Grilled Veggie and Rice Salad with Fish Sauce Dressing

Omg.  This salad is so good.  Even Tim liked it, lamenting the lack of meat only somewhat, stating that, "maybe it would make a really good side... you know... to some meat."  I liked it on its own, but agree that it would also make a kick-ass side dish and/or bed for some Vietnamese-style grilled chicken (we made a recipe quite similar to this one at our Hoi An cooking class in June.)  

I had lots of fresh herbs left over from our Vietnamese pomelo salad last week and saw this herb-heavy, Vietnamese-esque recipe in my July 2012 Bon Appetit magazine... I am so glad I made it.  It's got a lot of ingredients, but don't be intimidated, as it's really quite easy once you light up the grill and is a great way to utilize all your summer veggies and herbs- corn, eggplant, zucchini, okra, mint, basil, cilantro.  Mmm.

I made only a couple small changes to the recipe- the dressing is supposed to have grilled Holland or Anaheim chilis, but here there are just cabe rawit (the little ones) and cabe besar (the big ones).  All are blow-your-face off hot and not really the equivalent of an Anaheim.  Thus, I decided to substitute with some Sriracha to taste.  Also, rather than plain white jasmine rice, I bought some whole-grain Javanese brownish/reddish rice and cooked it coconut milk substituting for 1/3 of the liquid.  I think the hearty, nutty rice and extra coconut flavor really put the finishing touch on the recipe.

Fritter FAIL

I was trying to use up the mint leftover from my mint ice cream as well as some feta left from my grilled corn and feta salad... add in a zucchini and you get: mush.  Oops.

Very loosely (no ricotta, fresh rather than dried mint) based on this recipe from an Australian cooking show I've been watching recently, I put together these zucchini, feta and mint fritters that I planned to top with a spicy fresh tomato sauce.  Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to drain the zucchini of its water, these fritters were super soggy, floppy and definitely not crisp like I imagined.   Sigh.

But the flavor was good... perhaps a similar flavor combination in a different format next time.  Over pasta?

Zucchini and Corn Fritters with Black Beans and Chipotle Cream

Zucchini and corn fritters: a good way to use up some summer veggies... fresh sweet corn cut off the cob and shredded zucchini. Topped off with a little bit of chipotle sour cream (or yogurt if you prefer)- chipotle in adobo sauce, green onion, lime- and some black beans.

Spicy, creamy, sweet, fresh. Mmmm.

Christy and Brendan made a similar recipe- rice and corn cakes - and said it was also delicious. I'll give it a try next time I have leftover rice!

Creamy Tomato Soup and Baked Parmesan Zucchini "Fries"

The tomatoes just keep coming... this time in the form of a delicious creamy tomato soup. Perfectly accompanied by baked crunchy Parmesan encrusted zucchini "fries."

Korean Beef Rice Bowl

This Korean-style beef and veggie bowl was a good use of fresh summer veggies like carrots and zucchini. However, I think it could benefit from a squirt or two of Sriracha to give it at least a little kick. But I think everything might taste bland relative to the Szechuan spicy I tasted this past weekend...

Zucchini "Pasta" with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Toasted Breadcrumbs

Wow, for a healthy, low-carb meal, this zucchini "pasta" was pretty good!

Super thin, barely cooked zucchini strips cut with the mandoline is a proxy for carbolicious pasta. Topped with a simple fresh tomato sauce and some toasted garlicky breadcrumbs for crunchy texture (my addition to the recipe), this stuff could almost pass for the real thing. Almost.

In any case, it's a great summer meal that uses up those farmer's market staples that are in abundance- giant zucchini the size of your leg, tomatoes coming out your ears... try it!

Zucchini and Toasted Corn Tacos with Fresh Tomatillo Salsa

Wow- I've made vegetarian tacos before, but these were by far the best. The toasted corn gave these a unique flavor- some awesome caramelization... mmmm.
Plus, topped with feta and freshly made salsa verde with CSA tomatillos: to die for.

Black Bean, Sweet Potato, Zucchini Salad with Garlic Lime Dressing

Hey y'all... remember when I made Mark Bittman's sweet potato and black bean salad with a spicy garlicky lime dressing?

Remember how it was awesome?

Well, for those bell pepper haters in the group, leave them out. The recipe is awesome with zucchini, too. Throw some chopped zucchini into the oven with the sweet potato after it's been roasting for a while... then throw the whole mess on top of some lettuce.

As Tyler Florence has been known to say: boom.

Meatloaf, Beatloaf

Meatloaf, beatloaf... I like meatloaf. Except when it's slightly tooooooo moist. Yes, I said it. Moist.

This meatloaf had some shredded zucchini mixed in to give it moisture... but I think it may have gone overboard in the moisture department.

Served with sauteed collard greens and cauliflower gratin.

The Unwrappable Burrito

Starring, in order of appearance:

Zucchini, black beans and corn taco filling (which I pumped up with a little adobo sauce)

Chipotle-esque cilantro lime rice (which is basically rice with a lime/cilantro/garlic pesto stirred in)

Homemade green tomatillo salsa/sauce

Awesome.

Grilled Summer Succotash Pasta with Roasted Garlic Sauce

This week's Washington Post food section included a recipe for a grilled vegetable pasta with roasted garlic and lemon sauce. This recipe was good- very fresh. The veggies the recipe called for were exactly what came in my CSA share this week, including sweet corn on the cob, zucchini, garlic, and one that I was nervous about: lima beans.

Turns out that fresh lima beans aren't half bad! They're kinda a pain to shell (see the photo below for an idea of what they look like in and out of the shell), but tasty.

Stuffed Zucchini: Part Deux

Another stuffed zucchini recipe... this is Emeril's sausage stuffed version. Pretty tasty!

Stuffed Zucchinni

Kim O'Donnell, formerly of the Washington Post (declining profits in the print media industry have led to lay-offs and buyouts of newspaper employees), started a new blog, "Licking Your Chops," last week.

One of her first posts was a combination of Meatless Mondays (a challenge to reduce your meat intake, for both health and environmental reasons) and Eating Down the Fridge (a challenge involving coming up with creative recipes that use up the crap that's slowly going bad in your fridge/pantry... cough cough MARTHA cough cough...the ultimate "mixed grill").

The result: stuffed zucchini!

This idea is kinda fun and totally malleable, depending on what you have sitting around in your fridge and pantry.

I pretty much followed Kim's recipe, since I had all those ingredients on hand. It was tasty. There was a lot of stuffing left over that didn't quite fit in the little zucchini boats, but I'll take it for lunch tomorrow.

Spicy Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas and Zucchini

Dudes, this salad is good stuff. It's spicy (not hot spicy, but full of delicious spices spicy), healthy, and super easy. Try it. Fo rizzle. MLT says "It's fucking good."

Changes I made to the recipe:

1. I didn't have the requisite cumin seeds, so I just used 1/2 tsp ground cumin at the beginning instead.

2. I may have added more parsley than required, too, just because.

3. Finally, I was lazy, so I didn't fire up the grill for the zucchini... I just put it under the broiler.

Zucchini, Ham, Basil and Ricotta Fritters

Aka: giant savory pancake.

Pretty damn good; makes a meal if you pair it with a salad.

I needed to use up some zucchini and was curious about this recipe... I was nervous about it not having any sauce to accompany it, but it turns out it didn't need anything. Just some salt and pepper at the end.

I sliced the zucchini into very thin discs using the mandoline- I wasn't sure what they meant by long thin strips, but it sounded like a pain in the butt. Also, I used 2 or 3 thicker sliced pieces of deli ham and ricotta left over from my skillet lasagna.

Skillet Lasagna

Made this skillet lasagna after seeing it in Food Network Magazine... we had all the ingredients except ricotta, but Tim humored me and went to Giant to get it. Lots of veggies in there: carrots, zucchini, spinach. I added 3 chorizo sausages, taken out of their casings and cooked in a frying pan.

Also, the recipes called for fresh tomatoes, but I used a 28 oz. can of crush tomatoes, no prob. And shredded mozzarella because our fresh mozzarella had gone moldy on me. Boo.

The recipe was pretty easy and tasted really good... the only problem was that it was a little soupy when it came out (perhaps I could have let it sit a few more minutes before slicing), and the bottom lasagna noodle got a little burnt to the bottom of the skillet. Maybe I should have used a non-stick skillet?

Anyway: tasty nonetheless.

Summer Squash Carpaccio

I saw this recipe for summer squash carpaccio in my Food Network Magazine this week and thought I'd give it a try as an appetizer. It is a cute idea and I had all of the ingredients in the fridge. It was also really fresh and super easy (i.e. no cooking involved, just slicing and layering). Mine isn't as pretty as the magazine photo (check out the link to see their photo), but they never are.

The recipe definitely requires a mandoline (not to be confused with the mandolin) in order to get the squash sliced super thin. Even with the mandoline, the slicing was somewhat inconsistent, but that's probably user error. Also, because they wanted the squash sliced lengthwise, I couldn't get the little handguard to grip the squash, so I was forced to risk severe laceration and/or finger loss by going at it bare handed. Glad to report that the kitchen is major injury-free (well, human injury free... there's still that little problem with my laptop and half a can of coconut milk).

The recipe's pretty healthy, although, as I admitted to Chuck, I layered a little bit of the cheese between every layer, rather than just on top... I like cheese. As far as the herbs, I mixed rosemary from the roof with some summer savory that I got in my CSA. Randy and Chris from Star Hollow Farm describes summer savory as a cross between thyme and mint. It has a really nice smell to it.

UPDATE: The Slow Cook (a gardening and food blogger), who lives a few blocks from us in Columbia Heights has his own version of squash carpaccio that involves goat cheese... check it out!