Recipes
Weapons grade ratatouille recipe
Makes a boatload, nearly half a gallon, of very intensely flavored stuff
Ingredients
- 1 head garlic, minced
- 3 shallots, minced
- 1 large onion (about 12 ounces), minced
- ½ cup of olive oil (yes, that much. Summertime is living it up time.)
- A couple more glugs of olive oil. Hell, just keep the bottle handy.
- Salt and pepper
- 2 large red peppers, puréed in the food processor
- 4 pounds of very good regular field tomatoes, or fancy heirlooms if you’re rich. Just make sure they’re the kind you eat a piece of … and then involuntarily eat another piece of a minute later. Oh, and purée them in the food processor too.
- 2½ pounds of summer squash and zucchini, ½-inch dice
- 1½ pounds of eggplant, diced into ½-inch cubes
- Thyme and basil to taste
Directions
- Start by cooking the garlic, shallot and onion in the ½ cup of olive oil over medium-low to low heat in a heavy pot so that they soften and give up their liquid. Stir and try not to let them brown. (Meanwhile, cut the other vegetables; you’ll be waiting a while.) Season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Once they became a pale golden sticky mess, add the puréed red pepper and let it get all nice and friendly. Season lightly with salt and pepper. The pepper should have a ton of water, so let it cook down, stirring every few minutes to make sure nothing gets too caramelized and burned, until — after God knows how long — you’ll have a rich, rusty jam.
- To which, of course, you’ll add your load of puréed tomatoes. Bring it to a boil, and turn it way down to let that baby snooze off all its liquid. Season lightly with — guess what? — salt and pepper. You’ve probably already been cooking for an hour or more at this point. You’re not even close to being there yet. You’re concentrating its sugar and tartness, and it’s going to be all umami-oooo-Mommy. It’s worth it. Around this time, fire up your oven to 450. Stir the tomatoes occasionally, just so they don’t burn at the bottom.
- Meanwhile, toss the zucchini with salt, pepper and olive oil. Taste a piece. Doesn’t it taste good? It’s going to be even better after you roast it hard in one layer on a baking tray. After the sizzling starts to slow down in the oven, take a peek. Are you getting some nice browning underneath? Great. Take it out, let it cool a bit before putting it in a big bowl and do it again until you run out of squash. Then do the same with the eggplant, putting it in the same bowl, and let them wait for the minister to their wedding.
- When the 6 pounds of stuff you cooked in the tomato pot can be packed into a pint of good-God-DAMN goodness, it will have flavor that doesn’t quit — a finish that lasts forever. You’ll know it’s ready when it gives the oil back up, it makes squishy noises when you stir it, and when you taste it and suddenly want to punch a hole in the wall.
- Now you’re ready to finish. Chop up some thyme and basil, as much as you like (I like a lot. Shocker), and stir the herbs into the tomato base. Carefully combine the tomato with the rest of the vegetables so that you don’t mash up your zucchini and eggplant. It’s victory lap time. Stick a spoon into it and feed it to people you love. Then wrap it up tightly and let it sit in the fridge for a day; it’ll be even better tomorrow — the flavors meld, the herbs work their way through the whole thing. Just let it come back to room temperature when you serve it, to your favorite people and maybe with some cheese and bread, and try not to break too much furniture.
Keeps in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. It does freeze well, though, if you fill up the container so there’s not much air in it and wrap it tightly in several layers of plastic wrap. Let it thaw in the fridge, and it’ll still be awesome in the dead of winter, when tomatoes taste about as good as tennis balls.
Francis Lam is Features Editor at Gilt Taste, provides color commentary for the Cooking Channel show Food(ography), and tweets at @francis_lam. More Francis Lam.
Kale-filled crepes recipe
Ingredients
Kale filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ red onion (chopped)
- ⅔ cup stock
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 cup kale (chopped)
- 1 cup turnip greens (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)
- 2 petite summer squash (chopped)
- Salt to taste
- 8-10 nasturtium blossoms
Salal Raspberry Syrup
- ½ cup wild black raspberries
- ½ cup salal berries
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 tablespoons raw sugar
Crepes
- 1 cup sifted white flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup water
- 3 tablespoons butter (melted)
- Bacon grease
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
Thimbleberry rosemary simple syrup
Ingredients
- ½ cup of honey
- ½ cup of water
- 1 cup of thimbleberries
- 1 lime
- Three sprigs of fresh rosemary (chopped)
Directions
- In a small saucepan, heat honey and water. When liquid comes to a boil, add berries. Stir. Remove from heat.
- Add lime juice and rosemary. Leave to steep for 3-4 hours.
- Strain. If necessary, press berry mash against strainer to release liquid.
- Chill and serve.
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
Wild berry champagne barbecue sauce
Ingredients
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
- 1 cup fresh huckleberries
- 1 cup fresh salmonberries (thimbleberries or raspberries also work)
- ¼ cup spumante champagne
- 2 tablespoons of honey
- 2 tablespoons of ketchup
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
- dash of Worcestershire
Directions
- In a saucepan, sauté garlic in olive oil.
- Add remaining ingredients.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or until slightly thick.
- Remove from heat; cool.
- Place mixture in a blender; process until smooth.
- Use as sauce over pork, steaks or poultry.
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
Pasta with mussels and cream sauce recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz. fettuccini (cooked al dente)
- Parmesan cheese and pepper
-
Group 1
- 30-40 mussels
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup white wine
Group 2
- 1 cup oyster mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 green onions
- 3 tablespoon white wine
- Mussels (sans shell)
- 1 teaspoon chopped parsley
Group 3
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1½ tablespoons flour
- ½ cup half and half
- ¼ cup stock
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ lemon
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
Dolmas with tzatziki sauce recipe
Michelle’s Dolmas
Ingredients
- Cooked rice
- Olive oil
- Garlic (minced)
- Carrot (grated)
- Zucchini (diced)
- Fresh dill or fennel (diced)
- Salt
- Feta cheese (optional)
- Water
- Lemon juice
Directions
- Cook rice.
- Sauté onion, garlic, grated carrot, little pieces of zucchini and little pieces of fresh fennel. Add dill or fennel, more olive oil, and feta cheese. Turn off heat.
- Remove a grape leaf from your jar and spread it flat on a cutting board. Take a spoonful of the rice and vegetables and plop it in the center of the grape leaf. Fold up the bottom of the leaf first, then fold the sides in and roll.
- Put the dolmas in a big saucepan. (You want to fill up the bottom of the saucepan with dolmas.) Add water until the water level is about halfway up the dolmas. Add lemon juice.
- Set a kitchen plate on top of the dolmas to hold them down during the steaming process. Put a lid on the pot and bring the water to a boil.
- Minimize heat, and steam the dolmas for 30 minutes on the stove top. Keep an eye — the dolmas should be ready when the liquid is gone.
- Drizzle with olive oil and serve with tzatziki sauce.
Felisa Rogers studied history and nonfiction writing at the Evergreen State College and went on to teach writing to kids for five years. She lives in Oregon’s coast range, where she works as a freelance writer and editor. More Felisa Rogers.
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