Zucchini Tonic

In the dead of winter, as the lone dried asparagus stalks flail out of the snow-capped vegetable garden, one needs a little fresh greenery. Here's a simple zucchini recipe that restores the cholorophyll to your body:

Sauteed Zucchini

2 medium zucchini, washed and ends cut off

1 tsp. dried or frozen basil

Salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. olive oil

5 plump cloves garlic, finely chopped

Grate zucchini coarsely on a kitchen grater.

Heat saute pan. Add butter and oil and heat to sizzling. Add garlic and stir 1-2 minutes. Add half of zucchini and saute 5 minutes. Add remaining zucchini and saute another 5 minutes (some zucchini stays bright green this way). Season with basil, salt and pepper and serve.

Zucchini lets off a lot of moisture, so this will be saucey. If you like your zucchini drier, you can squeeze it out before cooking to remove some liquid or cook a few more minutes, but don't let zucchini become gray and overcooked.

Serves 4.

Sweets for Your Valentines

Now the snow is up to two and a half feet and even the plows aren't coming around on our lonely road. More blizzard conditions and wind shuffling the powdery snow around so that shoveling and plowing don't have a lingering effect. More cooking heralded.

I am happy to report that a year after the whole wheat-free diet was mandated, I have finally achieved a tasty and flaky pie crust. I owe it all to the dean of wheat-free cooking, Bette Hagman. I have a copy of her flagship cookbook, "The Gluten-Free Gourmet"(NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1991) and used her Tender Vinegar Pastry recipe for the crust. I made two crusts, one for a pumpkin pie and one for my family favorite, Apple Sour Cream Pie.

The crusts held together well and were fairly easy to repair after rolling them out and attempting the transfer to the pie pans. My Franken-crusts just needed some extra work to seal the cracks. It is hard to make a beautiful sculptured edge as is more easily done with a wheat crust, but the taste is really light and it's texture is wonderful. We tried some frozen gluten-free pie crusts and they were leaden and as tasty as a busted shoe.

Here is Ms. Hagman's Tender Vinegar Pastry recipe:

1-1/2 cups rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch (not to be confused with potato flour)
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. xanthan gum
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp. vinegar
2 Tbsp. cold water

Sift flours, salt, sugar and xanthan gum into a mixing bowl. Cut in shortening. Blend together egg, vinegar and cold water. Stir them into the flour mix. This will seem quite moist, but a rice crust needs to be more moist than a wheat flour one.

Knead the mixture into a ball (handling will not toughen the dough). Separate into two balls and roll, one at a time, between two sheets of plastic wrap. Place in pie tin.

Makes 2 crusts.


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Apple Sour Cream Pie

One unbaked pie crust
4 small apples, peeled, cored and chopped
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. gluten-free baking mix
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
1 egg, beaten

Topping: 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/3 cup gluten-free baking mix & 1/4 cup butter

Line pie plate with pastry.

Mix 3/4 cup sugar and 2 Tbsp. baking mix. Add sour cream, vanilla, egg and salt. Add apples and combine. Pour into pie shell.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Then combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over top of pie. Lower oven heat to 325 degrees and bake another 20-30 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Top with sweetened whipped cream, if desired.

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Palmer House Potatoes

21 years ago I was a waitress and kitchen helper for the inaugural summer at the Palmer House Cafe in Rensselaer-ville, New York, a beautiful Albany County hamlet surrounded by rolling hills, waterfalls and historic houses. It is a summer residence for many artists and writers (Isaac Asimov and Andy Rooney were the celebs during my tenure), and I was fortunate to help out my friends Mike, Marie, Bill and Susan in their new restaurant venture. They taught me many wonderful kitchen tricks and recipes in the hours leading up to the dinner service, but the best recipe of all remains their delicious garlic roasted potatoes. I am proud to share it with you all.

Palmer House Potatoes

10-12 potatoes, peeled and sliced thickly

1 head garlic, peeled and chopped

kosher salt and pepper

Olive oil

Toss potatoes and garlic with enough olive oil to coat. I like to use my hands in a big soup pot to accomplish this. Season with salt and pepper.

Spread out onto two cookie sheets so that each potato has its own space to roast without being covered up by other potatoes. You want these nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Scrape and turn over once or twice during the cooking time to brown evenly. You might also want to rotate cookie sheets at least once to brown evenly. The potatoes on the top rack always brown more in my oven.

Sprinkle with dried parsley, basil, or rosemary and a dash more kosher salt and serve hot.

Serves 6.

Ooh Baby, It's Cold Outside

More single digit tempera-tures outside and wild winds sucking out the heat inside. Time to whip up a hot pot of soup. Minimal cupboard contents dictated the following Italian comfort soup.

PASTA E FAGIOLI (Pasta Fazool)

3 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped (more if anyone in the house is feeling poorly)

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 (28 oz.) can plum tomatoes or diced tomatoes

1 (15 oz.) can canellini beans or chick peas, drained

1 cup water

Seasonings: dried or fresh basil, parsley, salt and pepper to taste

1/2 lb. cooked gluten-free pasta (elbows or ditalini are traditional, but I used leftover fettucine)

Grated Romano or Parmesan

Heat oil in soup pot. Saute onion, carrots and celery for several minutes. Add garlic, taking care to keep heat low so garlic doesn’t get bitter. Saute several more minutes.

Add remaining ingredients, except for pasta. Simmer gently 15-20 minutes. Add pasta for the last five minutes of cooking to avoid mushiness. Top with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. Serves 6.

Mangia!

Nice Rice

You say tabbouleh, I say tabouli, we all loved that bulghur wheat salad, but a delicious substitute is the following rice salad, adapted from the Tabouli Recipe in “Moosewood Restaurant: Low-Fat Favorites” by the Moosewood Collective. Here’s our version:

Middle Eastern Rice Salad

3 cups cooked rice
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 small cloves of garlic, pressed
1 cup chopped Italian parsley
4 scallions, chopped (I substituted ¼ cup finely minced red onion, in summertime I would use the chives in my kitchen garden)
Handful of grape tomatoes, halved (so they don’t spit you or a friend in the eye when chomped)
Chopped fresh mint or 1 tsp. dried mint
Kosher salt and pepper to taste.
A couple of splashes of extra virgin olive oil

Ideally, you make your rice right before you mix in the dressing so that the rice grains suck it up better, but cold leftover rice will do. Mix all ingredients together and let flavors mingle at room temperature for several hours. If salad seems a little dry, splash in some rice wine vinegar and maybe a little more olive oil.

Feta cheese, black olives, dill, and chick peas can be added to vary this salad.

A good party dish, particularly for summer gatherings, as it can be left out for hours without spoiling.

Serves 10-12.