Zucchini Extravaganza! (Pizza & Bread)

I love my city Farmer's Market. Every Saturday, the farms surrounding my city haul in loads of beautiful veggie booty for us nature-starved children, just a few blocks from my apartment building. That and the park mean so much to me--I honestly don't know how this tree-hugger could have survived city living all these years if not for those two heaven-sent places on my local map.

Last weekend, I loaded up on some beautiful zucchinis and got down to it. You may have read in previous posts that I am an outspoken foe of most preparations of zucchini, miserable little cucumber-like slices of soggy sadness. No thanks! But bake it, roast it, grill it, shred it up, and I am a forever friend of the jolly green giant (or elf, depending on what was available at the farmer's market that day).

Someday, in a land far, far away from this city (or perhaps in the land of my own imagination), I see myself in a beautiful, thatched-roof cottage, with lots of wild flowers growing 'round, puppies playing in the sunlit yard, pies cooling on the sill, and of course, my very own veggie garden, chock full of pretty bounty... Until then, I'll scout the local farmer's market for the freshest picks of the freshest soil, in the freshest air just a few miles away. And I'll bake...

Which brings me to the recipes...

ZUCCHINI BREAD
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Yield: 2 loaves or approximately 24 muffins

3 eggs
1 cup olive or vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (or allspice or cloves)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 cup dried cranberries, raisins or chocolate chips or a combination thereof (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour two 8×4 inch loaf pans, liberally. (See those pictures of the cakes inside their non-stick pans? Yup, they’re pretty much hanging out in there for the time being.) Alternately, line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt, as well as nuts, chocolate chips and/or dried fruit, if using.

Stir this into the egg mixture. Divide the batter into prepared pans.

Bake loaves for 60 minutes, plus or minus ten, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Muffins will bake far more quickly, approximately 20 to 25 minutes.

Note: These loaves will mellow and actually get better sitting at room temp wrapped in foil on the kitchen counter over the course of the week.


ZUCCHINI-CRUSTED PIZZA
(adapted from Mollie Katzen's recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups grated zucchini
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 pinch basil or 1 pinch marjoram or 1 pinch rosemary (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil

TOPPING SUGGESTIONS:
Extra olive oil
2-3 cloves sliced garlic
sauteed mushrooms
1 large sliced tomato
extra mozzarella (sliced or grated)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Generously oil a 10 inch pie pan or a foil-lined baking sheet, and coat lightly with flour or cornmeal.
3. Combine zucchini, eggs, flour, mozzarella, parmesan, herbs and 1 T olive oil in a bowl and mix well.
4. Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.
5. About halfway through the baking, remove from over and loosen the crust a bit from the pan with spatula so it won't stick later. Then brush with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.
6. Remove from oven.
7. When it has cooled for about 10 minutes, use a spatula to loosen the crust from the pan so it won't break later.
8. Top with your favorite pizza items and bake at 400 F until heated through.

Stay tuned for upcoming seasonal recipes.....up next...PUMPKIN!

Challah

For some reason, every cooking show and blog that features Challah involves a super-corny and overused pun. Heard any of these yet?

“Happy Challahdays”

“All Holla for Challah”

“Happy Challahween”

“Chall I love you, let me count the ways...”

...corny stuff like that.

Do you still have an appetite after reading that? If not, then ponder the glistening eggy wonder called challah bread. The slightly sweet, super-chewy egg bread is as tasty as it is pretty. This is the first one I ever attempted to make and, despite the elaborate-looking braided dough and shiny egg wash, it really is not as difficult as one would think. Even a beginner can do it! All it really takes is time. And affection.

I like to think of baking bread akin to housebreaking a puppy. Both are time-consuming labors of love that require patience and affection, resulting in joyful rewards. Kneading dough with force and brute makes for a tough dough. However, handling dough with affection and gentle coaxing makes for a tender, delicate bite, sure to please any crowd. Treat your dough as you would a cute puppy. That's the secret.

I highly recommend Mollie Katzen’s beautifully hand-illustrated cookbook The Enchanted Broccoli Forest for all the recipes, but especially for her informative chapter on bread baking. It comes complete with step-by-step, hand-illustrated pictures, including one of a fist, punching down a dough after the first rise, with a Batman-like caption of “Thwap!” (That's the only non-puppy comparison. No puppy-thwapping allowed, only dough-thwapping.) :)

Challah
(from Mollie Katzen's The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest)
This recipe makes 2 loaves.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups wrist-temperature water
1 package (scant Tbs.) active dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar or honey
4 Tbs. melted butter or canola oil
3 eggs (1 for crust)
1 Tbs. salt
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
8-9 cups unbleached white flour
a little oil for the trays
poppy or sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:
1. Place the water in a large bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast. Beat in the sugar or honey, butter, 2 eggs, and salt with a wire whisk.

2. If using, stir in raisins. Then add flour a cup at a time, whisking after each addition. (Start using a wooden spoon as needed.) Knead the dough until smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky. (The recipe says you can do this in the bowl, but I found it much easier on a lightly floured surface.) Cover dough with a clean cloth and set in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk

3. Punch down the dough (“thwap!”) and turn out onto a floured surface. Divide in half, and knead each half for about 5 minutes, adding flour if it gets a little sticky. Divide each half in thirds, roll into snakes about 1 ½ inches in diameter. Line up 3 snakes, and braid starting from the middle, working out. You will end up with one long braid. For a round loaf, as I did, you can form the braid into one large circle, tucking in the end underneath the loaf.

4. Lightly oil two baking trays and place a finished braid on each. Cover with a towel and let rise another hour, until doubled in bulk. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees.

5. Beat the remaining egg in a small bowl. Brush a generous amount over each braid and sprinkle with seeds, if using. Bake 40 minutes or until the braids give off a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom. Mine took approx. 30 minutes, so check the loaves early. Cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before eating.

Matzo Ball Soup

I’ve missed you! Sorry I’ve been away for over a month—I was busy getting hitched! Now that I have solidified the deal with the love of my life, I return happily and nesting in my lil urban kitchen. Since I married a nice Jewish boy, I thought it only fitting to post my first recipe back as a married woman, his favorite, Matzo Ball Soup. It is so easy to make, and anyone can do it.

There are two kinds of matzo ball soup lovers, I’ve come to realize. The first kind is the “purist.” They like their soup simple and refined: a clear, fragrant chicken broth ladled lovingly over 2 or 3 light and fluffy matzo balls. The second group likes heavy, hockey puck-style matzo balls with lots of veggies in the soup. Just by the description I think you can see I am of the former camp (delicate broth, fluffy matzo balls).

Just between us, you can make this soup any night of the week in just a few minutes, but it is the same quality soup of the old-school grandma variety. Honest. For real. There is a secret...All you have to do is make a big old batch of stock (you can even make your stock in a crock pot) and keep it in the freezer in quart-sized bags. When you are ready for your soup, you heat up a bag o' broth, throw in the balls, and simmer. Voila, in just a half hour, your kitchen has been transported back in time to a grandma’s kitchen on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, circa 1923. Flapper Food. :)

And flu season? Not a chance with this all-powerful defense in the house!

Matzo Balls
1/2 cup matzo meal
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chicken stock or seltzer

For soup
2 to 3 quarts prepared chicken stock (recipe below)
1 carrot, thinly sliced
A few sprigs of dill (optional)
[If you are in a time pinch, you can also use 2-3 quarts of stock in a box. I like Manischevitz brand low-sodium chicken broth]

With a fork, mix all matzo ball ingredients in a bowl. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.

Bring 1 1/2 quarts of well-salted water to a boil in a medium sized pot.
Reduce the flame. Wet your hands. Roll 1-inch-balls of matzo dough in the palm of your hands loosely. Drop the balls into the simmering salt water one at a time. Lower the heat, cover the pot and let simmer for 30 to 40 minutes.

Meaniwhile, bring chicken stock and sliced carrot to a simmer in a separate pot.* When matzos are done cooking, you can spoon them into the stock.

With a slotted spoon, place 2-3 matzo balls into a serving bowl, and gently ladle the soup over that. Garnish with dill if you like. Eat it up and have then seconds!

*If you are fighting a cold or flu, throw in 2-3 whole, peeled garlic cloves along with the carrot slices. Feel free to eat the garlic cloves if you are particularly brave or particularly sick, or if you are a garlic lover like my husband. 

Chicken Stock

3 1/2 to 4 1/2 pounds chicken necks, backs and wings
3 celery ribs, cut into big chunks
3 carrots, scrubbed and cut into big chunks
2 parsnips, scrubbed and cut into big chunks
2 onions, unpeeled and quartered
1 head garlic, cut horizontally in half
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
4 quarts cold water

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a large soup pot. Skim the top of any foam. Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and allow to simmer peacefully for 2-3 hours.

Pour stock through a pasta strainer into a large bowl. Allow to cool, and fill quart-sized freezer bags and freeze for up to 6 months, or store the stock in the fridge for 3 or 4 days.

Chickie’s Linguini & Clam Sauce

My mom makes the best clam sauce in the whole wide world. (See for yourself--these are the mouthwatering pics of the actual dinner she made when I was visiting her this past week!) I love this sauce because it isn't white, and it isn't red. It's in between. She makes a basic white clam sauce but adds some chopped tomatoes to the sauce.

This is a slightly sweet sauce because of her secret ingredient: Marsala wine. A lot of white clam sauce recipes call for dry white wine, but she insists on Marsala and Marsala only, which gives the sauce a slight sweetness that offsets the garlic and clams. The chopped tomatoes (rather than puree) complement the Marsala, and when the alcohol reduces, thickens, and the basil works its magic, well, you've got yourself a bit of snack heaven on your hands. Crusty bread and a glass of your house red is a must!

CHICKIE’S LINGUINI & CLAM SAUCE

1 pound of linguini
¾-1 cup exrta-virgin olive oil
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup Marsala wine
2 cans of 6.5-ounce chopped clams, 1 drained, 1 juice reserved
1 Tbs. dried basil
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper
½ a 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes
Locatelli Romano cheese, grated

Boil water for pasta, and cook al dente, according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepot, heat olive oil over medium low. Add garlic, and cook gently for about 5 minutes, being sure garlic doesn’t burn.

Stir in wine, clams, basil, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper, tomatoes. Bring to a gentle boil; reduce to a very soft simmer, and cover. Let cook for 15 minutes. Toss sauce with hot pasta, and serve, passing grated cheese at the table.

Quinoa Crunch

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!!!

Let me count the ways...

Cheap? Check. (Verrry cheap. As in, pennies, cheap. Check the bulk grains section in the healthfood store. You're covered.)

Quick? Check. (As in, I threw this in the oven while my coffee brewed and I showered for work.)

Easy? Check. (As in mix, spread, bake. Done!)

Oh and there are so many wonderful ways this is the perfect snack:

Quinoa is the highest and only complete-protein grain out there.
It's versatile; tasty in savory and sweet recipes. You can use this quinoa crunch anyway you would granola - on yogurt, baked into Blueberry Crunch Muffins, or mixed into Fig Scones, or poured into a bowl with cold milk.

This would be a fab grain to add to my old stand-by, Mix & Match Granola. Remember this one?(CLICK HERE, if you don't remember.) ;)
Quinoa Crunch is close to perfection in a snack.
Snack heaven. Snack love.
Perfect to eat while watching eye candy on the old cable TV. And also for watching version two of eye candy on the old cable TV. (Indulge me for a moment. Thanks.)

QUINOA CRUNCH
adapted from Body & Soul Magazine

1 cup quinoa
1 Tbs. agave or organic maple syrup
1 Tbs. safflower oil

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients and spread onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or so, till golden brown. Cool completely on the sheet and store leftovers in an airtight container.

Cranberry & Blood Orange Bread

Fear! Fear! Fear! Swine flu! War! Danger! Apocalypse! Terror! Lewd dudes on the Subway!

Sigh...I've decided I will not be terrorized by my television, and have decided NO MORE NEWS! Even the cooks on the cooking shows seem strung out. So I've made a hard and fast decision: I have chosen to allow from my TV and into my home ONLY fiction, fantasy, animals running around in the woods, and cute people. Lots of cute people. Especially cute people.

It's time to take back my TV. Thousands of digital channels at my fingertips, and somehow the *real terrorists* (newscasters) sneak their way in, spreading the disease of fear within seconds (while wearing a swanky satin blouse and a smile). No more swine swiggity swak for me, thank you very much.

My dad used to always say "Why fret about something you can't control?"

Well, Dad, I heard what you said. I can and will control my TV, and filter what comes into my home. And I choose to filter out the blood and fear and filter in only cute people.

Well, let me be a little clearer...The only blood or fear I will see on my TV will involve very good-looking Vampires in the deep south with great haircuts. (Yeah, you know what I'm sayin'. :))

In honor of those sexy, bloody cutie pies on HBO, I give you something I'd love to bring over to their next uh, community...meeting...
Blood Orange & Cranberry Bread
(adapted from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook)

Ingredients:
2 cups flour (I used a combo of millet and spelt)
3/4 cups to 1 cup sugar (I used 6 packets of Stevia sweetener)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 t salt
zest from 3 oranges
3/4 cups blood orange juice (about 3 oranges)
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
1 c cranberries, coarsely chopped (I used 2/3 cup of dried organic cranberries)
2 Tbs. flax seeds (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a loaf tin (I used two mini loaf pans).

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange zest.

In another bowl, combine the orange juice, egg and melted butter together.

Add in the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Add cranberries and stir just until blended. Pour batter into tin(s), sprinkle with optional flax seeds, and bake for about 1 hour (30 minutes for mini loaves) or until cake tester comes out clean. Just check with a toothpick at 30 minutes to be safe. Let cool on a wire rack.

Summertime Picnic Feast

I love snacks. I love them more than elaborate meals with huge portions. The Spanish have it spot on with tapas.

Over the weekend, we had a hankering for a snack smorgasbord. It was the perfect meal for a hot summer afternoon. I also think these dishes would be great for a summer eve cocktail party with sangria. You can make all of the dishes ahead of time, and are all delicious served at room temperature. Don't forget to scatter the platter with lots of fresh, raw vegetables and crusty bread sticks or crackers for dipping.
BABA GHANOUSH
(Eggplant & Tahini Dip):
Courtesy of Karen Srour of Food Network

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions:
Slice eggplant in half lengthwise and put upside down on a greased foil lined pan. Put under a broiler until the outside skin is charred black and the pulp inside is soft (15 to 30 minutes). Scrape out eggplant and put in bowl to cool, preferably in refrigerator for several hours. Pour off extra liquid before using.

In a food processor, mince garlic, and scrape down sides. Add eggplant, salt, and 1/4 cup tahini. Pulse the food processor to mix. Slowly add lemon juice. Taste. Adjust salt and lemon or tahini.

Serve on a shallow platter and garnish with chopped parsley, miniature eggplant, tomato or radish roses. Serve with warm pita bread or crackers.

TUSCAN TUNA BOATS:
Ingredients:
2 or 3 celery stalks, halved
1 can of good Italian tuna, packed in olive oil
½ a lemon, juiced (and zested, optional)
Handful of fresh basil or mint leaves, coarsely chopped (or combo of both)
¼ cup fresh fennel, chopped
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

Directions:
To a mixing bowl, add drained tuna, basil (or mint), fennel, olive oil, lemon juice (and optional zest). Stir, breaking up the tuna. Add salt & pepper to taste. Cover with plastic wrap and let chill/marinate in the fridge for an hour.

When ready to serve, pack tuna into celery stalks and place on a pretty platter.


SPICY BACK BEANS ON EGGPLANT WHEELS
Ingredients:
1 medium-sized eggplant
Salt & pepper
1/8-1/4 cup olive oil for cooking, plus olive oil for brushing eggplants
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
½ a roasted red pepper (pimiento), chopped
1 ½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried cumin
¼ teaspoon dried cayenne pepper or hot sauce
½ lime, squeezed
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice a medium-sized eggplant into thick rounds. Brush both sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Place rounds on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or so, until eggplant is lightly browned. Flip the rounds and bake another 10 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, in a medium-sized sauce pan, heat the 1/8-1/4 cup oilive oil. When pan is hot, sautee the onion till transluscent, about 4 minutes or so. Add garlic and spices and sauté for a couple minutes. Add red pepper, beans and lime juice. Cook until beans are heated through. Stir in cilantro.

Scoop the bean mix onto the eggplant rounds with an ice cream scooper (about ¼ cup). Return the baking sheet to the oven for about 10 minutes, so the beans become a little browned on top.