Gorgonzola Pasta

1 T olive oil
¼ - 1/3 # walnuts
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz. gorgonzola, crumbled
¾-1 # spinach, shredded
Pepper
Pasta of your choice

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat; add garlic and sauté until golden. Add spinach; toss and cook until wilted. Stir in walnuts and cheese; toss until well combined. Season with pepper to taste. Serve over pasta.

Comments: I haven’t made this exact recipe (the garden spinach has remained untouched), but this basic recipe without the spinach or walnuts has been a longtime favorite of ours. The walnuts (crushed) would add variety to the texture, and would complement a whole wheat pasta well. I’m not sure what the spinach would add besides nutrients. I can’t imagine the flavor would be strong against the cheese, but it may hold its own. You’ll have to try. And, remember, if you’re ever without spinach, that this recipe can go without it. Just slowly heat the cheese, with a little milk and flour, and you have a simple sauce.

Gorgonzola Dressing

¼ cup gorgonzola cheese, softened to room temperature
½ cup plain yogurt
2 T. lemon juice
1 T. canola oil
Salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together. This is essentially a blue cheese dressing.

Rhubarb Ice

Pac Choi, Carrot, and Apple Slaw

Kate’s Kohlrabi and Carrots

Kohlrabi
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Carrots
Raisins or other dried fruit
Butter
Nuts

Cut kohlrabi and carrots into bite size pieces. Melt butter in a skillet. Cook vegetables until tender but not flimsy. Then add brown sugar, raisins, and nuts. Mix until heated through. Comments: The kohlrabi recipe we sampled this week didn’t turn out very well. It wasn’t terrible, but not good either. It was called spiced kohlrabi with cheese, but it was bland even by Midwestern standards. So, I got this haphazard recipe on recommendation from my friend Kate, who didn’t have an exact recipe, but relayed to me the approximate amounts. Vegetable amounts are subjective, depending on what you think is a good mix, but you could start out with about half and half. Butter: It depends on what you want. You could start out with about 2 tablespoons, but some of you may want to add more. Dried fruit: whatever you like. The kohlrabi and carrots, along with the brown sugar, would already make this a fairly sweet dish. Nuts haven’t been tried in this before, but Kate thought they might work well.

Spicy Stir-fried Snow Peas with Cashews

¼ cup chicken or vegetable stock
¼ cup cashews
1 T. soy sauce
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 T. chili paste
1 T. minced fresh gingerroot
½ t. sugar
2 medium scallions, sliced thin
1 T. roasted peanut oil
1 T. rice vinegar
1 pound snow peas, strings pulled off

Combine the stock, soy sauce, chili paste and sugar in a small bowl and set the mixture aside. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the peas and cashews and stir-fry for 30 seconds to coat them with oil. Add the garlic, ginger and scallions and stir-fry until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add the stock mixture, quickly cover the pan, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the peas are tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in the rice vinegar. Cook, uncovered, to reduce the sauce to just a tablespoon or two, 1-2 minutes. Adjust the seasonings and serve immediately.

Comments: This dish had good flavor, and we recommend it. However, we made a few amendments that I would not recommend. The major unrecommended amendment is to not add corn starch or arrowroot powder to thicken the sauce. I did this because most other recipes I’ve tried that are similar to this do have a thickener, and we didn’t have chili paste (which may also act as a thickener). However, we added too much, and the sauce turned into a thick goo. We replaced the paste with chili powder, and the flavor was good. We used powdered ginger rather than fresh (fresh is still recommended, but…). Also, we didn’t have rice vinegar, and I was going to add balsamic vinegar instead but forgot at the last minute. I don’t know that the balsamic flavor would really fit anyway. So, in summation, we enjoyed it despite the goo and other diversions from the recipe. If you can successfully complete this recipe as it’s written, I can only imagine the wonders that you’ll be able to place on your table.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

½ cup softened margarine           
2 ½ cups flour, unsifted
½ cup vegetable oil               
4 T. cocoa
1 ¾ cup sugar                  
½ t. baking powder
2 whole eggs                   
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla                   
½ t. cinnamon
½ cup sour milk               
½ t. cloves

2 cups finely diced, not shredded, zucchini
¼ cup chocolate chips (I use at least 1 cup; never be stingy with chocolate chips!)

Cream margarine, oil and sugar.  Add eggs, vanilla and sour milk; beat well with a mixer.  Mix together all the dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture.  Stir in diced zucchini.  Spoon batter into greased and floured 9x12x2-inch pan; sprinkle top with chocolate chips.  Bake at 325 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick or cake tester come out clean and dry.  This really needs no frosting; it is moist and very tender.  TIPS:  To finely dice large zucchini, slice it lengthwise and scoop out the pulp and seeds.  Chop remaining half circle.  If the skin is tender, it will not need to be peeled.  To make sour milk, add 1 t. lemon juice to ½ cup whole or skim milk.  Let stand 5 minutes before using.

Comments:  This recipe was recommended by subscriber and longtime garden friend Norma Dickau.  For those who don’t know what else to do with zucchini, this may be a good way to hide it!
 

Oven Fried Zucchini

Slice the zucchini length wise in about 1/8 inch slices.  Use small to medium sized squash.  Dip them into an egg bath (one egg and 2 Tbs. water mixed together).   Then coat them with dry bread crumbs.  Place them in a jelly roll pan or lasagna pan with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Bake them in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes, turning them half way through.  This was another suggestion by Norma Dickau, who raves over it, and would allow you to better appreciate the zucchini of zucchini.
 

Zucchini Wraps

1 T. vegetable oil                        ¼ t. ground cloves
1 small red onion, thinly sliced                    ¼ t. ground cinnamon
1 T. grated ginger root                        4 cups grated zucchini
1 t. chili powder                        Salt and pepper, to taste
¼ t. dry mustard powder                    4 10-inch flour tortillas
                                1 cup guacamole

In a 10-inch sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and sauté until soft, about 3-4 minutes.  Add the ginger; cook for 1 minute.  Stir in the dry spices and reduce heat to medium-low.  Add the grated zucchini; cook for 8-10 minutes, until the zucchini is soft.  Season with salt and pepper.  Grill the tortilla shells on both sides to warm them.  Divide the zucchini mixture onto the tortillas.  Roll the tortillas to enclose the filling.  Serve with guacamole on the side.
Comments: This is a wonderful, light and savory dish.  The combination of cinnamon and cloves with the chili powder was good, but puzzled my tongue.  No one else seemed to have an issue with it.  You could use scallion/green onion in place of the red onion.  We tried these with freshly pressed tortillas that we had picked up from a small Mexican restaurant on Lake Street in Minneapolis, which gave them the freshest possible flavor.

Pita Pile-Up

½ block (4 oz.) feta cheese, finely diced or crumbled       
Olive oil
2-2 ½ cups diced tomatoes                   
Salt and pepper
1 medium zucchini                       
3-4 pita bread rounds
3-4 T. chopped fresh basil (about a handful of leaves)

Drizzle the zucchini with olive oil to coat well and place under the broiler (a toaster oven broiler works well).  Meanwhile, mix the tomatoes, basil and feta cheese with olive oil.  Add enough oil to coat mixture well and to provide a base for infusing the flavors, but don’t make it soupy; several tablespoons to ¼ cup should be adequate, but measure more by the look and feel of it as you mix it.  Add salt and pepper to taste (remember that the cheese is salty).  Allow flavors to infuse for 10 minutes or so.  When the zucchini is barely browned and appears to be drying out, remove from broiler and add to the tomato mixture.  Put the pita bread in the broiler, 1-2 at a time, for 2 minutes on each side.  They should start to puff up and be hot to the touch, but not be crisp or toasted.  Pile the tomato mixture on the pita.  Fit as much as you can on each pita without spilling over (or divide between the number of pitas you have).  Serve immediately.

Comments:  This is an original recipe, created by my wife, Jenny.  It was a hot night when this recipe came about, and we didn’t want to cook or eat anything too hot.  So the solution we came up with was that my wife made this recipe and I took a nap.  When I woke up I wasn’t terribly hungry, what with the heat and still being a little groggy.  The heavy dose of vegetables made me feel better, and the pita on the bottom was just enough of something substantial to fill me up without weighing me down.  I thought she must have done something special with herbs or spices, but it was just the basil and the development of the natural vegetable flavors.  This will be one of our favorite summertime dishes.  It’s a good one to make for lazy husbands.

Carrot-Pecan Pizza

1-1½ cups shredded carrots               
½ cup shredded Colby cheese (or mozzarella)
¾ -1 cup chopped pecans, toasted           
½ cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese
cloves garlic, minced (powdered is no substitute in this case)
olive oil                           
10-inch pizza crust, unbaked, on a pizza pan or pizza stone

Preheat oven to 500° (or as high as it will go).  In a saute pan, heat about ¼ cup olive oil (enough to lightly cover the surface of the crust) over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic and carrots and sauté until the carrots are crisp-tender.  Spread the carrot mixture onto the unbaked pizza crust.  Sprinkle the chopped pecans evenly on top.  Lightly top with cheese, just enough to melt together and act as a separate, but equal topping.  More parmesan than colby provides an interesting texture and flavor when baked.  Rather than spreading out in a greasy abundance, it provides a crisp, salty texture when baked at the high temperature.  Put the pizza in the hot oven and lower the temperature to 475°.  Bake approximately 10 minutes, until the crust is browned and the toppings are crisp and melted.  If your crust isn’t overly thick and you didn’t over-top your pizza, this should occur at approximately the same time.

Comments: This is another of Jenny’s inventions.  Keep your eyes open for her forthcoming cookbook, The Wife Cooks.  It may be 10 or 15 years before she gets enough original recipes, but you’ll want to order your copy now.  This was absolutely the best pizza either of us have ever had.  The limited cheese application is more like the original continental pizza, less like the over-cheesed American style.  The sweet toastiness of the pecans was complimented by the light sweetness of the carrots.  The tender shredded carrots also contributed to the texture, though they didn’t melt like the shredded cheese.  For those who haven’t tried olive oil and garlic (called a white sauce), you’re in for a treat.

Squash and Wild Rice

1 medium size winter squash, any variety (about the size of a large acorn squash or a small butternut)
1 cup uncooked wild rice                   
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
8 oz. blue or gorgonzola cheese, coarsely crumbled   
Olive oil
1 cup cashews, toasted                   
Salt and pepper, to taste

Put the wild rice in a medium sauce pan and cover with 2½ cups cold water, salted to taste.  Cook for 50-60 minutes, until rice puffs open.  Meanwhile, halve the squash and scoop out the seeds and pulp. Peel and cube into bite-size pieces.  Place the pieces in a steamer basket and steam the squash until a fork pierces through them easily. Transfer the squash to a bowl, add the garlic, salt and pepper and toss with olive oil to coat the squash lightly.  When the rice is finished, drain any extra water and toss with the squash.  Add the cheese and cashews.  Serve immediately.

Comments:  Well, my wife invented this one so I’m certainly not going to say anything bad about it.  Actually, this is one of the best dishes I’ve eaten.  It’s perfect in its simplicity to create and its simple, but nuanced, touch to the palate.  The wild rice and squash make it a fitting dish for fall harvest in Minnesota.

 
Parsnips with Garlic and Whole Wheat Crumbs

1 # parsnips, sliced                       
2 slices whole wheat bread, rubbed into crumbs
2 tsp. olive oil                           
2 Tbsp. minced fresh basil, or appro x. 1 tsp. dried
2 cloves garlic, minced                   
Pinch of sea salt

Steam the parsnips over boiling water until they’re tender, 10-12 minutes.  Drain and pat dry.  Preheat a sauté pan, then heat the olive oil on medium-high heat and add the garlic, crumbs, basil, and salt.  Saute until the ingredients are fragrant and heated through, about 2 minutes.  Add the parsnips and stir to combine.  Serve warm as a side dish for lunch or dinner.
Comments:  This is a good warm-up for those of you unfamiliar with parsnips.  You will want to use real bread crumbs, and a heartier, nuttier flavored bread will help the flavor of the dish.  This is a good option for a vegetable side dish. 

 
Easy Eggplant Parmesan (from Nancy Mc Darby and Madeleine Beaumout)

½ c. grated Parmesan cheese                ½ c. butter or margerine, melted       
½ c. enriched cornmeal                    1 8-oz. can pizza sauce
1 medium-sized eggplant (about 1½ lbs.)            
1 c. (4 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese pared and cut into ½-in. slices           
2 Tbsp. chopped parsley

Combine the Parmesan cheese and corn meal.  Dip the eggplant into the butter; coat with the cornmeal mixture.  Place in a greased 15½” x 10½” jelly roll pan.  Spread the slices with pizza sauce.  Bake at 400 for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the eggplant is tender.  Sprinkle with the shredded mozzarella cheese and parsley.  Return to the oven and heat until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.  Makes 4-6 servings.

Comments: We suggest that you remove the excess moisture and the “puckery quality” of the eggplant before coating by sprinkling both side of each slice with salt.  Arrange the slices on a double thckness of paper toweling and let drain 20- 30 minutes.  Rinse quickly to remove excess salt and pat dry.  Also, you can reduce the fat content of this recipe by brushing on the butter rather than dipping and omitting the mozzarella cheese.

Spicy Rice and Kale

2 ¼ cups chicken or vegetable broth               
1 cup converted white rice
1 ½ t. Creole or Cajun seasoning               
4 oz. kale, stems and ribs removed, leaves coarsely chopped (about 2 cups packed)

Bring broth and Creole seasoning to boil in heavy large saucepan.  Stir in rice and kale and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.

Comments:  This is a simple recipe that will transform what many of you may consider an inedible vegetable into a satisfying side dish. The strong flavor of the kale is mellowed by the rice, and the fibrous texture of the leaves is mediated by the right amount of fluffy rice.  We happened to have Cajun seasoning, but you could substitute another flavoring if you prefer.  Also, we didn’t bother converting our rice.  Heathen rice works just as well.

 
Rice with Kale and Tomatoes

½ cup long grain unconverted rice               
A little over a pound of tomatoes
1 small garlic clove, minced                   
2 cups finely chopped, rinsed kale leaves
1 T. olive oil

In a small heavy saucepan bring 1 cup water to a boil, add the rice and salt to taste, and cook the rice, covered, over low heat for 20 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.  In a heavy skillet cook the garlic in the oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until it is golden, add the tomatoes and kale, and cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 3-5 minutes, or until the kale is tender.  Fluff the rice with a fork: in a bowl combine well the rice, kale mixture and salt and pepper to taste.

Comments:  An alternative recipe to the above.  You may be looking for every opportunity to use tomatoes.  This has less rice, so those who fear kale may want to increase the amount.  You could also consider adding some seasoning.  This recipe is a little more tolerant of different types of rice.


Wild Rice Soup

1 cup wild rice                           
3 cups of milk
2 cans cream of potato soup                   
1 diced onion
1 # bacon                           
2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Cook wild rice (1 cup wild rice with 2 ½ cups water, tsp. salt; about 50 minutes).  Cut up and fry bacon with diced onion.  Drain.  In large pan mix together all ingredients.  Heat until cheese melts.  Add more milk if you like thinner soups.

Comments:  This is a traditional family recipe.  It doesn’t really use many vegetables, but I wanted to include it anyway.  It’s pretty darn good.  And you do have onions after all.  We also add a few diced potatoes, since the spuds in the cream of potato soup tend to be there in spirit more than in physical fact.  You could steam them before adding at the end.