Category Archives: zucchini

Dinner Party: Inspired by Chenin Blanc, a Middle-Eastern Feast

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I’d been waiting for some time for the epic dinner that took place at Stevie’s house with four of my favorite people (myself not included). While in South Africa at Glen Carlou, I’d tasted through their portfolio, including a sweet wine made from 100% Chenin Blanc. I bought a bottle with the express desire to share it with this group – and I was overjoyed when the day finally came.

This wine, combined with my lamb supply and Stevie’s desire for Kuku Kadoo, resulted in the following delicious menu:

Pan-fried lamb chops, scented with cumin
Kuku Kadoo
Persian zucchini frittata
Parsley and tumeric cous cous
served with lamb jus
with rosewater, strawberries, and whipped cream
We sipped on some lovely riesling provided by Stevie and Josiah while cooking, and quite soon, the boys discovered what a seamless cooking team Stevie, Alexxa, and I have become:
Stevie manning the Kuku Kadoo and the wok

Alexxa, hard at work on chopping strawberries

Whipping the meringue
The team at work
We sat down for our lovely Middle-Eastern-inspired dinner with fingers crossed, hoping that all of the elements would meld together… and they did. The use of complementary spices throughout the savory dishes was fantastic, and the various textures – from the smoothness of the Kuku Kadoo to the graininess of the cous cous and the bite of the pesto a top the crispy (and still medium rare) lamb – added a fuller dimension to the meal.

The spread.
Once the meal was complete, we assembled the tasty-but-not-so-beautiful meringues layer by layer, while Josiah, with his rippling forearms and new two-pronged wine opener (recently procured on a trip to Burgundy), opened the Chenin Blanc.
Wonderful, with its chewy texture and rosewater accent

The somm in action.
When I had tried the wine in Africa, I’d been hesitant. I am not the biggest fan of sweet dessert wines, but rather than the cloying sweetness I expected, I had been surprised – it tasted like eiswein, usually grown in the world’s coldest regions and made from frozen grapes, giving the wine a high level of acidity that cuts through the residual sugar. This wine, though from the hot growing region of Paarl, had the same effect on the palette. AND it was delicious with the nutty, floral, and fruity dessert.

Creative Time: Zucchini Latkes and Roasted Tomatoes

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Recently, I’ve had no appetite for the standards: chicken, beef, pork, even shrimp, bore me. And they are everywhere, in every grocery store, on every takeout menu, in every recipe search. How is it that a nation as big as ours has such a small repertoire of meats? One of my earliest childhood memories is a market in Provence; I was about six or seven years old when I saw skinned rabbits on sale for the first time. 
 
Market in Aix-en-Provence.
Image courtesy of http://daleeurope.wordpress.com/
Meat hasn’t really bothered me since, especially since I grew up eating venison, pheasant, and duck that my dad would bring home every now and then. What bothers me is how limited I feel on a day to day basis when I want to branch out. I think of the supermarkets in Rome, how even the plastic-wrapped meat aisles included options like veal, rabbit, mutton, and more. We just don’t eat like that in America, at least not enough of us do for the big guys to cater to diversified diets.
I was feeling this sentiment rather urgently the other day while I was brainstorming a menu for a small dinner party. I just couldn’t bring myself to cook another boring piece of meat, so I didn’t. Instead, I found inspiration on Amanda Hesser’s food52 site: these delicious zucchini latkes. I felt that the cakes would serve as a sort of homemade veggie burger, rich and thick enough to serve as a main dish. I used three large zucchini, two potatoes, some parsley, and lots of lemon zest in the cakes. I added two eggs since I’d essentially doubled the recipe, so it ended up requiring about a half cup of bread crumbs to hold it together. S&P on top, and I tossed them in a pan with heated olive oil and butter.
 Fresh out of the frying pan.
Wanting to bring some color to the spread, I chose a side dish that I could broil in the oven: roasted grape tomatoes and garlic. The dish was simple enough, requiring me to check in on them only periodically as I stood over the stove, frying my zucchini.
A little pop of garlicky-red and thyme
made a pretty table accent.
We ended up with a very lovely spread: the zucchini cakes and tomatoes, as well as a loaf of bread, some peanuts (I was craving salt), and some charcuterie with cheese. With some light white wine, the meal was extremely refreshing and satisfying – both in terms of my palate and my mental well-being. We were so full, in fact, that no one had room for dessert!
Served with a dollop of Greek yogurt
and a big squeeze of lemon juice.

Quick and Easy: Striped Bass with Lemon, Butter, and Parsley

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After a wonderful date night at Marea on Saturday night, where I ate my way through four courses and topped it off with a macchiato, I did not sleep. Call it heartburn from too much food or heart palpitations from the coffee or an unhappy coincidence – I was suffering on Sunday from lack of rest. So when it came time for dinner, I wanted something that would be simple and easy, no grocery shopping involved.

Marea, photo courtesy nydailynews.com
I had thawed the striped bass fillets Stevie had given me the night before, so I knew that they would be the central component of the meal. Looking in the fridge, I found: lemons, garlic, parsley, zucchini, lettuce, and half of an avocado. Most of these ingredients consisted of produce that was looking not quite as fresh as it did two days ago and thus needed to be used. 
Check out the beautiful globular zucchini I found at the market
Stevie had pan-seared her fillets in butter and topped them with an herb sauce, and since I happened to have a lot of parsley on hand, this seemed like a good (and quick) way to prepare my fish. I heated some butter in a frying pan and added some chopped garlic. Once I rinsed the fish, I dusted the fillets with a bit of sea salt. When the butter was hot,  I added them to the pan and let them sit in the fat, two minutes per side. To finish them off, I stuck the pan in a 500-degree oven for another two minutes, then promptly removed and plated, drizzling them with the pan juices and some freshly squeezed lemon, topping with loads of parsley.
Seared bass with garlic butter, fresh lemon juice, and parsley
Meanwhile, I was thinking about lunch. This June, I have placed a little budget bet with myself, and one of the ways I have been keeping on track is by bringing my lunch. Sounds simpler than it is, I’m afraid, especially given how busy and tired I usually am in the evenings. However, creativity prevailed, and I decided to slice and stir fry the zucchini… until I realized I was already frying fish. I quickly changed course when I discovered some frozen peas, and rather than try to thaw and risk overcooking them, I threw them (ice crystals included) into a saucepan with my salted zucchini. Although I had to periodically remove excess liquid, the result was a pot of crisply-steamed green vegetables. I threw some fusilli into boiling water, and my own version of pasta primavera was done in 15 minutes.
Dinner is served!
In a salad bowl, I added the lettuce and avocado, tossing it with the rest of the lemon juice, s&p, and a dash of Croatian olive oil. All of this took about 20 minutes between prep to table. That, combined with the lovely green palette, made this a very satisfying, light, and healthy meal that did not keep me up at night.