.
When the carrots are soft, fetch them from the boiling water with a slotted spoon. I used a large slotted spoon to get all of the carrots, garlic, and bay leaves, and then took 1 cup of this carrot water in a Pyrex measuring cup to be used to help the carrot mashing. I then added more water to the boiling water, brought it back to a boil, and used this to cook the pasta. You could obviously go about this in another way: drain the carrots and re-fill the pot, but it saves water and energy to do it the way I did.
Cook the pasta. Meanwhile, add the onions, carrots, and peeled garlic to a food processor and purée until it looks like baby food. You may need extra water, so this is why I reserved some of the carrot water. Discard the bay leaves.
When the pasta is done and drained, pour it back into the large pot. Then add the carrot purée and mix well. Next, add the pepper strips and grated cheese, mix well, then salt, pepper, and mix again. Transfer into a large Pyrex baking dish and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy.
Spicy Grilled Eggplant Open-Faced Sandwhiches
- At August 25, 2009
- By megan
- In Eggplant, Grilled, Leftovers, mozzarella cheese, Peppers, Sandwich
- 1
I had some left-over Fra Diavolo Sauce, so I put it to good use on these open-faced eggplant sandwiches. I served these
with green peppers and walla-walla onions, which I tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and grilled for a few minutes.
For the sandwiches:
Peel and slice an eggplant into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Sprinkle with sea salt and let them exude excess water for a few minutes. Soak this up with a paper towel, flip them over, and repeat on the other side. Then brush them with a little olive oil, and grill for 5 minutes on each side.
Slice some ciabatta bread and grill for a couple minutes on each side. Then assemble the sandwiches- ciabatta bread, fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese, grilled eggplant, and sauce. Superb.
Fire Roasted Pepper Fra Diavolo Sauce
Ollin Farms had some fire-roasted peppers, and though I am uncertain which type of pepper I bought (Anaheim? Poblano?) I am certain this sauce turned out to be delicious.
Ingredients:
- 5 cipollini onions, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup red wine
- two 28 oz cans tomatoes (diced or whole peeled)
- 4 whole fire roasted peppers- seeded and chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 TB raw sugar
- Basil- 2 TB dried, or 1/2 cup fresh, finely chopped
- Fresh ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Put the chopped onions in a large pot. Turn the heat up to medium high, and when you hear them beginning to sizzle, add the wine and stir. Let this cook for 5 minutes or so and then add the tomatoes. Mix well. When this starts to bubble, add the peppers. After a few minutes, add the garlic and sugar and drop the temperature down to simmer. Let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes or so. Make sure you break up any large pieces of tomato, especially if you added whole peeled tomatoes rather than diced.
After 30-40 minutes, add the basil and freshly ground pepper. Turn off the heat and let the sauce sit a few more minutes. Finally, stir in the olive oil and it is ready to serve.
I served mine with my Caramelized Cipollini Calzones.
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