A bountiful summer...

Dinner, originally uploaded by *April*.

A dear friend of ours was out of town this past week, and she offered her weekly CSA farm share to us in her absence. So, our home is currently overflowing with gorgeous produce. Last night's dinner was an easy weeknight affair - a pan seared Don Lee veggie patty (by far the best prepackaged veggie patty we've found to date. We get them at Costco - and they can be stored either fresh or frozen. A package of 14 costs about $10, and they're wonderful. The package touts them as "A delightful harvest of fresh carrots, onions, celery and bell peppers are blended with bread crumbs, delicate seasonings, and crunchy sunflower seeds to create a patty that is light and moist, yet firm enough to grill").

Accompanying the meal was roasted sugar snap peas with grey fleur de sel, garlic spinach with cheese and pan fried summer squash. Recipes for each of these yummy sides follow:

Roasted sugar snap peas Preheat oven to 375. While the oven is heating, pinch the ends off fresh sugar snap peas. Make sure you have enough for each person, and place them in a single layer on a cookiesheet. Spray with olive oil and put in the oven about 10 minutes. When removed, sprinkle with a tiny bit of grey fleur de sel.

Grey fleur de sel or Sel Gris is a coarse, moist, organic sea salt, hand gathered from the coastal area of Brittany near the town of Guérande, France. Rich in minerals, it is unprocessed, unrefined, and unadulturated. It remains a light grey, almost light purple color because of the clay from the salt flats where it is collected. The Grey Sea Salt is not collected by machine but by hand using traditional Celtic methods.

All that aside, it's just tasty - and a teeny little pinch goes a long way.

Cheesy Garlic Spinach A variation on this dish is served in our house almost every week. Wash fresh spinach leaves (about two cups or so per person - they cook down substantially). Place in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and stir often. Add a teaspoon of water if necessary to prevent leaves from sticking. Spoon in a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic (we use Spice World - in a blue labeled jar). The garlic can be omitted if you like. After the spinach is wilted, stir in 1 oz. of smooth melting cheese per serving. We usually use soft goat cheese but last night used a four cheese shredded Mexican blend. Stir until cheese is melted and sprinkle with freshly cracked black pepper and a sprinkle of salt-free seasoning blend.

Summer Squash Melt 2 tbsp. butter in a cast iron skillet. In a shallow dish mix 2 tbsp. white flour, 1 tsp. black pepper, 1 tsp. paprika, and any other spices of your choosing. I typically use a mix of garlic, onion powder, thyme and greek oregano. Thinly slice a summer squash and dip slices in water (you can use a beaten egg or milk, but the water works almost as well and is fat/calorie free. Dredge each dampened squash slice in the flour mixture and place in the skillet. Allow squash to brown on one side, and then flip. Cook about 5 minutes on each side. I personally like mine a little darker than golden, so I let them cook a little longer. If necessary, drain excess butter before serving.

Gratin of Zucchini, Eggplant and Chickpeas with Goat Cheese

As I was pulling tonight's dinner (Gratin of Zucchini, Eggplant and Chickpeas with goat cheese, recipe follows) out of the oven, Benny came tearing into the kitchen and hopped up on the chair next to the table where I set it to cool. He didn't actually eat any (the same cannot be said about the squash I sat out on the table today).

Gratin of Zucchini, Eggplant and Chickpeas with Goat Cheese

Greatly inspired by the recipe in the Williams-Sonoma Vegetarian cookbook.

Ingredients

1/2 cup dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 medium eggplant
2 medium zucchinis (courgettes)
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 small white onions, sliced
1 large sweet red bell pepper
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 cup chopped tomatoes (you can use any kind, I used a combination of yellow cherry, grape and an heirloom red)
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
1 tbsp. no-salt added herb blend (I used Kirkland - the Costco brand)
kosher salt
fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
1/4 cup grated goat or fresh parmesean cheese

Directions

Pick over the chickpeas and discard any damaged peas or stones. Rinse and drain. Place in a bowl, add plenty of water to cover, and let soak for at least three hours.

Drain the chickpeas and place in a saucepan with water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, uncovered until tender, about 45-60 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Cut the eggplant and zucchini into slices about 1/2 inch thick. Set aside. In a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onions and red pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft - about 10 minutes. Add the chopped eggplant and zucchini and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until just lightly browned, about another 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the red pepper flakes, chickpeas and spices. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Cut the tomatoes into small chunks, and combine in a 9x13 baking dish with the crumbled goat cheese. Pour the vegetable mixture into this dish, sprinkle the grated goat cheese or parmesean over the top. Bake until golden and bubbling around the edges, about 20 minutes.

Let cool for 10 minutes before plating. Serve with an herb green salad.

Stuffed Poblano Pepper and Strawberry Guacamole

On one of my first visits to Chicago, Patrick and I made stuffed poblano peppers. Hands down, it is perhaps one of the best meals I've ever cooked. A flavorful burst of serrano peppers and soy chorizo, delicious melted mexican cheeses and fresh produce from the local Mexican grocery. And... we both got food poisoning from something in it, and were violently, violently ill. We've always pegged the soy chorizo as the culprit - and have never eaten it since, but who knows what it really was that made us so ill.

The recipes for this go around - still delicious but guaranteed not to make you sick - are as follows:

Strawberry guacamole:
2 ripe avocados
minced dehydrated garlic
1/4 to 1/2 of a white onion, diced
red pepper flakes
juice of 1 lime
sprinkle kosher salt
1/2 jalapeno pepper (you can seed and devein it to decrease spiciness - but it marries nicely with the sweetness of the strawberries)
6-10 sprigs of fresh cilantro [leaves only, discard the stems into the compost pile]
1 cup hulled diced fresh strawberries [if possible, get these straight from the garden or from a farmers' market - they're often much more flavorful than the strawberries sold in the grocery stores]

Directions: mash avocado flesh into somewhat chunky paste, adding garlic and red pepper flakes to taste. I'm not going to tell you an amount because we like garlic and peppers both more than most people do. Mix in juice from one lime to prevent guacamole from discoloring due to oxidation. Dice strawberries and onion and gently spoon in to the avocado mixture to avoid overly smashing them. Finely dice jalapeno and add in as much as you'd like for a bit of fire. Lightly chop the cilantro leaves and fold in. Sprinkle in a tad of kosher salt, give it another stir, and it's good to go. A tip for the guacamole from Patrick, if you're not going to serve it right away, take saran wrap and mash it down on the surface of the guacamole - the lack of air will prevent the guacamole from discoloring.

For those of you with a Meijer around, the Meijer Organic Corn Tortilla chips (they come in yellow and blue) are delicious.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers
one large pattypan squash
one large vine ripened tomato
one fresh jalapeno
one fresh poblano pepper for each person you're serving - this recipe made three)
1/2 cup roasted corn (I used Trader Joe's - in their freezer section. It's delicious and easy, though fresh would've been even better)
1 large sweet red pepper
1/2 white onion
1 pint of baby portobello mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
2 tbsp. crumbled queso fresco
3 tbsp. jarred jalapeno juice
1/3 cup shredded cheese per pepper. I used a four cheese mexican blend from Costco - but some Habanero Jack would've been great too.
Adobo Sauce - I used Dona Maria paste, and follow the direction on the back of the jar to reconstitute enough to drizzle over the peppers.

Directions

Cut all the vegetables except the poblanos into small pieces. Grill on the stovetop in a non-stick skillet until tender. While these are cooking, make a t-shaped cut close to the stem of each poblano and slice it down the length (being sure not to cut through the back of the pepper). Place into a baking dish and broil until the outer skin of the poblanos start to bubble up and char.

Remove cooked vegetables from stovetop and mix in 2 -3 tbsp. jarred jalapeno juice. Stuff the peppers with the vegetable mixture, and then the shredded cheese. Drizzle adobo sauce over the peppers and sprinkle crumbled queso fresco on each pepper. Bake in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, until heated through and the poblanos are tender.

The poblanos are also good stuffed with beans (refried or whole) and basically any combination of vegetables that you have.