Pepper Medley Hot Sauce

I made this hot sauce, and for whatever reason (and despite the 4 hot peppers I used here), I did not expect it to be very spicy. So as soon as it finished blending, I ate a spoonful with complete lack of caution. And, WOW, yeah, it was spicy. Not like crazy insane-esophagus-destroying spicy, but like actual hot-sauce-level spicy. Very nicey!

These were the medley of peppers I had on hand, but you could use any variety you like. The red bell pepper adds some nice sweetness, but I've also seen sauces made with tomatoes or carrots. You could consider, as well, subbing lime juice for the vinegar, adding in other add-ins. Etc. Very versatile, very easy, very tasty.

1 red chile pepper
1 green chile pepper
1 Bulgarian carrot chile pepper
1 hungarian hot wax pepper
1 medium onion
2 small bell peppers (I used one red, one orange)
1/4 cup white vinegar
salt to taste (though I didn't add any; it was so flavorful already)
1/4 cup water

Roughly chop all the vegetables. Place them in the blender with the vinegar and blend until a smooth sauce is formed. Taste and season if you wish; add some water if the sauce is too thick. Reblend. Pour. Enjoy.

Corn-Leek Fritters with Roasted Tomatoes

You know that expression, if it grows together, it goes together? Well, I ran with that and composed these fritters from the reapings of one Pennsylvanian week.

The result: this meal is a savory explosion. Seriously. Also, very crunchy thanks to the rice flour.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 teaspoons Spanish paprika
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup water
a squeeze of lemon juice
about 1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels
3 slender leeks, chopped small
2 scallions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 hungarian hot wax (or jalapeño or other hot-ish) pepper, finely chopped
grapeseed oil for frying

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Stir the remaining ingredients (except the oil) into the dry ingredients until well-combined.

Heat a large, non-stick skillet over medium high. Add enough grapeseed oil to coat the bottom. Scoop heaping tablespoonfuls of the batter into the oil and cook, flipping once, until golden brown on both sides.

1 pound tomatoes
olive oil
salt+pepper

Preheat your oven to 375° F.

Cut the tomatoes into golf ball (about?) sized pieces. Place them in a non-stick baking pan cut side down (as applicable). Paint with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast for 45 minutes or so, until shriveled and deep red.

Serve fritters over the roasted tomatoes.

[adapted from the corn fritter recipe in Charmaine Solomon's Complete Vegetarian Cookbook]

Cold Curried Carrot Soup

There's something a bit unfair about August's bounty. At least with regard to soup. Because tomato soup with August's deep red fruit would be so much better than soup with February's grainy sadnesses. And chowder with August's fresh kernels from the cob would be one billion times better than chowder with the crystally, withered kernels you pull from the back of your freezer in winter.

But in this heat, I don't want to eat soup.

Cold soups are, obviously, where I'm going with this. And this alliterative option was terrific. I was cooking for two, so double the recipe if you want leftovers. (And no, this is not a recipe from that book!)

1 quite small onion, chopped
2 cups sliced carrots
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 3/4 cup vegetable broth
3/4 cup coconut milk
1-2 teaspoons fresh squeeze lime juice

Sweat the onion and carrots in the butter, with the curry powder and salt to taste, over medium-low heat until the onions are softened.

Add the vegetable broth and simmer, covered until the carrots are very soft (about 20 minutes). Stir in the coconut milk and lime juice.

Puree and chill for at least six hours before serving. Garnish with a little cilantro.

[adapted from]

Tempeh Sandwiches with Tomato-Melon-Onion Chutney

I've been making a lot of dips lately. Here's one! It's tangy and a bit spicy. A great way to use up some tomatoes. And really nice against the earthy tempeh.

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
zest of one lemon
2 pounds tomatoes, chopped
1 pound cantaloupe or other (not water)melon, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped

1 baguette
8 ounces tempeh
olive oil
cilantro

Bring the vinegars to a boil with the dry spices and the lemon zest. Add the tomato, melon, and onion and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to your desired consistency (should be thickened, with the tomatoes broken down, but not dry). The cooking should take an hour and a half or so.

Cut the tempeh to a size appropriate for your bread. Then, in a large saute pan over medium-high, heat enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Fry the tempeh until browned on all sides.

Lightly toast your baguette, then spread with a good amount of the chutney, garnish with cilantro, and set the tempeh in place. You can see I needed toothpicks to hold these together--deliciously fally aparty!

Zucchini Bread

Another way to put zucchini to (good!) use.

This is a fairly basic zucchini bread recipe but, taking a lesson from Maggie, I used lots of bright lemon zest to keep this quickbread out of the Christmas flavor zone. I passed on cloves-as-spicing, though I did use a little ground ginger (btw, I didn't have any on hand, but I think fresh ginger would be awesome here), and a good amount of cinnamon. The cayenne pepper registers only as a background note, but one that I found very enjoyable -- it's just present enough that you know it's there if you know it's there, if you know what I mean.

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup grapeseed oil
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
zest of two small lemons
3 cups coarsely grated zucchini (about 3 medium, or one giant as was my case)
1 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, coarsely chopped (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350° F and line two loaf pans with parchment paper (or butter/flour them).

Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, ginger, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugars, oil, eggs, and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in the lemon zest, grated zucchini, and walnuts if using.

Pour the batter into the loaf pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 40-45 minutes).

This recipe makes two loaves.

Guest Post: Strawberry Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

Thursday guest posts are back! At least, they are if you send me some posts to post. Seriously, I welcome your posts! Yes, you! Guest posts are one of my favorite things about this blog -- they give us a chance to make this a community effort, a collaborative project, a kum-ba-yah-style hippy circle of intimate sharing. And that's what you come here for, right?

Anyway, here's our old pal Amanda, with a delicious gentle summer recipe to share. And when I say delicious, I say this with confidence. I tried this very batch of ice cream before I left Chicago, on the stairs behind our old apartment. Forgive me for hackneyed-ly quoting WCW, but this was so sweet and so cold.


Deserts have been my thing lately - I can't stop baking cookies and cakes and cupcakes for various events, and sometimes just for fun. Example: other day I was planning on making cookies and cream cupcakes for a friend's birthday. I had already chopped up the Newman-O's and preheated the oven. Luckily, before I started combining ingredients I realized that I was out of baking cups (welcome to my world). So instead, I decided to try making this much more seasonally-appropriate ice cream. I've had a Donvier ice cream maker for several years, which I purchased at the thrift store but neglected until now. And oh. My. It was worth the wait.

I wanted to use the Newman-O's that I'd just chopped up in my recipe, and I recently tried a delicious strawberry cookies and cream flavor from Shawn Michelle's Homemade Ice Cream truck in Hyde Park. So I basically followed this Epicurious recipe for the strawberry ice cream base, and added the cookies, Shawn Michelle-style, at the end.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
several strips of fresh lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 pound (3 cups) fresh strawberries, trimmed and quartered
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup coarsely chopped Newman O's (or Oreos, or other Oreo-like cookies)

First off, be sure that your Donvier (or other brand) ice cream maker is prepped. Rinse out the aluminum interior well with lukewarm water, dry completely, and be sure to freeze at least overnight.

Combine the cream, zest, and salt in a heavy saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from the burner and discard lemon zest. Whisk your eggs with 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl, and then add the hot cream in a slow, steady stream, while whisking. Pour back into the pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently (oops! the Epicurious recipe says constantly, but I didn't do that) - until slightly thickened. I don't have an instant-read thermometer, but this process took me about fifteen minutes. (The mixture should heat to 170 degrees but should not boil).

Pour the custard through a fine strainer into a metal bowl, and then cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Cover and chill at least two hours. The longer you chill the custard, the easier your ice cream will come together later. I chilled mine overnight.

Next, use a blender to purée the strawberries with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the lemon juice. Force through a fine strainer, using the back of a metal spoon, in small batches, rinsing the strainer in between (this process removes the seeds). Chill to cold. Again, overnight is best.

When both are cold, stir the purée into the custard. Add the chopped cookies. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and prepare according to manufacturer's directions (for a Donvier, stir it twice, let it sit for 2-3 minutes, and repeat until frozen, 15-20 minutes).

The recipe says it keeps for one week in a tightly-sealed container, in the freezer, but mine didn't last that long. I ate a bunch of it right out of the Donvier, gave a container of it to my friend for her birthday, and shared the rest with some friends a couple of days later, on the stairs of their backyard porch. The alternate title for this recipe is the Glen Campbell and John Hartford gentle summer desert.

Baba Ghanoush

While we're on the subject of vegetables I don't like, let me mention eggplant. I do not like eggplant.

Well, most of the time. See, it's the stringy flesh of the eggplant, against its often razor sharp skin that I really do not like. (Why leave the skin on when it gets so unappealingly hard and sharp as it cooks?) Japanese eggplant, chopped small and in a stir fry with other vegetables, I can get behind. Eggplant parmesan, I like it alright.

But when it's roasted and pureed into baba ghanoush, I can really love the lovely eggplant. It is a very good looking fruit, no?

Too bad its looks are all but destroyed in the making of this mash. But via that process emerges something differently lovely -- a gentle, tangy, deeply appealing dip. Kindred to hummus and just as easy to make. If you've never tried, now's as good a time as ever.

Because in addition to being totally easy to make, it's a super transportable food. We brought it (along with Monday's zucchini alchemy) to a picnic last weekend and it fared just fine in the car while we were out hiking. An idea for your Labor Day at the beach, perhaps?

Get the recipe for this baba ghanoush here.

PS. Thanks to my dear Elaine for the Hoover Dam beer cozy; it carefully cradled a peach all the way up the mountain.

Summer Squash and Goat Cheese Pesto

Generally, I'm not a huge fan of yellow squash or zucchini.

These summer squashes appear frequently in a medley menus call "grilled vegetables." "Grilled vegetables" are frustratingly ubiquitous in "vegetarian options" and are a death sentence for delicious. That bland, waterlogged medley can take down an otherwise tasty meal. And at fault for most of that bland wateriness is, generally, zucchini. So summer squash gets a bad rap.

But it can be so good. Just get rid of all that water, add a little salt, and you have something entirely different on your fork. With this as my goal, practically every time I cook with summer squash (baking is another story -- its water can be an asset for moist muffins and the like; more on that Friday!), I wring as much water from it as I can. Then, I love it. But I'll still never order it in a pasta primavera.

Here, it's perfect raw with goat cheese on crunchy toasts.

about 12 ounces zucchini and/or yellow summer squash, ends trimmed, and finely grated (about 2 cups)
coarse salt
1 large clove garlic
1/8 cup olive oil
1/8 cup goat cheese

Place the grated zucchini into a fine mesh strainer, sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon or so coarse salt, toss, and let sit for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mince the garlic, then sprinkle it with a tiny bit more coarse salt. With the flat side of your knife, and using the salt as an abrasive, smash the garlic into a paste.

Once the zucchini has drained for a while, dump it into a clean kitchen towel and squeeze as much moisture out as you possibly can.

Combine the zucchini and garlic paste with the olive oil and goat cheese. With a fork, mash the goat cheese into the zucchini mixture until well blended.

Serve on toast points, with pasta, with eggs, in a sandwich, on tiny puff pastry cut outs, however you like!

Serves six to eight as an appetizer.

[Inspired by.]

Ricotta and Cherry Tomato Pizza

Before Chicago, Mike and I lived in Brooklyn. And there, we would have Pizza Friday! each week. This tradition diminished eventually. In name at least, though the frequency of our pizza eating did not. Particularly when we started making our own pizza. This dough recipe makes two crusts, so you know, two pizzas to eat.

But today, hey, it's Friday. And this is pizza. And ricotta with the sweetest in-season tomatoes is so terrific. Pizza Friday!, indeed.

1 1/8 cups warm water
1 packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons olive oil

olive oil
about 1/4 cup ricotta
coarse salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 - 2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 tablespoon basil, sliced into fine ribbons

With your pizza stone inside, preheat your oven to its hottest, non-broil setting.

Mix the yeast, sugar, and water. Set aside. Put the flour and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. With the processor running, add the olive oil, then (once the yeast is dissolved) the water-yeast solution. Continue with the machine running until a ball begins to form. The dough should be fairly wet. Remove the dough and form it into a ball, then dump it into a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, non-drafty place for an hour or so (or overnight).

Knead the dough for about a minute on a clean, floured counter, then divide it in two. (This recipe makes two pizza crusts. Repeat this with the second one or make a different pizza with that one.) Let these two dough balls rest for about 10 minutes, while you prep your other ingredients. Then, gently press the dough out into a large round, turning it as you go and adding flour as needed.

Transfer the dough to a sheet of parchment paper on top of a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet. Brush the dough with olive oil, spread the ricotta on top of that, then sprinkle with salt to taste and garlic. Top with the halved cherry tomatoes, cut side up. With the pizza peel, slide the pizza onto your pizza stone and bake for 10 minutes or until the crust begins to brown (getting used to a new oven, mine did more than begin to brown). Top with the basil before serving.

Warm String Bean and Fennel Salad with Garlic Lemon Butter

This gives new meaning to the term "butter beans." Butter. Beans.

(And fennel and lemon and garlic too.)

A late summer salad. It's just right.

And a note: if you think you don't like fennel, try cooking it slowly in butter. Its anise notes mellow and it becomes sweet and truly terrific.

2 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, chopped
about 1 pound string beans, trimmed and cut into 2 inch(ish) pieces
1 bulb fennel, cored and sliced into 1/4 inch strips (reserve the fronds)
1/4 - 1/2 cup water
zest of one small lemon
juice of half that lemon
1 tablespoon chopped fennel fronds

Melt the butter over medium heat. Toss in the garlic, then the beans and fennel. Continue cooking over medium heat for about 3 or 4 minutes, then pour in some water. Cover the pan and steam the beans until cooked. If water lingers, but the beans are done, remove the beans from the pan, and cook off most of the water. Pour the fat and garlic that remains at that point back over the beans. Stir in the lemon zest and juice, and the fennel fronds.

Serves 4 as a side.

Blackberry French Toast

Pennsylvania farms overfloweth. These blackest blackberries! They are too beautiful. They shine a non-light so bright my camera could barely make out the custardy raw (!) milk and egg soaked bread beneath them.

I am, to put it mildly, loving to eat here. There's the CSA, the multiple fantastic farmers markets, the animal welfare approved dairy farm. And on. And on. I went on a several farm tour last weekend through the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture. It was so wonderful. I'll tell you more about that later, but for now:

Did you know you can make a syrup from basically any kind of berry with languid, delirious ease? You can.

Toss some [black]berries in a pot. Add a little water, maybe enough to come up about a 1/4 inch up the side of the pot. Add a little sugar if you think the berries need it. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the berries begin break down. Mash the berries, maybe cook them a little more. Strain the pulp out if you want, or don't. Put this on your french toast. Put more berries on top.

Roasted Beet and Corn Bruschetta

Lula Cafe in Chicago has a beet bruschetta that I've long prized as the ideal beet preparation. With a a beautiful bounty of beets appearing in our CSA this week, I thought to make something similar. Does this mean I'm missing Chicago? I'm not sure. So far, I like our new home very much. I think, mostly, that I was missing beets as it's been months since I ate one.

For this bruschetta, I cooked just from the farm box, making this a super seasonal celebration of a bruschetta with beets (as I've mentioned!), corn, scallions, and a red chile pepper.

It could not have been better. I loved it all the way through and found myself wishing I'd made a double batch.

3 small beets
1 ear corn
2 whole scallions, chopped
1 small hot pepper (red chile, jalapeño, hungarian hot wax, or the like), finely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 loaf italian bread, cut into 3/4 inch slices
olive oil
1 clove garlic, cut in half crosswise

Preheat your oven to 425° F.

Trim the beets so just about a 1/4 inch of the stem remains attached to the root (But save the greens! They can be cooked, deliciously, like other greens!). Place the beets in a small baking dish with about a 1/4 inch of water. Cover tightly with foil.

Wrap the ear of corn--husk and all--in foil.

Place the beets and the corn into the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. The beets should be easily pierce-able with the tip of a knife but not mushy. I like my beets a little on the firm side; cook yours longer if you like a softer beet. Likewise if you only have larger beets (stick the corn in for the last 30 minutes or so if that's the case).

Carefully peel the corn and beets. Then cut the kernels from the cob, chop the beets into 1/4 inch cubes, and combine these vegetables in a medium bowl with the scallions, pepper, olive oil, vinegar, and salt. Let sit for at least 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the sliced bread on a cookie sheet. Brush with olive oil. Place this in the oven (still hot from roasting the beets and corn), then turn the heat off. Bake until toasty, about 10-15 minutes. Immediately afterward, rub the cut clove of garlic onto the hot bread. This will melt the garlic a bit and lightly flavor the toast.

Serve the toasts with a good helping of the beet-corn mixture.

Serves four as an appetizer, two as a meal.

Meals; for Facebook

Just wanted to remind everyone that you can keep up with Meals; for Moderns on Facebook and Twitter. Socially network with us, why don't you?

Greenmore Gardens

I lied on Monday. Our things had arrived. But I didn't know that would be the case when I wrote that post and future-dated it to appear on Monday. So, we are in a home of things and the things are mostly away and the kitchen is mostly set. And I cooked dinner here, for the first time, last night. In full-on exhaustion mode, I cooked dinner. (While listening to this song on repeat for two hours. Join me.)

But dinner, right. Less "cooked" than boiled some corn while Mike sliced some bagels. It was really all we had in us. But super tasty just the same. Wegman's has the best grocery store bagels I've tried. And yesterday was our first CSA pickup from Greenmore Gardens.


What an amazing bounty. When I saw it, I said "I feel joyous." What I meant was "I feel like I'm home." Hey, I made it.

Vegan Tacos a la Alemaña

Well, we've landed in Pennsylvania. Our things aren't here yet, but our bodies (ourselves!) are. I have yet to get the kitchen together, so I'll share this recipe I made in Chicago shortly after we returned from Germany.

While we were in Germany, we heard about a California-style burrito place with some vegan options. It sounded good, but I must admit I had some prejudicial doubts re: European burritos. But on our last night in Berlin, we tried it out and it was terrific. The ingredients were just right, the tortillas were soft and tasty. The lime tofu was awesome.

So when I came home, I made these tacos, based on German burritos, based on Californian burritos, based on Mexican food, based on what the Aztecs were eating when the Spaniards showed up and "discovered" them. Oh, plus tofu, origin: China. So much travel to make it, deliciously, to this plate.

This is an easy recipe, but it has a lot of components. Hang in there and you'll be glad.

Lime Tofu
8 ounces tofu
grapeseed oil
1/3 cup lime juice
2 teaspoon sugar

Wrap the tofu in a clean kitchen towel and place it between two plates, weighted with something heavy but stable. When it's drained a good amount (maybe 15 minutes later) cut the tofu into 1/2 inch cubes and fry it in some hot grapeseed oil until browning.

In a separate pan, whisk together the lime juice and sugar over low heat, until the sugar dissolves. Add the tofu and toss for a few minutes before setting aside.

Black Beans
grapeseed oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can black beans
salt to taste

I made a simpler bean than usual this time, since these burritos have so many other things going on. Heat the oil over medium, then add the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion begins to soften, then stir in the beans with their liquid. Cook until most the liquid has evaporated and the beans are warmed through.

Guacamole
recipe here

Rice
(they used brown; I was out and used white)

Fajita Veggies
grapeseed oil
1/2 green pepper, sliced lengthwise
1/2 onion, sliced lengthwise
cumin
coriander

Heat the oil over medium high, then add the pepper and onion. Stir in about 1/2 teaspoon each of the spices. Cook until the veggies are browning at the edges.

Put all this together with some tomato in a tortilla. (Make your own tortillas!)