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I’ve been on a tear in the last couple of weeks , making the most of my Farmers market purchases from the weekends. It’s been so bad that I’ve been hitting the San Mateo market on Saturday and Mountain View on Sunday so I can pick up squash on the cheap, and of course some Acme Herb Slab.
The highlights:
Grilled Thai Green Curry Satay w/ Thai-Vietnamese Salad and Steamed Rice (pictured above – a little blurry due to the cell phone cam)
The salad, a play on a Rachael Ray recipe (ok, my Tivo is chockful of Food Network and Saturday morning PBS cooking shows), was the real standout – refreshing on a very hot Friday evening. I pounded boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut them into strips and marinated them for a few hours in coconut milk mixed with a teaspoon of green curry paste. Found in the end that grilling overpowered the taste of the green curry, but I still had some coconut milk left in the can and mixed it up with some more curry paste for a dipping sauce. Pretty good.
Sesame-Peanut Noodles with Grilled Chicken
On Saturday, no fewer than 3 cooking shows I watched featured some variation of cool sesame noodles. A clear sign that I was meant to have a second go at making this dish, since the last time I ended up with gloppy peanut disaster. Lesson number one, make more noodles than the recipe indicates and pour the sauce over individual portions, tossing to coat. I still ended up with extra, but since I didn’t pour it all over the noodles, I didn’t over sauce as I did last time.
2 9oz. pkgs Azumaya thin-cut noodles, cooked according to pkg directions
1 carrot, grated
2-3 green onions cut on the bias
mint, basil, cilantro (a mix of whatever you’ve got)
Dressing (borrowed from America’s Test Kitchen)
2 T. roasted sesame seeds (available in Japanese food stores as goma)
2 T. peanut butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 piece (1/2-inch) fresh ginger, grated
3 T. soy sauce
1 T. rice wine vinegar
1/2 t. chili garlic sauce
1 T. light brown sugar
Hot water
Combine all ingredients except hot water in a blender. Add water a T. at a time to reach desired consistency.
Spaghetti with Cherry Tomato, Garlic and Fresh Basil
I like Giada DeLaurentiis recipe for this, but often find that I overprocess the cherry tomatoes and end up with the equivalent of salsa cruda on my noodles. This recipe was a safer bet in that you just cut the cherry tomatoes in half and mush them a bit.
Quesadillas and Southwestern Corn & Black Bean Salad
I’m a convert to the PepperJack quesadilla with red onion and cilantro cooked in pan. Having grown up with the orange cheddar variety done in the microwave, this is a whole new quesadilla experience for me. If I’ve got folks that like a little extra heat, red pepper flakes do the trick. Chopped Italian parsley is another good addition if you’ve got it on hand. As for the salad, nothing beats fresh corn…though in the wintertime, I break out the nibblets.
Green and Yellow Zucchini “Pasta” with Italian Sausage Marinara
My in-laws have been doing the low-carb thing for the last couple of years and my mother-in-law whipped this up one night when they came to stay with us. I’m not sure of the original source. I don’t do the Atkins/South Beach thing, so I have a few slices of good Italian bread to go along with. Because I don’t cook the devil out of the zucchini, the sauce usually ends up a little watery, but it’s still tasty….
Pasta:
8-10 green and yellow zucchini, peeled in thin strips with a vegetable peeler
1 t. olive oil
Sauce:
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 t. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 links Italian sauce, sliced ¼ in. slices (I like Trader Joe’s Spicy Italian)
2 28 oz. cans plum tomatoes (I like Trader Joe’s, even w/ Progresso you aren’t guaranteed plum tomatoes)
1-2 t. dried oregano
1 t. dried basil
A glug of red wine (maybe ¼ c.)
S&P
Parmesan
In a dutch oven, brown the sausage on both sides over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent. Add the garlic. Add the tomatoes and break them up with a spoon (or your hands as they go in!). Add the herbs and S&P to taste. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20-30 minutes until reduced and thick.
While the sauce is simmering, saute the zucchini in a tiny bit of olive oil (I use a nonstick saute pan, so you don’t need much). S&P.
Serve individually and sprinkle liberally with parmesan.
