Tag Archives: zucchini

Market Finds: Baby eggplant

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One of my favorite Capitol Hill activities is exploring Eastern Market, and I’ve decided to share some of my best finds here. Check back each week for something delicious, unusual or downright fun, along with how I prepared it and where you can find it.

baby-eggplant

 

This week’s find is another from Barbour’s Fruit Farm’s booth at Eastern Market’s new Fresh Tuesday market. They said they’ve been getting a lot of baby eggplants looking like this, and I thought they were just too cute!

I sliced this up and tossed it in olive oil, salt and pepper with some zucchini slices, then roasted it (in the toaster oven, so as not to bake myself in my apartment). It made for a great open-faced sandwich on thick whole grain bread with hummus.

Visit Barbour’s Fruit Farm on Tuesdays at the corner of 7th and C Sts. SE, or on the weekends on the south side of the market building on C St. SE.

Veggie and tofu quinoa

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I’m not sure why, but I’m a big fan of making one-pot/one-pan meals. (Sometimes I use two pots, but they always end up finishing in the same pan: see exhibits A, B and C.) I grew up on the meat-starch-veg-salad style of dinner, but I rarely find myself doing that now. It’s not a conscious decision, but come to think of it, I always mix several elements of my plate together in one bite anyway, so I think I just like the way flavors combine. Plus, using fewer pans means fewer dishes!

The other nice thing about cooking this way is it gives you a lot of room to be creative. When the flavors are all mixed in like that, if you mess something up or toss in something that doesn’t work, the rest of the dish tends to mask it. I find myself tossing in things that just need to be used up or that I think might work well, just to try it out.

So tonight I needed something healthy and fast because I came in starving after yoga. Technically it was a two-pot dish because I made the quinoa separately, but I tossed it back in with the veggies when it was done to stir-fry the whole thing a bit and it worked out well.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup red quinoa (or use regular — I just happened to have the red)
3 tablespoons olive oil, as needed
1 brick extra-firm tofu, squeezed dry
1 tablespoon soy sauce
5 broccoli florets, chopped into smaller pieces
1/2 zucchini, chopped into thick chunks
1/4 cup canned diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts (for instructions on toasting them, see the bottom of this post)
4 leaves fresh basil
garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste

Rinse the quinoa and get it started cooking — usually you boil double the amount of water as there is quinoa (so for 1/4 cup quinoa you’d boil 1/2 a cup of water), then add the quinoa and turn it down to medium, cover the pot, and cook until soft, which is usually around 10-12 minutes.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Chop the tofu into squares, then sprinkle them with soy sauce to give it a bit of flavor. When the oil is hot, fry the tofu squares, flipping them around occasionally so they’re crispy on each side. When they’re browned and crispy on the outsides — after about 10 minutes, but it will depend based on your stove — add the zucchini and broccoli. Sprinkle on some garlic powder, salt and pepper, and optionally red pepper flakes. (You can always adjust these amounts later if needed.) Chop up the basil and add it to the pan, along with the tomatoes. Stir fry until the vegetables are cooked.

When the quinoa is finished cooking (all the water has been absorbed and it’s fluffy) dump it into the skillet with the vegetables and give it a quick stir fry. Here’s where you can taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Stir in the pine nuts at the end.

Serves one.

Reflecting on two years

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Yesterday, I was looking over some old posts and realized that it was two Easters ago that I first started this blog. It struck me how much a bigger part of my life cooking has become. Being in the kitchen is my zen, and there are few things I love more than coming home, pouring myself a glass of wine and creating something. I also thought about how much more adventurous and confident these past few years have made me, both food-wise and cooking-wise. I mess up – all the time. I’m always learning. But I want to keep learning, and I take the mess-ups as lessons, which is hard for a first-born perfectionist to do.

Today, I made my first ham. It may not seem like a big deal (and yes, it was a spiral-sliced ham) but it’s the principle of it that matters – I can pull off a ham, no prob. And I can do it while also making scalloped potato gratin. (Please, do yourself a favor and try that recipe, by the way. It’s incredible.) Two years ago, that would have scared me to death, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Anyway, that’s my reflection for the day. I have to go brush my teeth now to make myself stop eating chocolate eggs. But here are a couple of photos of the leftovers that we will probably still be working through this time next year. (I was too hungry to stop and take photos earlier, but I know Mom will want to see the fruit of our labors!)

Ham

This shows one of three containers. There is a mountain of ham left over. D is ecstatic.

Scalloped potato gratin

Yams? Good. Potatoes? Good. Cheese? Good. (Anyone get that Friends reference?)

Vegetables

Fresh springy vegetables sauteed with butter, salt and pepper, a la Kate! We put a good dent in these.

So… anyone have any good recipes for leftover ham?

Seconds, please!

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When you’re cooking for one, leftovers become everyday occurrences. At first, I’d either eat the same thing heated up from an earlier meal for days on end or freeze all my leftovers. I still utilize the freezer quite a bit, but I’ve learned it’s usually more fun to make something completely new out of leftover ingredients than to eat the same dish indefinitely.

This week, I thawed a big salmon fillet for dinner one night. Let’s face it: frozen fish just doesn’t measure up to its fresh counterpart. I ate about a quarter of it and tossed the rest in the fridge. If it was barely palatable the first time around, I knew it wouldn’t be pleasant out of the microwave the next day, either.

So I tried something a little different. I flaked it with a fork and tossed it with some pasta and veggies in homemade pesto. It was so much better as a side flavoring than all on its own as a main dish.

Here’s the recipe, in case you find yourself stuck in the leftover slump:

Ingredients:

1/2 filet of salmon, cooked
1 serving of whole wheat spiral pasta, dry
zucchini and summer squash, chopped into 1/2-inch-thick slices
2 tablespoons pesto
Parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. Coat a large pan with non-stick spray and heat on medium.

3. Sautée squash and zucchini 3-4 minutes.

4. Flake the salmon with a fork.

5. Drain the pasta and add it to the pan.

6. Add the flaked fish.

7. Stir in the pesto and continue to toss until well coated.

8. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

Serves one.

Great workday sandwiches

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I’m a big believer in the school of thought that says bread just isn’t worth it unless it’s good. (I’m not sure if a school of thought saying that really exists, but if it doesn’t, I will volunteer to be the founder and spiritual leader.) I’ll deal with Wonder Bread-style slices for a PB&J on occasion, but after that, I draw the line.

That said, I’ll go out of my way for a good loaf of bread. For the past few months, I’ve been obsessed with Trader Joe’s six-grain bread with pumpkin seeds, and I really do make the extra stop to pick it up rather than settle for whatever I can grab at Giant. I’ve tried other varieties and keep going back to this one. It’s thick, grainy and slightly sweet. Toast it for a few minutes and spread a little butter on top and it will literally melt in your mouth.

It’s also great for sandwiches. There are two sandwiches that I routinely have for lunches at work–they’re easy and delicious, but they’re definitely centered around the good bread. So make sure you’ve got the quality base to work with and the rest of the sandwich will just fall together.

Balsalmic veggie and hummus sandwich

Bonus: This smells so good that everyone will be jealous as you heat it up at the office.

Ingredients (makes enough for 2 sandwiches):
Prep time: 30 minutes the night before, 5 minutes at lunchtime

2 cups assorted raw vegetables, sliced thin (I usually use zucchini, summer squash, eggplant and onions, but feel free to get creative on this one)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
drizzle of olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp hummus
4 slices good bread

1. The night before, prepare the vegetables. Combine the sliced vegetables in a large bowl with the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and mix together until coated evenly.

2. Cover a small baking sheet with tin foil and spread the vegetables over the pan. Don’t pile them too high or the ones underneath won’t cook.

3. Preheat the broiler. I usually use the toaster oven for this because it’s just faster to preheat.

4. Put the vegetables under the broiler. Time will vary depending on how many are in there and how thinly you sliced it, but stir them around a couple of times during the cooking process to make sure the ones underneath get some heat, too. Keep a close eye on them–I have burnt these many a time because I’ve left the kitchen and then gotten distracted. It helps to set a timer and then just add more time as needed.

5. Once all the vegetables are softened, remove from heat and throw them in a container to keep in the fridge overnight.

6. At lunchtime, heat up the vegetables and toast the bread.

7. Spread the hummus over the bread and pile the veggies on top.

Note: This sandwich can also be made with goat cheese instead of hummus and the result is just as good.

Avocado and white bean tomato sandwich

This one gets some weird looks in the kitchen as you make it, but it’s good enough that you’ll barely notice. This sandwich was adapted from a recipe in Health magazine.

Ingredients (makes enough for one sandwich):

1/2 cup canned white beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 avocado
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 tomato
2 slices good bread

1. Mash together the avocado and white beans until they form a sort of chunky spread. Stir in salt and pepper little by little, tasting along the way to make sure you don’t overdo it.

2. Toast the bread.

3. Spread the avocado and bean mixture over the bread. Layer the slices of tomato on top.