Dinner Tonight

We got a new grill, and it's a whole new world.  I looked at the seafood market and the butcher's with new eyes after years of not grilling.  The possibilities!  Grilling recipes to follow later this summer.

For our inaugural grill feast we prepared asparagus, corn, cheeseburgers and chicken.  Tonight, we will make a simple meal of previously prepared foods: garlic scape pesto, grilled chicken and pasta.  We'll add broccoli and toss together.

If you haven't made garlic scape pesto, it's flavorful way to use (and preserve) your scapes.  For those who don't grow garlic, or frequent a farmers market, the scapes are a part of the garlic plant pruned in summer to allow the energy of the plant to go into making sumptuous garlic bulbs, rather than a flower.  If harvested promptly, the scapes are tasty and succulent.  After time, they become tough.  I use tough scapes in avant garde flower arrangements.

For those of you grilling tonight for the holiday, enjoy!  And Happy Fourth of July!

White Bean Dip with Roasted Garlic

95 cloves of garlic in the ground: an investment in the future.  This sign of fall comes amid our “peak foliage weekend” here in midcoast Maine, a fitting Sunday afternoon activity.  I pulled out the last odds and ends from the bed, added a layer of compost, worked it into the ground, raked it smooth and poked holes with my rake handle.   “Does garlic grow over the winter?” asks K.  Good question, I think.  Why do I always plant the garlic around Columbus Day?  (Because that’s when my garlic guru friend tells me to!)  But K. got me thinking, and I consulted Growing Great Garlic, by Ron L. Engeland, my second favorite garlic resource.  

First Days of Fall Soup

Molly Katzen, one of the chefs behind the Moosewood Collective, has several versions of lentil soup, and this is my favorite.  The lentil soup base is spiced with paprika, cinnamon, allspice and cayenne, full of late summer vegetables and accented with a secret ingredient: dried apricots.  The dried apricots swell during the cooking and burst with sweetness while you eat.  It’s simple, satisfying and nourishing, and will always remind me of my husband, who first introduced me to the recipe.

Moosewood Lentil Soup

1 1/2 cups dried lentils (I prefer French lentils)

6 cups vegetable stock (or water)

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped onions

2 to 3 cups eggplant

1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned

1 green pepper, chopped

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1 tablespoon paprika

1 1/2 tablespoon salt

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

Rinse the lentils, then bring them to a boil in the stock or water. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes. Add the chopped apricots and simmer covered for another 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute the onions in the oil until translucent, then add the eggplant and 4 or 5 tablespoons of water. Cook covered on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is almost tender. Add the spices and salt, toast to release the flavor.  Add the tomatoes, stir and scrape any bits off the bottom of the pan.  Add the peppers, cover and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

Add the cooked lentils and apricots to the vegetables and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the parsley and mint, top with parmesan cheese if desired and serve with crusty bread.

Dinner Tonight

Dinner tonight: pesto potato salad over arugula with salmon.  Thanks Cucina Nicolina, you inspire yet again!   

Inspired by Nicole’s Roasted Potato-Pesto Salad:

10 red or new potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half

olive oil

1 clove garlic

small handful of walnuts (about a ¼ cup)

Bunch of basil, stems removed

large handful grated parmesan (about ½ cup)

salt and pepper

bunch of arugula

Bounty

August and September are the peak of Maine’s growing season.  One can go to the farmers market/into the garden and pick such variety of vegetables (and fruits!).  This time of year, I love eggplant.

I have loved eggplant since childhood celebration suppers of eggplant parmesan served alongside heaps of round tubes of spaghetti at Anthony’s Italian Restaurant.  Now I love eggplant because of my husband, K.  He lived in Greece for a year, and I joined him for a summer.  We ate Eggplant in the Oven whenever we could get it.  Tavernas routinely had large menus, of which generally a handful of items were actually available.  When Eggplant in the Oven was offered, we always accepted.  Slow cooked eggplant with tomatoes, oregano and chunks of salty feta, best after hours in a low oven.