Baked Stuffed Busillus Frying Peppers

What a weird gardening year. After an inordinately slow start with our cooler and rainier than normal Spring and Summer, the Fall garden season has been balmy and today, October 7th, we have yet to have a killing frost. The always fertile zucchini plants keep pumping out produce, though the vines are somewhat withered, and my bell and frying pepper plants just keep fruiting away. The trees are just shy of the peak of autumn color, but we still have summer veggies. Just plain weird.

Faced with this autumnal abundance, we have been eating a lot of peppers and eggs, peppered tomato sauce, raw pepper strips, and packing egg and tuna salad into small hollowed-out peppers for breadless lunches. Not to mention those countless numbers of diced peppers cryogenically preserved in my chest freezer and which fly out to bonk us in the head every time we open the overhead freezer compartment in our refrigerator.



To keep up with this pepper bonanza, I decided to make some stuffed peppers. I have a gorgeous bunch of Busillus pepper plants which are still blossoming away. They are very faintly hot when cooked and they make my hands tingle slightly after I handle them, so people with sensitive skin should probably wear gloves. And try not to rub their eyes right afterward either.

Some of the Busillus Peppers are turning a glorious red, but most stay dark and glossy green. Despite their unfortunate name (doesn't Busillus sound like a pathogen?), they are a new favorite in our garden. They are incredibly productive and taste wonderful fried up with onions and garlic as the basis for other dishes, but I wanted to feature them (and use a good number of them up) in a casserole for supper, so I came up with this version of the classic rice-stuffed peppers.



It was a satisfying supper and was even better heated up as leftovers for successive lunches. The queso fresco cheese gets soft, but doesn't melt as much as other cheeses, so if you want a gooier stuffed pepper, you could substitute Monterey Jack. The herb patch is still green, so I harvested some fresh cilantro, plucked some homegrown garlic from the garden shed and got creative in the kitchen.



Baked Stuffed Frying Peppers

1-1/2 cups enchilada sauce, divided (check ingredients to make sure wheat is not added as a thickener)

12 oz. queso fresco

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 fat cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2-3 extra frying peppers, seeded and chopped

12 large frying peppers, tops cut off, seeds and ribs removed, and slit up one side

1 bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 cups cooked rice (make up a bigger pot of rice to serve peppers over later, mmmmm)

Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with 1/2 cup enchilada sauce.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Working in batches, blanch prepared peppers 4-5 minutes, or until skins are easily pierced with a fork. Drain and cool. Repeat with remaining peppers.

Cut queso fresco into wedges as below.



Heat oil in frying pan. Add garlic and cook, stirring, one minute. Add onion and chopped peppers and cook until softened, stirring occasionally, 7-8 minutes.

Add cooked vegetables to mixing bowl. Add rice, cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix in about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce to moisten. Stuff about 2 Tbsp. rice mixture into each blanched pepper. Place a wedge of cheese in the center and place in prepared baking dish. Drizzle peppers with remaining enchilada sauce. Cover baking dish with foil and bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 45 minutes.

Serves 6 pepper lovers. Delicious over more plain cooked rice.



This seemed like the kind of recipe that would be enjoyed over at Weekend Herb Blogging, a weekly blog event run by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once, where the focus is on the Vegetable Kingdom. This week WHB is being hosted by Susan the Well-Seasoned Cook, whose blog has lots of gorgeous photography and is the headquarters of My Legume Love Affair. Susan will have a roundup of all the Weekend Herb Blogging entries after Sunday's deadline, so be sure to swing by and see what everyone's playing around with in kitchens from around the world.

A Spicy Lentil Chili to Warm You Up Inside-Out

It is definitely chili weather here in Saratoga County, New York. Lots of ice crust and snow that crunches underfoot and mornings where there is a bit of ice on the INSIDE of the windows. Luckily we have two woodstoves, two fat cats and one fuzzy dog to help warm our mammalian bodies, but to stoke the internal temperatures even further, nothing beats a pot of Spicy Lentil Chili.

Dan's been fiddling with various lentil chili recipes for a few years now and for his last couple of batches, he had the inspiration to add a couple of chipotles in adobo sauce to add even more zip to his creation. This makes one bodacious chili.

Being fairly small, lentils cook up quickly and this makes for an easy one-dish supper. We like this lentil chili served over rice and Cincinnati-style over spaghetti, but it stands alone just fine too.



My blogger buddy Gloria Chadwick, a prolific cookbook author and Head Blogger over at Cookbook Cuisine and Food and Flavors of San Antonio is having a monthly chili cook-off and I thought this Lentil Chili would be a great, vegetarian entry. The winners are eligible to receive Gloria's new San Antonio cookbook and a cool chile pepper magnet, but even more exciting is her offer to include recipes in another cookbook that she is working on. I made Dan write down his recipe and so I offer it forth as a very delicious meatless chili to help raise your internal thermostat.


Spicy Chipotle Lentil Chili

1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 medium onions, peeled and finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 Tbsp. cumin
1/4 cup chili powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 carrots, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
4 stalks celery, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
2 green peppers, diced into 1/2 inch cubes

5 cups vegetable stock (homemade is best, but any GF brand will do)
2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes, or peeled tomatoes, squished into pieces
1 (16 oz.) bag dried lentils
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped (1 small can usually lasts me several months, so I keep it in the refrigerator after opening)
1 cup beer (we used sorghum-based Red Bridge for gluten-free dining)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Toppings: sour cream, snipped cilantro or parsley, shredded Cheddar

Heat oil in large pot or Dutch oven large enough to be your final chili pot. Add onions, carrots and celery and cook until softened, about 5-10 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes and green pepper and cook, stirring, another 5 minutes.

Heat vegetable broth in separate pot until boiling. Take out about 1/4 cup of stock into a separate bowl and mix with cornstarch until completely blended into a smooth paste. Add a little more hot broth and blend in well to avoid lumps. Add this to the sauteed vegetables in chili pot. Stir and add remaining hot broth, 1 cup at a time, to blend.

Add tomatoes to chili pot and bring to a boil. Add lentiles, chipotles, and beer and bring to another boil. Lower heat and simmer, 40-45 minutes, or until lentils are tender, but not mushy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Top with desired garnishes.

Serves 8-10 and is even more wonderful the day after.

Gloria will be posting the January Chili Cook-Off entries after the January 20 deadline, so head on over there after that date to check out the spiciness. In the meantime, I encourage my Northern Hemisphere compadres to cook up a batch of this delicious Lentil Chili to keep your insides nice and toasty.

Roasted Rainbow Beans

The tomato torrent is finally winding down and we even have a frost watch set for tomorrow night. I must say I am somewhat relieved, as garden fertility has kept me hopping on the preservation scene almost every night. I am getting heartily sick of cooking down tomatoes and the kids are certainly sick of their pervasive perfume, although Dan and I are proud that this is the first year we've filled up the freezer and stocked all the kitchen shelves with dehydrated and canned garden veggies. None too soon by the looks of the stock market.

Here's a delicious roasted vegetable casserole I made with the last of the yellow wax beans (the fifth picking off those stalwarts!), red tomatoes, and those dazzling purple yard-long Chinese beans. Unlike other purple string beans I've grown, these legumes held onto their purple color and didn't revert to green beans, so that was a bonus. The beans are delightfully chewy in this recipe and soaked up lots of tomato juices. Here's how vibrant they looked going into the oven:





And out of the oven:


And the recipe:

Roasted Rainbow Beans

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 lb. yellow wax beans, trimmed and cut in half

1 lb. purple yard-long beans or other purple string

8 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped

3 sprigs basil, chopped

3 sprigs rosemary, snipped (or 1 tsp. dried rosemary)

4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped finely

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Toss all ingredients together in 9x13 glass baking dish. Cover with foil and bake in oven for 45-60 minutes, stirring at least twice during cooking to mingle juices. Remove foil for last 15 minutes to let veggies brown up.

Serves 6. Lovely over brown rice or noodles.

The Grow Your Own cooking event is being hosted during the latter part of September by Denise over at Chez Us, a delightful food blog about her adventures in cooking and her partner's eating of same. I am submitting this Rainbow Roasted Beans recipe to join in the fun, so look for a roundup of delicious homegrown recipes at Chez Us after September 30th. This twice-a-month food event was started by Andrea of Andrea's Recipes, to showcase what people are growing and eating all around the world. From Torch Ginger Plant to Hot Peppers to homegrown Papayas, it's fascinating to see what is in season in different countries.

A Crispy Jumble of Rice

There are days when the Crispy Cook is crispier than usual at dinnertime. With two omnivores, one gluten-free pescatarian and one vegan, it is difficult to put something on the table that we all can eat. I looked in the fridge after a steamy day at work tonight and was dubious about my prospects. There was some leftover white rice, a herd of garden tomatoes in the drainboard, a package of wrinkly mushrooms and some grated cheese. Well, I whipped something up and darned if everyone didn't lick their plates. I added the shrimps and some grated cheese at the end so we could scoop out a vegan plateful for my daughter first, but we all enjoyed the following jumble:

Tomato-Mushroom (and Shrimp) Risotto

4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 onion, chopped fine
3 cups leftover cooked rice (white or brown)
4 plum tomatoes, ends cut off and chopped
2 sprigs fresh basil, slivered
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 (7 oz.) pkg. mushrooms, sliced thin
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 lb. frozen shrimp, thawed and shelled
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat oil in pan. Add garlic and stir around for one minute. Add onion, and continue to cook until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add wine and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Lower heat and stir around to let tomatoes soften and release their juices. Cook 5 minutes.

Add mushrooms and stir about. Cook another 5-7 minutes, or until they are soft. Add basil, salt and pepper. Scoop out vegan portion if needed.

Throw in shrimp and cover pan. Cook 7-8 minutes, or until pink and cooked through. Add rice and cook just until it absorbs the delectable pan juices and is heated through.

Serves 4. Delicious with grated cheese on top.

Nightshade Ragout

For once, I was able to keep ahead of the flea beetles and keep my eggplants happy and healthy resulting in some gorgeous purplish-black beauties for the table. We've enjoyed some eggplant parmigiana to use our garden bounty already and this week I came up with a nice vegetable stew to highlight the eggplant, tomato, and summer squash bonanza. We ate up a bunch for supper and I froze the rest to reheat in the winter when we need a whiff of summer.

Nightshade Ragout

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 medium zucchini, quartered and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 medium yellow squash, quartered and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
6 plum tomatoes, cut into quarters
Handful of fresh basil leaves, sliced
1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in large frying pan. Add garlic and onions, and cook, stirring, over medium-high heat until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook another 5 minutes. Add eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash and stir around. Cover and cook over low heat until all vegetables are soft and soak up the tomato gravy, about 15 minutes. Add basil, rosemary, salt and pepper and cook another 2-3 minutes.

Serves 6.

Where's My Spinach Risotto!

It seems that celebrity chef and kitchen tantrum expert Gordon Ramsey is always nattering on about how slowly his apprentice chefs are taking with his beloved risottos on my guilty TV pleasure, Hell's Kitchen.

"Where's my risotto?!", he bellows and whines.

"Aw, come on, this risotto is too mushy!".

"There's no seasoning...it's unpalatable!"

I get a guilty shiver of schadenfreude when I watch his bullying tactics and his discus toss of offending appetizers. Nonetheless I was inspired to whip up a spinach risotto of my own the other night. I looked longingly at my struggling spinach seedlings, pruned harshly into a Morse code of dots and dashes by infernal underground moles. There was not enough fresh spinach for my family of four, so I was forced to reach into the freezer for a block of icy greens. Perhaps a mole risotto?

At any rate, I did pull together a lovely, fresh meal for my bunch, spurred on by my husband's occasional exhortation of Ramseyisms.

Here's my recipe:

Spinach Risotto

2/3 stick butter
2 cups rice, rinsed
4 cups vegetable broth (homemade is best and always naturally gluten-free!)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
3 large onions, chopped
2 (8 oz.) pkgs. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
Salt and Pepper to taste
Snippings of fresh herbs to taste (snipped fresh dill is divine)
Grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese

Heat butter in a heavy saute pan. Add rice and stir frequently until it is a toasty golden color, about 8-10 minutes.

Pour in vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, over a low flame, for 20 minutes, or until broth is absorbed and rice is al dente.

Heat olive oil in another pan and add onions. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add spinach and cook, stirring, about 5 minutes more. Stir spinach-onion mixture into risotto and cook until completely mixed and warm. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with snipped herbs and grated cheese.

Serves 6-8.

I am submitting this one-dish recipe to the current round of "Go Ahead, Honey, It's Gluten-Free", started by Naomi over at the witty food blog Straight into Bed Cakefree and Dried and hosted this time by Carrie, the Ginger Lemon Girl. Carrie is still accepting submissions for this event until June 27th, so get cooking!

Enjoy!~

Parti-Colored Pasta with Vegetables

I've been really digging my new cast iron wok. I used to have a wok like that when I had my first post-college apartment with my roommate Irene and we cooked a lot of stir-fries for our suppers. Until.... disaster struck. We were both at the stove, chopping and stirring, when a bolt of electricity shot out from the ring underneath the wok shorting out the burner and blasting past in between our astonished selves.

BAM! As one celebrity chef might say.

That was the end of our wokkery, as we both decided to donate the offending item to our favorite thrift shop the next day rather than risk our skins further. It was probably the fault of our cruddy electric apartment stove, but we didn't want to wok on the wild side.

Fast forward a couple of decades, and here I was, prowling yet another favorite thriftery when I saw my present wok, still encased in its original box and cuddling its instruction booklet. My heart swelled with fondness and I had to adopt it.

I have a gas stove now, so my fears of electrocution are groundless. I scrubbed it up, seasoned it well and now have a new favorite cooking pot. Woks are great for evenly distributing cooking heat and can double as a deep fryer. Mostly I use my wok for sauteeing up veggies, but they are great also for reheating and re-treating leftovers. Here's a recipe for a beautiful pasta dish that provided a refrigerator roundup of some leftover pasta and crudites. It tasted and looked so good that it will be added to our permanent recipe files.

Parti-Colored Pasta with Vegetables

2 small zucchini, ends cut off and cut into slim spears
2 small yellow squash, ends cut off and cut into slim spears
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into strips
8 oz. cooked pasta (make sure it's gluten-free if you can't eat the wheat!)
1 medium onion, sliced in half and then sliced thinly
5 cloves garlic, rough chopped
3 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary, crumbled
1/2 tsp. dried thyme, crumbled

Heat oil in wok until hot. Add butter and melt. Add garlic to pan and stirring constantly, cook 1 minute. Add onions and cook another 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add white wine and cook 2-3 minutes, until liquid reduces. Add remaining ingredients and cook, stirring, 5-7 minutes, or until squash and peppers are crisp-tender.

Serves 4.

Spanish Rice in the Crockpot

I have been getting a real kick out of Stephanie and her blog, A Year of Crockpotting, chronicling her self-professed obsession with her kitchen appliance. Every day Stephanie produces a new slow cooker recipe, mostly meaty stews and soups, but also an astonishing variety of cookies, caramel corn, play dough and vegetarian dishes. Her writing is very funny and the recipes are neatly broken down and have lots of photos to show the assembled ingredients pre- and post-crockpotting.

All of the recipes are also gluten-free. Stephanie uses a lot of naturally gluten-free ingredients and for the baked goods, she uses gluten-free flour mix. The other day I wanted to whip up dinner while we were running around doing several different work/kid/store/garden/dog/cat projects and so I turned to A Year of Crockpotting for inspiration. She had a Spanish Rice recipe which I have modified below for the in-house vegetarian and vegan. Brown rice always takes an preternaturally long time to cook in our house, so the crockpot worked great. The rice came out soft but chewy and soaked up all the yummy sauce.

Spanish Crockpot Rice

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 stalks celery, diced
1 green pepper, seeded and diced

2 cups brown rice
1 (28 oz.) can crushed or diced tomatoes and water to make 4 cups liquid

Couple of glugs of hot sauce (I like Frank's Louisiana Red Hot, the chicken wing sauce)
1 Tbsp. chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat oil in frying pan. Add onions, garlic, pepper and celery. Saute until softened.

Dump into large crockpot (mine is 4 quarts). Add remaining ingredients.

Cook on high heat for 4 hours, then turn to low for at least another 3 hours, until rice is done. Stir every once in a while. We actually let it go another two hours, cause noone was home to deal with it. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Top with your favorites: sliced green or black olives, sour cream, grated Cheddar, more hot sauce, sliced scallions.

Serves 6-8.

I am submitting this recipe in Just Get Floury's Dollar Dish Duel, which challenges participants to cook up some grub to feed at least two people for $5. I estimate this recipe cost right around $5, minus the toppings, and this served our family of four one night for dinner, with enough leftovers for another round of meals, so this was a frugal recipe indeed.

There is still time to enter the Dollar Dish Duel, as entries aren't due until May 6th, so get cooking.

Tulips and Leeks

Alas, I cannot grow leeks in my home garden as last year the fiendish resident moles found my tender leeklings and chew their hearts out. I should have anticipated this, as I had the same situation happen with tulip bulbs some years ago and both plants are members of the Liliaceae (Lily) Family. I had planted many dollars worth of classy Spring bulbs in pleasing oval pattern in our front lawn, which I had forgotten was rather boggy in the Spring.

The result was a bunch of waterlogged bulbs that rotted in the ground, except for an especially hardy cluster of snowdrops which arrive each April in the center of our lawn and cluster of tulips which I unearthed and relocated to a higher, drier patch of flower bed. The next year the tulips rose up out of the ground and had just started to open up their brilliant red petals when they mysteriously shrunk downward about four inches. I inspected this anti-gravity growing and was dismayed to find that the tulip bulbs were entirely munched away, leaving only green shafts in their wake.

In a spate of horticultural amnesia I snapped up some wispy leek seedlings last year to plant in a deep, heavily composted trench that I had carefully prepared. The young leeks prospered but did not live long in this bed, as the moles sniffed them out and rampaged about a month before harvest time.

Since our family still has lots of leek love, I am forced to buy them from others and recently we dined on a delicious and gluten-free Leek and Potato Gratin. I am also working on a recipe for mole en casserole.

LEEK AND POTATO GRATIN

(This recipe is adapted from several leek and potato gratin recipes from my cookbook collection, minus the cream sauces)

3 large leeks, white and tender green parts sliced
Olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
6 potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. rosemary
1 cup gluten-free bread crumbs (homemade is preferable, but I used Organ brand crumbs, which resemble Panko-style crumbs)
1 cup gluten-free vegetable stock (again, homemade is preferable, but if you use a store brand, do inspect the label carefully as many brands stick in wheat flour or wheat-based flavorings)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Carefully wash leeks, as they grow in hilled, sandy soil (in mole-free zones) and there is usually lots of grit stuck between the leaves.

Steam leeks in boiling salted water for 5 minutes, until soft. Toss with salt and pepper to taste and dress with 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil.

Toss sliced potatoes in another bowl with salt and pepper to taste, rosemary, thyme, garlic and another couple of Tbsp. of olive oil.

Mix bread crumbs and grated cheese in a third small bowl.

Butter or lightly oil a 2-quart baking dish. Layer in half of potato mixture, then add your leeks, then top with remaining potato mixture. Pour vegetable stock over all and then crown with cheese-crumb mixture.

Cover with foil and bake 1 hour. Uncover and bake 1/2 more to brown the crumbs.

Serves 6.


If you are fortunate enough to live in an area where another Tulip and Leek Cousin grows, the Wild Ramp, do gather some up and report back to me on their lusciousness. I am quite smitten already with the reportage over at Ontario's Edible Tulip Blog on rummaging for ramps.

Waste Not Cheesy Chiles Pizza

In the continuing saga of trying to pare down the cost of the gluten-free diet, I attempted to feed my family on a recipe found on the back of the Arrowhead Mills brown rice flour bag. It was frugal, yes, but not warmly received by the gang.

I will relay the recipe below, which was somewhat of a bland spoon bread sort of thing, but it scored a hit when I split it, dolled it up with tomato sauce and cheese and toasted in the oven for a pizza-like concoction. Frugal dining restored! (By the way, given these recessionary times, I went back and tagged all the frugal gluten-free recipes on this blog so they are easily accessed on the labels link on the right-hand side).

Cheesy Green Chiles Casserole

1 small can green chiles, diced (I drained the juice)
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
1-1/2 cups brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch flour (don't confuse with plain potato flour)
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 cups milk
2 eggs, separated (beat egg whites until foamy)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix chiles and onions with the grated cheese. Lay in a 8x8x2 baking pan (I used a 2 quart glass baking dish).

Mix dry ingredients. Add milk and egg yolks, mixing only until moistened. Fold in egg whites. Pour into casserole. Mix lightly. Bake 40 minutes.

Serves 6-8.

Frugal Gluten-Free Chickpea Stew

With a lingering head cold clogging up the collective Jag sinus cavities, none of us wanted to cook, much less run to the store for dinner ingredients. Six bleary eyes lasered in on me, Chief Cook of the Household, so I was forced to stagger over to the kitchen. My trusty cookbook collection provided inspiration for using up a conglomeration of leftovers last night and it proved a success. Riffing off of a Mexican Sopa Seca recipe from one cookbook and a Moroccan stew from another, and then rolling the dice with the contents of my cupboards and many covered bowls from the fridge, I produced this tasty and frugal Chickpea Stew:

Frugal and Fragrant Chickpea Stew

1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 cup marinara sauce (mine had red wine, chunks of onion and garlic and red bell pepper)
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Diced red onion
Hot Cooked Rice

Steam up a pot of rice.

Toss everything else except the red onion into a pot and simmer, covered, 1/2 hour. If you don't have marinara sauce on hand, saute up some onion and garlic and then toss in some canned (or in season, fresh) tomatoes and simmer for 1/2 hour before you add all the other stuff.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Top with diced red onion. I added some capers too, to my bowl.

Serves 4.

Love Loaf

My buddy Jill sent me a link to the Food Network's website highlighting recipes from a recent Vegetarian Italian episode and I tried my hand at Veronica's Veggie Meatloaf with Checca Sauce. I uncharacteristically shopped for all of the ingredients involved and followed the recipe to the letter, but found that while it looks loaf-like in the pan, my version didn't have any subsequent architectural integrity. It disintegrated into a floppy rice and beans medley which, however and more importantly, tasted delicious.

I took some ribbing for my culinary attempt, dubbed "Love Loaf" by my charming spouse (as he simultaneously reached for second helpings), but I will definitely make it again. Perhaps I didn't squeeze out my spinach sufficiently, so I will try to make things drier next time. Maybe add an additional egg. And while the original recipe states that prep time for this deliciousness is 30 minutes and cooking time is 1 hour and 30 minutes, there are so many steps involved that I found that I needed an entire morning to work on it on and off, so I would reserve a good block of time on one's day off to make it again.

Ciao!

You can check out the recipe at the Food Network site or eyeball it below:

Checca Sauce:
1 pint cherry tomatoes (about 2 cups, or 12 ounces), halved
3 scallions (white and pale green parts only), coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
8 fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Lentil Loaf:
3/4 cup lentils (about 5 ounces)
3 cups reduced-sodium vegetable broth
1 cup uncooked short-grain brown rice, rinsed well
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 celery rib, sliced
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
2 tablespoons butter, divided
10 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves (about 4 cups)
1 1/2 cups cubed whole milk mozzarella cheese, divided (about 8 ounces total)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus 2 tablespoons
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tomato, sliced

For the Checca Sauce:
Combine the cherry tomatoes, scallions, garlic, basil, and oil in a processor. Pulse the tomatoes until they are coarsely chopped, being careful not to puree. Set aside. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

For the Lentil Loaf:
Place the lentils in a large saucepan of cold water. Bring the water just to a boil over high heat. Carefully drain the boiling water and rinse the lentils. Meanwhile, in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat, bring the broth to a boil. Add the rice and return the liquid to a boil. Decrease the heat to low, cover the rice, and gently simmer without stirring for 10 minutes. Stir in the lentils, onion, carrot, and celery. Cover and continue cooking without stirring until the rice and lentils are tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes longer. Turn off the heat. Sprinkle the corn over the rice and lentils and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Uncover and fluff the rice with a fork. Cover and let stand for 5 more minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread 1 tablespoon of the butter over a 10 by 4 1/2 by 3-inch loaf pan. In a heavy, large skillet, cook the spinach over medium heat until the spinach wilts, about 3 minutes. Drain and squeeze the excess liquid from the spinach. Transfer the spinach to a work surface and coarsely chop.

In a large bowl, gently mix the lentil mixture, spinach, 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese, eggs, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, basil, salt, pepper, and half of the checca sauce. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan. Arrange the sliced tomatoes in a row over the lentil mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese and 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Dot the top with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter.

Bake uncovered until the loaf is heated through and the topping is melted and starting to brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes. Slice the loaf into 2-inch slices, arrange on plates, and serve with the remaining checca sauce.

Eggplant Parmigiana: Hold the Gluten

Eggplant Parmigiana is a family favorite, but we hadn't tried to recreate the pre-celiac version we so enjoyed because of all the bread crumbs involved. We've made ratatouille, eggplant rollantine, baba ghanoush, and other eggplant parmagiana recipes in a gluten-free mode, but we greatly missed the traditional layering of fried eggplant, marinara sauce and gooey mozzarella. After a little experimentation, I found a great way to prepare our favorite eggplant dish without the crumbs but with the same deliciousness. It helps that I used tender baby eggplants from our home garden rather than the Double D-cup wizened eggplants that one usually sees languishing in the produce aisle.

Here is a photo of this eggplant success, which I battled to take before it was wolfed down by my platoon of hungry monsters. The lovely aster and cosmos bouquet in the background harbors a Japanese beetle which I unknowingly brought in from the yard. See if you can spot him/her.

Eggplant Parmigiana

2 medium size eggplants, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick (sometimes I leave the skin on, the way I prefer it, but the other Jags don't like to eat it)
3 eggs, beaten well
4 cups marinara sauce
1 (l lb.) package of mozzarella, grated
Olive oil for frying
2/3 cup white rice flour
2/3 cup grated Parmesan or Romano
2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Several sprigs fresh basil, sliced thinly

Place 1 cup of marinara in the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish and spread to cover bottom.

Mix rice flour, Parmesan, oregano and garlic powder together. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Dip eggplant slices in beaten egg and then in rice flour/Parmesan mixture to coat.

Heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil in large frying pan. Fry eggplant in batches until golden brown. I found that medium high heat worked the best in keeping the eggplant slices from sticking to the pan. The rice flour coating does not absorb as much oil as the traditional bread crumbs, so this was a heart-healthy bonus. I didn't even feel that I needed to blot the eggplant on paper towels as was absolutely necessary with the bread crumb method of yore.

Place a layer of eggplant over sauce in baking pan. Throw on 1/3 of the grated mozzarella and maybe a little extra Parmesan if so inclined. I also had some roasted tomatoes on hand that I wanted to use up, so I stuck these in too. Top with some of the basil, more marinara and then repeat layers twice more as your eggplant is fried up.

Cover pan with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1/2 hour or until cheese is bubbly.

I've heard that Eggplant Parm improves with age, but leftovers don't last long in these parts.

Mangia bene.

At the Zucchini Bowl

The late summer garden is pumping out its last tomatoes and peppers and zucchinis and so I turned to the Internet for summer squash inspiration and found this excellent recipe for a Grilled Zucchini and Quinoa dish. As is often the case, I did not have all of the ingredients on hand, so I riffed on this deliciousness by substituting various ingredients and the grilling part (no charcoal at home). Here's this tasty recipe Dan has dubbed Green-wah (rhymes with Quinoa).

1 avocado
juice of 1/1 lemon
1/4 cup snipped chives
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, hardboiled and cut into quarters for garnish

1 large zucchini, cut into 3/4-inch thick coins
1 onion, chopped,
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups cooked quinoa, cooked, room temperature
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted
1/4 cup feta, crumbled

In a blender, place avocado, lemon juice, chives, garlic, sour cream, water, and salt and whirr until well-blended.

Heat frying pan and add oil. Saute walnuts until toasted and remove with slotted spoon. Add onions and zucchini and saute until soft.

Toss quinoa with dressing, walnuts, feta, zucchini and top with egg quarters.

Serves 4 to 6.

Gluten-free Mom Love

Last weekend my mama pampered us with a wheat-free, meat-free feast; salad, two kinds of quiche, ice cream, eggplant parmesan and other goodies. I have no picture of the broccoli and zucchini quiches, because even though she loaded us down with a food hamper to go, they did not survive the night with Dan. Here's my mom's recipe for a:

Rice Crust Quiche


1) Rice crust---prepare rice in your cooker. Let cool then add a beaten egg. Butter a pie plate and press rice mixture into it for the crust. Bake for 10 minutes and remove from oven and let cool.

2) Now steam some veggies or saute them in butter ie..sliced zucchini and onions or broccoli with crushed garlic in olive oil. Set aside.

3) Make a cheese sauce by blending some butter, gluten-free flour, milk and cheese (I used Cheddar, Romano, and Mozzarella) and cook slowly until nice and creamy. Let cool and then add a beaten egg. If it seems lumpy like the gluten flour has a tendency to do, then you have to strain it to get it nice and creamy.

4) Place the veggies into the rice crust, add the cheese sauce and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. That's it. enjoy!

x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0xLove from Momx0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0x0

Pies of Unlimited Possibility

Real men don't eat quiche, but they do enjoy a good egg pie now and again. I was pricing up a box of cookbooks in the bookstore today and came across this humorous title by some hip hospice volunteers. These fundraiser cookbooks always have some good down home recipes, although they do tend to be heavy on the jello salads and cream of mushroom soup casseroles. I found a recipe for Impossible Seafood Pie, which brought back memories of leafing through homemaker magazines back in the day and seeing all those advertisements pushing Bisquick and other prepackaged foods. There was always some variant of Impossible Pie, basically a mixed up slurry of stuff that you baked and which magically produced its own crust in the oven.

I had some zucchini and assorted cheese ends in the fridge, so I came up with this version of a completely plausible pie, basically a crustless quiche or frittata. It was a hit with my Real Man.

Crustless Zucchini Pie

2 small zucchini, sliced thin
1 onion, sliced thin
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1-1/2 cups grated cheese (I used some garlic/herb cheddar and regular cheddar)
1-1/2 cups milk
4 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a 9 or 10 inch pie pan.

Heat olive oil in a saute pan. Add onions and saute until lightly browned. Add zucchini and saute until softened. Place in center of pie pan with cheese.

Beat eggs and milk until smooth (about 1 minute with hand mixer). Season with salt and pepper. Pour over cheese and zucchini.

Bake 35-40 minutes (I forgot about this poor pie while I was on the computer, blogging dontcha know, so it can stand another 10 minutes of baking). Cool for 5-10 minutes to let set and then serve.

Serves 4-6 people.

You can also use other sauteed vegetables, such as tomatoes, broccoli, asparagus, etc. in place of the zucchini.

Italian Soul Food

My mom sent me a delicious-sounding recipe for polenta with Gorgonzola she had spied in one of the culinary mysteries by Katharine Hall Page. This is a fun culinary mystery series starring a minister’s wife/amateur sleuth sprinkled with lots of great recipes. Unfortunately, Gorgonzola is not a gluten-free item. All those stinky, glorious cheeses like Blue, Gorgonzola and Stilton are on the verboten list as they are made with bread mold.

Believing as I do that one should always listen to one’s mother, I scoured some other polenta recipes and came up the following version:

Polenta with Gruyere and Roasted Vegetable Marinara

1 cup finely ground yellow cornmeal
1 small minced onion
3 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 eggs, beaten
½ lb. Gruyère cheese, grated
2 small zucchini, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp. rosemary
Kosher salt
Olive oil
½ lb. sliced mushrooms
2 cups tomato sauce

Toss zucchini, garlic and mushrooms with enough olive oil to coat in glass baking dish. Sprinkled with salt and rosemary. Roast in 400 degree oven until soft and caramelized, about 45 minutes. Mix with tomato sauce.

While vegetables are roasting, bring 3-1/2 cups of water to a simmer in a saucepan. Gradually stir in cornmeal and onion with a wooden spoon. Simmer, uncovered, for 25 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in butter, eggs and 1 cup of Gruyere. Season with salt and pepper.

Spread the mixture evenly in a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake until the topping is melted and lightly browned, about 10-15 minutes.

Serve with roasted vegetable sauce.

This is a very rich dish, so serve on the side with something plain, like broiled fish or a garden salad.

Serves 4-6.