Archive | April, 2013

Zucchini-Rutabaga Fritters

29 Apr

Fritters? Latkes? Hashbrowns? Something like that. But with zucchini and rutabaga instead of white potato, they were just as delicious (especially when dipped in ketchup) but way healthier. Plus it was a great way to use up what will hopefully be the last of my winter CSA vegetables. (I am getting real tired of roots and greens.)

These do have a bit of flour in them, but if you’re gluten-free or doing the paleo thing, substitute almond flour, and it will be just as good.

Fritters

I guess technically these are a side dish and would be great as the starch alongside a main course. But I’ve had them as a main dish along with sauteed greens or a salad. They’re definitely versatile and would be appropriate for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

As with most of my root-vegetable recipes, you can use pretty much any combination of root vegetables you have on hand. Straight-up zucchini would be good, using some sweet potato would be delicious. Whatever. Use your imagination.

It took some time to prepare these, mostly just because it takes a while to grate vegetables. But the nice thing about it was that I fried up a bunch of them and saved extras in the fridge. They were really easy to re-heat (in the convection oven, baking on 350 until warm) and have as a snack or as part of a quick, last-minute meal.

You may like these served latke-style with sour cream and apple sauce. I preferred them with ketchup, like hashbrowns. Yum.

Fritters2

Zucchini and Rutabaga Fritters adapted from SlimPalate.com

1 medium zucchini (about 200 g)
1 medium rutabaga (about 200 g)
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup flour (or almond flour, to be gluten-free)
1/4 cup parmigiana reggiano, grated and packed down
2 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying (I used garlic grapeseed oil)

Grate zucchini and rutabaga with a medium-sized grater. Add a dash of salt. Place shredded vegetables in a clean paper towel and squeeze to get as much liquid out of it as possible.

Place in a large bowl and add beaten eggs, garlic, flour, cheese, and fresh ground black pepper. Mix well.

Heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil over medium heat in a large skillet, and wait for the pan to get hot. Once oil is shimmering, add spoonfuls of mixture to the pan. Fry until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Place on platter lined with paper towels to soak up any grease.  Serve with sides of salt, pepper, sour cream, applesauce, and/or ketchup.

Linking up with:

YOLO Mondays from Still Being Molly and Lipgloss and Crayons
Market Yourself Monday from Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
Time for a Party from Fine Craft Guild
Made by you Monday from Skip to my Lou
Anything & Everything Link-Up from My Thrifty Chic and The Sapphire Bee
Time to Sparkle from Love Grows Wild, Inside BruCrew Life, The Recipe Critic, and The Gunny Sack

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Curry Carrot & Rutabaga Soup

21 Apr

Another soup! With all these root vegetables, I’ve found that I really enjoy making up different soups. I had some leftover carrots and a single rutabaga leftover that were about to be all nasty. They were a little limp for much else than cooking and pureeing, so that’s what I went with.

I wish I had thought of it earlier when I first started our CSA, but I’ve found Andrea Reusing’s Cooking in the Moment to be really helpful in figuring out what to do with all these veggies. Her recipes are divided up seasonally and focus a lot on fresh produce, so when I was at a loss, I started there. I found an excellent recipe for carrot soup and edited it a bit to include my sole rutabaga and to make substitutions for a few ingredients I already had on hand.

If you haven’t bought it yet, go out and get her cookbook. But in the meantime, you can try this recipe. It’s not quite the original, but it’s pretty good.

Curry Carrot & Rutabaga Soup

Curry Carrot & Rutabaga Soup, adapted from Cooking in the Moment by Andrea Reusing

2 tablespoons butter
4 green onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 teaspoons kosher salt
2/3 pound carrots & rutabagas, chopped
1 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cajun seasoning
1/4 cup white wine
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup water
Chopped walnuts, for garnish

Melt the butter in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, and some of the salt. Cover and cook about 8-10 minutes, until the onions are clear.

Add the curry and cajun seasoning and stir. Cook about 1 minute until fragrant. Add the carrots, rutabagas*, wine, and a little more salt. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add the stock, water**, and the rest of the salt. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook about 30 minutes, until the carrots and rutabagas are tender.

Puree with an immersion blender or in batches in a food processor. Add seasoning if necessary and serve hot. Garnish with chopped walnuts and/or plain Greek yogurt.

* Any combination of carrots and rutabagas will do. The original recipe called for only carrots. I used one medium-size rutabaga and the rest in carrots.

** Any combination of vegetable stock and water will do. The original recipe used only water in order to better bring out the flavor of the vegetables. I used some homemade vegetable stock to add a little more herbal flavor.

Yummy Soup

Linking Up With:

YOLO Mondays from Still Being Molly and Lipgloss and Crayons
Monday Meet Ups from Covered in Grace
Market Yourself Monday from Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
Time for a Party from Fine Craft Guild
Made by you Monday from Skip to my Lou
Anything & Everything Link-Up from My Thrifty Chic and The Sapphire Bee
Time to Sparkle from Love Grows Wild, Inside BruCrew Life, The Recipe Critic, and The Gunny Sack
All Things Pretty from Sparkles and a Stove and My Fashion Forward Blog

Coconut Macaroon Cookies

15 Apr

These coconut macaroons are so easy! Any time I need a last-minute dessert, I turn to this recipe. (Well, if it’s truly last-minute, then I go to the grocery store, but you know what I mean.)

C is for Cookie

They’re very simple and quick, but so delicious that your fans won’t know that you just threw it all together. These are a great dessert for a picnic or an excellent little addition to a potluck or dessert spread. I love to make them at Christmas time as ‘snowballs,’ but the coconut is so fresh that they’re equally satisfying in the middle of summer. To get even more fancy, dip the bottom half of each cookie in melted chocolate after they are completely cool. Yummm.

My only warning with this recipe? Double or even triple it. This recipe only makes 10 or 12 small cookies.

A whole plateful

Easy Coconut Macaroons  from Food.com

1 1/3 cup coconut
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Whisk dry ingredients together. Stir in egg whites and almond extract, and mix well.

Drop from teaspoon on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove cookies from sheet immediately after baking.

Coconut Macaroons

Linking Up With:

YOLO Mondays from Still Being Molly and Lipgloss and Crayons
Monday Meet Ups from Covered in Grace
Market Yourself Monday from Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
Time for a Party from Fine Craft Guild
Made by you Monday from Skip to my Lou
Anything & Everything Link-Up from My Thrifty Chic and The Sapphire Bee

Mountain Dew Cake

8 Apr

My brother got married! I can’t believe it! It was a beautiful day for a beautiful wedding. The bride was lovely, the groom was happy, and everyone had a great time. I really enjoyed spending the past few months helping my new sister-in-law plan her wedding, and it was a lot of fun being the ‘wedding planner’ for the weekend.

While I helped plan some logistics and decorations for their big day, my oldest sister prepared the dessert table. After a few days in her kitchen, she had banana pudding cups, strawberry shortcake cups, over 200 mini cheesecake bites, and these mini Mountain Dew bundt cakes.

The bride wanted a rustic theme in lime green and navy blue. The groom kept trying to make that rustic redneck, and my sister helped that along with cakes baked with Mountain Dew, his favorite soda. But aside from these, the bride and I managed to swing the theme back toward rustic chic. With the wedding held outdoors at a vineyard on the first gorgeous North Carolina weekend of spring, it was perfect.

Whether you have a casual wedding or a weekend barbecue, try these cakes. They’re delicious little conversation starters.

Mountain Dew Cakes

Mountain Dew Cake from DuncanHines.com

Cake

1 box lemon cake mix
1 box lemon Jell-O instant pudding mix
4 large eggs
1 can (1 1/2 cups) Mountain Dew
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a mini bundt or cupcake pan.

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix with the pudding mix. Add the eggs and oil, then slowly add the Mountain Dew. Mix at medium speed until blended.

Pour batter into prepared muffin tins and bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the mini cakes cool for 10 minutes and then remove to a wire rack.

Glaze

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Mountain Dew

While cake is still slightly warm, melt 1/2 cup butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup Mountain Dew to the melted butter. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil, stirring often. Boil for two minutes and remove from heat.

Poke holes in cake with a wooden skewer or the tines of a fork, and then spoon the hot glaze over the cakes. Cool completely before serving.

On the dessert table

 

Linking Up With:

YOLO Mondays from Still Being Molly and Lipgloss and Crayons
Monday Meet Ups from Covered in Grace
Market Yourself Monday from Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
Your Great Idea Link Party from Or So She Says
Time for a Party from Fine Craft Guild
Made by you Monday from Skip to my Lou

Homemade Pesto

1 Apr

I love pesto, and I love pasta. I really prefer creamy pesto, but in recent years I’ve found that a regular pesto is also pretty delicious.

Last summer I had a basil plant growing in a little pot on our balcony. It was really cute and awesome to have around. Problem was, I kept forgetting it was out there. I’d forget to water it for a week or two, then remember and bring it back to life with huge cupfuls of water. I actually did revive it a few times this way, but not without ill effects. The stalks became really woody and tough, and the leaves became less flavorful and a little bitter. After a few near-death experiences, it just wasn’t working out anymore, and I put the poor thing out of its misery.

But before it met its end, I got quite a few good leaves out of that basil, and with it, I made my own pesto. This project was actually my original reason for buying a food processor, if I remember correctly. I whipped up this pesto, which I used as a sandwich spread and as a base for a pasta sauce. I subbed inexpensive walnuts for harder-to-find, pricey pine nuts.

Basil, pre-haircut

Before

Basil, post-haircut

After

Overall, I remember thinking that it just needed more. More garlic, more parmesan, more flavor. This recipe is pretty good — good enough that I’ll return to it again. But if you have a hit-it-out-of-the-park, homerun of a pesto recipe, please share! I’m thinking of getting a new basil plant this spring.

Homemade Pesto

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup walnuts
3 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper, to taste

Place the walnuts in a food processor and pulse until roughly chopped. Add the basil and garlic, and pulse a few times until mixed.

While the processor is on, pour in the olive oil in a steady stream. Stop and scrape the sides of the food processor bowl with a spatula. Add the grated cheese and a dash of salt and pepper. Pulse until blended.

Pesto!

Serving Suggestions:

  • Crostini: Serve as a spread with toasted baguette slices.
  • Panini: Use as a spread for sandwiches.
  • Pasta: Toss with pasta, vegetables, etc. I made one with whole wheat pasta, broccoli, asparagus, pesto, and parmesan.

Mmm... tastes like spring!

 

Linking Up With:

YOLO Mondays from Still Being Molly and Lipgloss and Crayons
Monday Meet Ups from Covered in Grace
Market Yourself Monday from Sumo’s Sweet Stuff
Your Great Idea Link Party from Or So She Says
Time for a Party from Fine Craft Guild
Made by you Monday from Skip to my Lou