The Garden Apartment

Zucchini and Potato Pancakes

Zucchini season is here and we're all looking for ways to use this abundant vegetable. Here is my recipe for Zucchini and Potato Pancakes served with yogurt-chive topping and southwestern style corn.

It seems to be the big joke among those of us who eat seasonally. Nobody really likes zucchini. But for whatever reason it grows abundantly and to seemingly impossible proportions.

This weekend I purchased three enormous zucchinis for $1. See what I mean? Even the farmers are trying to get rid of it. In my naivete, I plotted to use these three zucchinis in a zucchini bread. After making enough zucchini bread to last through the Apocalypse, I can confidently tell you that I barely knocked out one of those zucchinis last night. It turns out that zucchini bread tastes delicious because there are a lot of other ingredients in it (sugar, cinnamon, oil, chocolate chips).

I eliminated another half of a zucchini tonight with these zucchini and potato pancakes, topped off with a chive yogurt sauce and some southwestern style corn. You could serve them without the corn, but I do recommend having either a yogurt or sour cream topping.

Zucchini and Potato Pancakes, Makes 6-8 medium pancakes (serves 2-3 people)

Pancake Ingredients and directions

• One cup finely shredded zucchini
• One cup finely shredded potato
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• One egg, beaten
• 3 TB cornmeal
• 3 TB flour
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• pepper, to taste
• Oil and butter (butter optional)

Mix all of the ingredients thoroughly. In a large saucepan, heat oil and butter over medium-high heat. Using an ice cream scoop, drop batter into the hot oil. Press down with a spatula to make a circle (about 1/4 inch thick). Fry until each side is golden brown.

To Make the Yogurt Sauce: You can substitute sour cream for the yogurt.

Simply mix a few dollops of unflavored yogurt (or sour cream) with 2 TB of chopped chives.

Southwestern Corn (optional)

• One ear of corn
• 2 TB diced red onion
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp butter

Boil the corn for about 4-5 minutes. Run under cold water, then remove corn from ear. Heat butter in saucepan. Combine corn, onion, chili powder, garlic salt, and pepper. Cook until onion begins to soften and corn kernels brown slightly.

Serve zucchini and potato pancakes topped with southwestern corn and a dollop of the yogurt-chive sauce.

The Amish Market Di(sh)patch: Ratatouille

This weekend I ventured out of northern Virginia to experience the Amish market in Charlotte Hall, Maryland. After bringing a remarkable amount of produce home, I made ratatouille. Read here about my experience at the market, or scroll down for the ratatouille recipe.

North St. Mary's County Farmers Market
37600 New Market Turner Road
Charlotte Hall MD 20622
301-475-4200 ext. 1404

Open Monday – Saturday, seasonally.  Produce, flowers, and Amish baked and canned goods.  Located in the parking lot of the Charlotte Hall Library.

Horse drawn buggies full of farm fresh produce clip-clopped into the Charlotte Hall, MD market. I had arrived at the Amish market. "This is the real deal," I commented to Mike and Bethany, friends who had suggested I join them on a trip to this remarkable place. These products were certainly farm fresh, transported from farms right down the road from the marketplace.

Despite the localness of the produce at this market, I had traveled much further than my usual Saturday morning trot into Old Town or Del Ray in Alexandria. In fact, I had been a little skeptical about making the forty minute drive out there. Once arriving, however, I knew it was well worth the drive just to experience such an authentic place.

 

One of many stands at the Amish market. In the background, a horse rests in the shade of trees.

Charlotte Hall, in Saint Mary's County, MD is home to many Amish families. Every day, Monday through Saturday, Amish families carry their produce to market by horse and buggy. 

In addition to the abundance of produce, one of the benefits of this market were beautiful baked goods, including pies, homemade noodles, and cakes. There was also homemade butter- mine was imprinted with a pretty floral design.

As a city-dweller shopping at urban farmers markets, an advantage of this market was the very low cost of buying vegetables. I spent $33 and was able to purchase about three times what I would normally buy at one of my regular markets. Of course, having a male friend willing to carry heavy bags of produce back to the car in between each stand also encouraged me to buy more. Most of what I bought is being frozen for the winter.

Here are some of the market highlights:

 Two types of eggplants- I bought one of each.

 

Corn was everywhere. This sweet corn had been picked just hours before I bought it.

Beautiful flowers. They also sold potted plants, including some large hydrangeas.

I brought home some enormous sunflowers, a combination of traditional yellow and red tinted.

In total I bought:

Fruit- cantaloupe, five peaches, and half of a sugar baby watermelon

Vegetables- baby tomatoes, two large tomatoes, a few pounds of pole beans, one extra-large red onion, two eggplants, three over-sized zucchinis, three green peppers, ten ears of corn

Other- a dozen eggs, homemade butter, homemade egg noodles, and a bundle of sunflowers.

I was recently given the River Cottage Cookbook, a wonderful cookbook for anyone trying to eat more seasonally. It also has great guidelines on gardening and how to sustainably raise different types of livestock. As I won't be raising- or butchering- any cows or chickens any time in the near future, I settled on making ratatouille with my market load.

I changed the recipe a little. River Cottage suggested cooking each vegetable separately in order to avoid some vegetables over cooking. I really didn't feel like washing four greasy pots and pans- and our kitchen is very small- so I settled on a different method. I simply started with the vegetables I knew would take the longest to cook, then added vegetables with shorter cook times toward the end.

Ratatouille

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces of eggplant, diced into one inch cubes
• 8 ounces of zucchini, thickly sliced
• 1/2 medium onion, thickly sliced
• 8 ounces cherry tomatoes, left whole
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• olive oil
• a few basil leaves, torn
• salt and pepper

Directions

Heat a few TB of olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add eggplant and zuchhini. Saute until it starts to get tender. Increase heat a little to brown both vegetables. Add garlic and saute for about one minute.

Reduce heat back to medium. Add onion slices and remaining garlic. Cook until onion begins to soften, then add cherry tomatoes. Cook until the cherry tomatoes begin to wrinkle, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in basil leaves.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Note: Throughout the cooking process, I continually added olive oil since the eggplant really soaked it all up.

The results:

I, singularly, really enjoyed the ratatouille. John dislikes eggplant and zucchini so this was difficult for him. In fact, he was so hungry after dinner that two scoops of ice cream were required to fill his belly. 

Some of you may consider me to be a mean wife forcing him to eat two vegetables he hates. I prefer the adjective optimistic, but in the future I'll prepare this when he's out of town.

 

Summer Salad Di(sh)patch

After being out of town for a week, I really anticipated Wednesday's Foggy Bottom market. My fridge was empty and I knew that July would bring a wider variety of produce selections.

D & S Farms had ripe peaches, delicious nectarines, raspberries, and enormous blackberries.

Freshly dug red, white, and blue potatoes from Quaker Valley Orchards. They also had delicious ripe bing cherries.

A new favorite vendor is Long Meadow Farms. One of the major appeals is that the produce is organic (non-certified, but they will happily talk to you about their practices). The farmer, Marvin, is usually at the booth with his sister. He's very friendly, helpful with recipe ideas, and seems to enjoy joking around with customers. For example:

Customer: What's the best way to take care of this basil?

Marvin: Use it all up and come back next week to buy some more.

He, of course, answered the question properly after his joke. I've found that their booth has interesting  variety, including heirloom varieties of tomatoes, various types of squash, and yellow pole beans (which have a more buttery flavor than green beans).

As usual, I was drawn to the Sunnyside Farms and Orchards stand. The folks there always have a good selection, meaning that my arms are overflowing with produce by the time I check out. I found two varieties of green beans: regular old green beans and their expensive sister haricots verts (which were about 5 times the price!). I bought the same cost value of both beans, meaning my bag of regular folks style green beans was much fuller. In addition they had tomatoes, onions, broccoli, cabbage, and much more. They also placed a very helpful warning by their blueberries: "Last Week for Blueberries!" Although my bag was too heavy for any more purchases at this point, their warning has inspired me to buy large quantities of blueberries for freezing this weekend.

After a quick stop for the necessary meat component at Smith Family Farms, and the corresponding bread from Atwaters, I headed home.

Here's (some of) what I brought home with me:

I wanted to do something simple after a long workday, so I put John to work recreating our sliders from a few weeks ago. With the intention of making something healthy to counterbalance the meat and cheese, I put together a summer salad.  You could do this with any variety of vegetables. Peppers or roasted eggplant would be a delicious addition/ replacement later in the summer. Here's what I did:

Summer Salad with an Herb Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup mixed pole beans (I used haricots verts and yellow pole beans), washed and steamed for 1-2 minutes
• 1 cup diced potatoes, boiled until just tender and immediately chilled (I used my multicolored variety)
• 1 cup tomato, cut into large sections (I used red and yellow tomatoes)
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 TB fresh basil, finely chopped
• 1 tsp fresh oregano
• 2 TB olive oil
• 1 TB red wine vinegar
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk olive oil, vinegar, shallots, garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Add vegetables to the bowl and stir to mix. If desired, you can refrigerate the salad for 15-30 minutes prior to eating. It will help the flavors to marinate. Otherwise, serve immediately.

This made for a fairly healthy and light compliment to the less healthy sliders. However, when comparing the two side by side, my husband felt that the sliders had an unfair advantage of meat, cheese, and bread. I had to agree, but still enjoyed this colorful and tasty salad very much.

Mileage for this meal:

• Potatoes- Quaker Valley Orchards, 91.2 miles  
• Red tomato, scallion, and haricots verts- Sunnyside Farm and Orchard, 71 miles
• Yellow tomatoes and yellow pole beans- Long Meadow Farms, 90 miles
• Garlic- Sunnyside Farm and Orchard, 71 miles
• Basil and Oregano- my garden, 0 miles
• Not Local: oil, salt, pepper, vinegar

Michigan: At home with fudgies and Great Lakes fish

Michigan is my childhood home. After traveling there last week, I am returning with some travel tips as well as some local food recommendations.

During the summer of 1989 I was crowned "Little Miss Fudgie." Laugh if you like. It is a terrible title for a beauty queen. For years my friends have teased me: one friend has me programmed into his phone as "Fudgie." Of course, if you've ever traveled to Mackinaw City or Mackinac Island, Michigan you would understand why this seemingly unfortunate title was actually very apropos. After all, Mackinaw is the fudge capital of the world.

Little Miss Fudgie, 1989: me

This past week, John and I traveled back to northern Michigan. As a native of Mackinaw City, let me fill you in on a few things you need to know when traveling Up North.

1) USE YOUR HAND: When traveling to Michigan's lower peninsula, no map is needed. Simply hold up your right hand and point. For example, when I say "I'm from here" I point to the top of my middle finger: Mackinaw City's location.

2 LEARN THE LINGO: Mackinaw has two spellings: Mackinaw and Mackinac. Both are pronounced "aw" at the end. If you pronounce it "Mack-in-ack" you will truly irritate the locals. (The "ac" ending is French.) Also, you should familiarize yourself with the following words:

• Yooper: a person from the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan
• Phrases such as "you know" and "aye" work wonderfully as affirmations at the end of a statement. However, use of either requires a question mark at the end of your sentence.

3 BE INFORMED: If you know a few things before you go, you can avoid asking the worst question of all:

What time does the bridge swing over to the island?

The bridge in question is the Mackinac Bridge, a 5 mile long suspension bridge which connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. Obviously, it doesn't swing anywhere-- let alone Mackinac Island where no cars are allowed!

View of the Mackinac Bridge from my parents' home 

4. GET AWAY FROM MAIN STREET. The rewards of getting off the Main Street are significant. Surely, the Main Street of Mackinac Island- a small  island with a population of 500 year round residents and no automobiles- is charming. But, rent a bike for an hour or two and you will enjoy beautiful scenic views in a land that is mostly national park. Here is one of many:

So, now that we've covered the basics, let's talk about local food and specialties, aye?

First, let's start with the fudge. Travel to northern Michigan and you will be overwhelmed by the sweet smell of chocolate wafting out to the street. While it's hard to find a bad fudge, my personal favorite is Murdick's fudge. My favorite flavor is double chocolate (which only Murdick's sells), but I also like chocolate walnut, peanut butter, maple, and vanilla.

Next, let's talk about fish. If you are ever in any of the Great Lakes states, you must try walleye. It is my favorite fish, a white fish featuring a rich earthy flavor and a texture which melts in your mouth. It's best prepared lightly pan-fried with a light lemon cracker coating. My favorite place to eat walleye is Audie's Chippewa Room which is coincidentally the best place to eat dinner in Mackinaw City. Audie's also serves another delicious Great Lakes fish: whitefish. You have your choice of eight different preparations- the best of which is probably the Parmesan encrusted whitefish.

However, my favorite way to eat whitefish is smoked. In northern Michigan there are countless places to buy whole smoked fish. Often, these roadside establishments have the fish smoking right outside their small shops. While it disgusts many people to see the whole fish staring at you while you dig into it's flesh, there is certainly no question as to what you're eating when you see it this way.

Finally, northern Michigan is famous for a few other food delights:

1. Pasties (pronounced "pass- tees") These are best bought at small seemingly hole in the wall places. If you like pot pie, you will like the pastie-- which is simply a pastry shell filled with meat and potatoes, then topped with gravy.

2. Michigan cherries: Traverse City, Michigan (top of the pinkie finger) is the Cherry Capital of the World. Usually, cherries can be found at countless farm stands throughout the entire state of Michigan. Sadly, we did not find any local cherries while we were up there. I did, however, drink a cherry martini which was made with locally produced cherry vodka.

If you are ever in Mackinaw or Mackinac, I hope these recommendations will be helpful. You are, after all, getting advice from the Little Miss Fudgie of 1989.

Eastern Market Di(sh)patch: Stuffed Squash Blossoms

And. . . Week Four of One Local Summer!

 

I've always been a big fan of Washington DC's historic Eastern Market, especially considering that you can arrive with the intention of buying vegetables and leave with an artwork, a dress, and some funky jewelry. Yesterday was no exception: I did in fact bring home a fashionable market abundance including a hot pink dress, several pairs of earrings, a few pieces of squash, some tomatoes, and some nectarines. For once, my market bag was not too heavy (grocery money = clothing money). In reality, this was money well spent since I will be on vacation next week.

Though I have shopped at Eastern Market countless times, this was the first time I really opened my eyes to how "local" the vendors were. When I saw one vendor selling olive oil with a Virginia label, I had to laugh out loud. I looked at him and said in disbelief: "Olive oil?" Ah, an import from California with a Virginia label. Perfect.

Okay, so I'd have to ask a lot of questions while I walked around. Sure enough, there were wholesalers selling produce from California and South Carolina.  But, there were also many vendors from southern Maryland and the Eastern panhandle area of West Virginia. I was very careful to buy only from these folks. Some of the highlights included:

Lettuce! Apparently lettuce is still available in some places. This vendor from southern Maryland had several interesting varieties including a beautiful gourmet mix with edible flowers. I also read in my Fresh Farms update that DuPont circle has greenhouse grown lettuce throughout the summer.

Squash was everywhere. These guys were all so cute that I couldn't resist a photo. Of course, by the end of the summer, I will probably not feel inspired to photograph (or eat) zucchini or squash.

One of the vendors made several varieties of homemade hommos, garden salsa, and black bean dip. The salsa was very good, and the garlic chive hommos was also very tasty. I look forward to returning and buying a few of their homemade goods.

The real excitement, however, was a vendor selling squash blossoms. I had heard about squash blossoms being used in Mediterranean cooking, but this was my first time actually seeing them sold at a market. I had to have them, and I was pretty sure I knew what to do with them.

Stuffed squash blossoms

 

• 6-8 large squash blossoms, rinsed and prepared*
• 1 TB olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1 garlic clove, smashed and minced
• 1/4 cup diced zucchini or squash
• 1/4 cup diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup feta cheese
• splash of white wine
• salt and pepper

* In order to make the stuffing process a little easier, I made a small slit down the squash blossom, and then twisted the ends of each blossom together once stuffed. I'm sure expert blossom chefs have a better technique, but this worked okay for me. . . they didn't really stay together very well, but their "bite size" was perfect, albeit a little messy.

Heat olive oil on medium heat. Saute onion, garlic, and zucchini until tender (about 5 minutes). Set aside and allow to cool off a little.

Add bread crumbs, tomato, white wine, feta, salt and pepper to the onion mixture. Scoop a spoonful of the stuffing into each blossom. Twist the ends of each blossom.

Return the blossoms to the saute pan and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Drizzle additional ollive oil if desired, and serve warm.

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

So, what did I think? Besides feeling slightly strange eating something I hadn't really considered food, these were pretty good. The blossoms had a mild and sweet flavor.

Other recommended cooking methods for these included stuffing them with sausage or a variety of cheeses; battering and deep frying them; or sauteeing them in an omelet or frittata.

Kohlrabi Two Ways: chips and slaw salad

I love to try new things. Recently, a vegetable I had never even heard of-- kohlrabi-- has been popping up in local farmers markets. In this post, I will describe two ways to prepare kohlrabi: kohlrabi chips and the featured recipe: an Asian slaw salad.

Shortly after seeing kohlrabi at the Foggy Bottom market a week ago, I received an email from one of my former professors with the following note: "I got kohlrabi in my CSA box this week. What do I do with it?!!"

Intrigued, I set off to find the answer for her. What exactly is this curious little vegetable kohlrabi? According to my semi-reliable source (Wikipedia) the kohl is German for "cabbage" plus rube (rabi) is German-Swiss for "turnip." Though a member of the cabbage family, kohlrabi's bulbs contain a lot of tender and crisp flesh and only a thin layer of skin. They're healthy: just one cup served raw meets 100 percent of your daily need for Vitamin C.

The real issue was whether or not they would be tasty, especially after eating sliders the previous night. I wonderered and worried, "Am I setting myself and my husband up for a disappointment?"

As I researched how to serve these, the simple idea of making them into baked chips emerged, which sounded easy enough to try. In addition, Epicurious had a recipe for Asian slaw salad. The Asian slaw reminded me of a recipe I made with purple cabbage last Fall, which I have recreated here using this new vegetable.

A Snack: Kohlrabi Chips

It couldn't be easier. Simply slice the kohlrabi into thin pieces. Toss with olive oil and Kosher salt. Bake in the oven at 350 F for about 20- 25 minutes until they start to brown.

As for the taste, I don't think this is the best way to serve them. The chips were a bit on the bitter side. However, they do make a unique and healthy snack. They may be improved if served with a yogurt dip. I plan to try them again with a sweet potato chip mix this Fall. I think the combination of sweet and bitter would be very complementary.

Asian Slaw Salad

Vegetable ingredients:

• 2 small kohlrabi bulbs (any variety is fine), peeled and julienned
• 1 large radish, julienned
• 3/4- 1 Cup of sugar snap peas; peas and pods separated, pods thinly sliced
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced

Other vegetables that would be nice to try with this recipe: red cabbage, carrots, red bell pepper, bok choy, or snow peas.  Anything crisp and crunchy would result in a refreshing and satisfying salad.

Simply slice each vegetable and mix together.

Making the sauce:

• 2-3 TB soy sauce
• 1 1/2 TB rice wine
• 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp of olive oil (use a citrusy olive oil or try grapeseed oil instead)
• black pepper, to taste

Whisk all of the ingredients together and combine with the vegetables. Top with toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately.

The results: an amazingly satisfied and relieved Tiffany and John. The salad was so light, refreshing, and delicious. We ate it all in one sitting.

PS. My former professor reports that her kohlrabi was delicious simply stir fried with garlic.

Di(sh)patch of summer bounty AND Mini burger "Sliders"

Do you see all of the amazing vegetables and fruits pictured here? Now, do you see the package of ground beef in the bottom right corner? Call me a bad person if you like, but the idea of burgers on fresh baked rolls with juicy tomatoes was more tempting to me than anything else in my market bag (sorry vegetarians!)

Yesterday was a fantastic day at the Foggy Bottom market. I began at D & S Farms first. Ever since a disappointing experience with raspberries selling out, I always purchase my fruit first. Yesterday, I felt the need to rush for the peaches. Apparently my desire to hoard peaches was completely unfounded: Sue of D & S Farms informed me they will be in season until September. They also had raspberries, currants, blackberries, zucchini, and tomatoes. You can find them at the Del Ray market on Saturdays.

Next, I stopped by Sunnyside Farm and Orchard where I bought garlic, a large bunch of radishes, and beautiful purple kohlrabi (recipe coming soon!). . .

and a variety of different squashes. The patty-pans are from Long Meadow Farm.

After purchasing a pound of ground beef from Smith Family Farms, I wanted to buy hamburger buns.  Atwaters Bakery had really small rosemary herb dinner rolls. They were much too small for a real burger.  Sometimes when you shop at the farmers market you have to get a little creative with your options. Sliders anyone?

To make the sliders I simply made extra small burger patties (seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder). They were pan fried over medium- high heat. In the meantime, I toasted the rolls in the oven. For the toppings, I sauteed some sweet onions very slowly until they caramelized.  I sliced some Ugly tomatoes, tore up a little lettuce, and added the usual condiments.  Here's to a meal that made my meat-eating husband very happy!

The Last of the Lettuce Di(sh)patch: Locally Inspired Greek Salad

We are really big lettuce eaters in my house, so when I heard that this weekend marked the end of the local lettuce season, I knew I would need to buy a large quantity to satisfy my craving. This di(sh)patch pays tribute to lettuce with a recipe for a delicious locally inspired (with a little bit of help from the Mediterranean) Greek Salad. Read here about my trip to the farmer's market, or simply scroll down for the recipe and recipe adaptations.

It was wonderful to wake up early Saturday morning, embrace the beautiful day, and head straight to the Old Town Alexandria market with my friend. I've come to know the Old Town Market well, which is comforting, since I know which farmers and producers I can trust.

Most notably, this weekend marked the end of the lettuce season. It has gotten warmer over the last few weeks, and lettuce does not grow well in high temperatures. Spring Valley Farm and Orchards was selling large containers of a lovely lettuce mix, so I grabbed one as quickly as I could. 

In addition, they had lovely zucchinis and.  . . . 

. . . a variety of different beets.  I purchased the light red Chioggia beets.

I wandered off to the Blue Ridge Dairy Co. where I expanded my horizons beyond the buffalo style mozzarella and purchased a block of feta cheese. I also purchased two cartons of yogurt: one plain for a homemade cucumber dill dressing, and one "Honey Yo Fresh" yogurt which is great as a breakfast yogurt served with fresh fruit.

Finally, I stopped by to see my friends at Bigg Riggs Farm and bought two cartons of juicy cherries.

I have to pat myself on the back for just a moment and say that I really did a good job with managing the market this week, meaning that this was about all I needed to provide for a few days worth of good eating. I still had lovely baby yellow tomatoes, half of an Ugly tomato, fresh garlic, and scallions all hanging around in my kitchen. Combined with my market cucumber, lettuce, and feta cheese, all added up to one possibility: my favorite Greek Salad.

As much as I try to eat locally, there are simply some things I cannot and will not give up when it comes to food. At the top of the list are olives: joyous, delicious olives. Let's face it: a Greek Salad is not a Greek Salad without olives.

When John and I got married last summer, one of the best gifts we received was the Williams Sonoma Salads book. We have enjoyed countless recipes from this collection.  I have felt little need to change this, though I do sometimes adjust it for the ingredients that I have available. Following is a link to this recipe. 

Greek Salad Recipe Here

Here are my suggestions for using this recipe:

• Don't feel confined to the vegetables listed. I had no bell peppers to use since they are not in season yet. Instead I used two types of tomatoes: a red Mr. Ugly tomato, and several sweet yellow baby tomatoes. In the past, I've enjoyed chopping up a fennel bulb and adding it to the mixture. I've also enjoyed eating the mixture without lettuce.
• Use a quality olive oil. You won't regret it. I used Olav Organic which had a light citrus flavor which really complimented this salad.
• Marinate the vegetables in the dressing. After whisking the salad dressing, I always let the vegetable mixture soak up the flavors for at least 30 minutes. Then, I dump it on top of the lettuce and add the cheese. 
• Add fresh herbs into the lettuce mixture. I always add fresh dill and oregano into the lettuce leaves.
• Buy a block of feta and crumble it yourself. There's a big difference between this and the pre-crumbled stuff. It's fresher, has more moisture, and (in my experience), a much better flavor. Plus, you can make the chunks as huge as you want them!
  

        

  Mmm. . . now that's a satisfying salad.              

Homemade Creamy Green Garlic Dressing (Hold the HFCS and Xantham Gum)

After purchasing some green garlic from the Farmer's Market a week or two ago, I am in love. The lovely green shoots have a delicate garlic flavor which is perfect if you don't want too strong of a garlic flavor in your cooking. At first, I simply added them to omelets, salads, and stirfries.

Then, last weekend, I had another idea.  I've always been a really big fan of homemade salad dressings. Although store bought dressings can be good, a homemade dressing is almost always far superior in taste. There are other reasons to avoid store-bought dressings. I've taken a survey of all salad dressings in my fridge. Every one of them (including "healthier" options) contained at least one or both of the following ingredients:

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS): Just google it and a plethora of websites will emerge discussing its negative health qualities and existence in nearly every processed food.
2. Xantham Gum: a thickening agent developed in the 1960s created through fermentation and processing with corn syrup. 

Without going into a long tirade about these two ingredients, I will say that neither sounds particularly appealing, healthy, or natural to me.

So, let's go back to that Farmer's Market green garlic purchased from a local area farm. Last weekend I created a delicious Creamy Green Garlic dressing and dip.  Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 3/4 Cup Mayonnaise (Check out Feel Good Eat's Recipe for Homemade Mayonnaise)
• 1 TB Dijon mustard
• 3-4 green garlic shoots, finely chopped
• 2 TB fresh dill, minced
• 2 TB fresh chives, finely chopped
• 1 TB white wine
• salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all of the ingredients thoroughly.  Cover and chill for at least one hour before serving.

Serving Suggestions

Vegetable dip

Salad Dressing:

I added a little extra white wine and covered some cucumbers, scallions and radishes with the blend. After about an hour, I put this mixture on top of some lettuce.  Mmm. . . .

Coming soon: my favorite Greek salad recipe-- also with a homemade dressing. . . .

Stuffed Zucchini: One Local Summer Week Three

 

Apparently I'm not very good at math (or following directions, for that matter).  My One Local Summer post summaries have been one week behind every week at Farm to Philly. I finally figured out that this is because I didn't follow directions and started posting a week earlier than I was supposed to (woops).  So, with this in mind, I am clarifying that this is my Week Three post.  You can link to last week's post Mozzarella Omelet with fresh herbs to read about a 100 percent local breakfast last weekend.

Let's get down to business. I purchased an enormous zucchini this week. While I initially had zucchini bread in mind-- which is the only way my husband claims to like zucchini-- I decided to see if I couldn't get him to like zucchini in the flesh after all by making a stuffed zucchini with a tomato, garlic, and cheese topping. 

His reaction: "Can we scoop out a big helping of all the toppings and just eat those?" (If he only knew that the zuchhini pulp was mixed into that delicious topping.)

Stuffed Zucchini with Tomato, Garlic, and Mozzarella topping

 

Stuffing Ingredients:

• One large zucchini
• 1/4 Cup fresh bread crumbs (I used a whole wheat baguette)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 TB olive oil
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 TB fresh basil, chopped
• 2 TB fresh oregano, chopped
• Salt and pepper

Topping Ingredients

• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes (I used a mixture of two heirloom varieties)
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 1 TB red wine
• 1 TB fresh basil, chopped
• 1 TB fresh oregano, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 Cup Buffalo-style mozzarella, sliced

Stuffing Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 350F.  In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.  Slice the ends off of the zucchini.  Cook the zucchini in boiling water for about 5-6 minutes.

 

Heat 1 TB olive oil in a medium saucepan.  Saute the onion and garlic for a few minutes.  Turn off the burner.  Add the basil and oregano to the pan and stir. Combine this mixture with the bread crumbs, egg, salt and pepper. Mix well.

 

When the zucchini is finished, remove from the pot. Slice the zucchini in half and remove the pulp. Chop the pulp, then add to the stuffing mixture. Fill both halves of the zucchini with the stuffing mixture.  Place in a large baking pan and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.

 

Topping Instructions

 

Combine all of the ingredients, except the mozzarella, and set aside.

 

Remove the zucchini from the oven after the 20 minutes are over.  Turn the broiler on.

Add the topping to each zucchini half.  Place the mozzarella slices on the top, then move the zucchini to the broiler for about 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

 

Enjoy this cut into smaller pieces as an appetizer, or each zucchini half as a main course.

 

And finally, the mileage. . .

 

Mileage for this meal:

Zucchini-- D & S Farms, 38 miles

Tomatoes-- D & S Farms, 38 miles

Scallions-- Sunnyside Farm and Orchard, 71 miles

Garlic-- Sunnyside Farm and Orchard, 71 miles

Basil-- my garden, 0 miles

Oregano-- my garden, 0 miles

Bread Crumbs-- Bonaparte Breads, 38 miles

Egg-- Highfield Dairy, 120 miles

Mozzarella-- Blue Ridge Dairy, 44 miles

Not Local-- salt, pepper, oil, wine