Summer Couscous Salad

It’s late August and fresh, ripe veggies are being picked in gardens and on farms across New England. The sun and the rain have done their thing, and now the year’s very best peppers, radishes, zucchini and tomatoes are ready to leap from their vines (or soil as the case may be) and onto a table near you.

It’s lovely really, but it can be tough to tell what can be done with so many veggies all at once. What is a good dish to utilize such a great combination and bring out the best notes in each vegetable? There are obviously plenty of options, but the following Couscous Salad is a dish that I’m fond of this time of year because it can be served warm or cold.

Zucchini absorbs a little butter flavor while it sautés with the pepper. Tomato and radishes add a little sweetness and tang. Feta rounds out the bunch with a little brininess and the couscous keeps things under control.

Summer Couscous Salad – serves 2 – 4

1 C dry couscous
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 bell pepper (purple adds a nice color)
1 zucchini
1 tomato
5 radishes
3 ounces feta cheese

Prepare couscous as directed.

Cut the zucchini lengthwise into quarters and then into 1/4 inch pieces. Cut the pepper 1/4 inch pieces. Melt butter over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. When the butter begins to foam add the zucchini and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes until softened and lightly brown, adjusting heat accordingly.

Meanwhile, halve the tomato and remove the membrane and seeds. Dice into 1/4 inch cubes.

Halve the radishes lengthwise and finely slice.

Dice the feta.

Remove the zucchini and peppers from heat. Toss all vegetables with the couscous and feta. Serve warm or cold.

Lemon Basil Redfish

One fish, two fish, red fish. No bluefish, but this week’s Fresh Catch was indeed redfish, or ocean perch. After many weeks of cod, which I do adore, I was thrilled when my favorite fish expert pulled a bag of big-eyed, red fish out of the CAFC cooler. Yay!

I made a dish similar to this with last week’s sole, using lemon and fresh basil. I loved the way it filled our kitchen with that fragrant, flowery basil aroma. It went well with the sole, so I decided to try it out with the redfish. The result offered that fantastic flavor and aroma of fresh basil, and the tang of lemon which added just the right amount of zing to the the fish.

Cape Ann Fresh Catch has a new season beginning on August 9th. I plan to join, mainly for the whiting – a delicate and seasonal white fish. I fell in love with fresh whiting from the share last fall and I was disappointed to find that’s not available fresh all year, and not surprisingly it is not as delicate when acquired from the supermarket freezer.

I have learned more about local fish and its seasonality in the past year of being a member of Cape Ann Fresh Catch than I have in my entire life, which has been spent on or near the coast of New England. This fact speaks to our dependence on supermarkets that maintain a uniform stock from coast to coast. I cannot count the number of times I’ve asked at our local supermarket fish counter where the lobster comes from, only to be told it’s just been shipped in from Canada, when I can see lobster traps from my window.

Anyway, CAFC’s new season starts on the 9th, and the application can be found here.

Lemon Basil Redfish – serves  5 – 6

5 – 6 redfish (ocean perch) – about 3 lb
olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 C basil, loosely chopped
1 t salt
2 T olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Meanwhile, watch the video. Remove the fins (which are sharp). Make an incision to remove the – how shall I put it delicately? Guts. Remove the gills and give the fish a rinse. I learned the hard way that it is a good idea to remove all of the black lining. Apparently this is important with ocean perch because it can have a bitter flavor. We didn’t scale it, but that would probably be a good idea.

Lightly grease a baking sheet with olive oil. Place the fish on the sheet, salt the inside, and stuff with basil. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Serve whole – each fish is an individual serving. Just peel back the skin and watch for bones.

Ingredient origins: redfish – local waters, lemon – California, basil – Massachusetts, sea salt – Maine, olive oil – Italy

Berry Shortcake

It’s berry season. My grandmother was famous for making a bang-up Strawberry Shortcake. In fact, she would make it every year for my mother’s birthday, until the year my mother finally requested a “real” birthday cake. Grandma felt that my mother is fortunate to have her birthday fall during berry season. That and it meant she got out of having to frost a cake. Wise lady, my grandma.

In any case, she made her Strawberry Shortcake with sponge cake.  Homemade of course. None of this supermarket nonsense. She was also known for making root beer from scratch, but that’s another story.

I like to make Shortcake with fresh homemade biscuits, for a nice buttery, salty flavor to balance the sweet whipped cream and assorted berries. Strawberry Shortcake is wonderful of course, but variety is the spice of life. I like to mix things up once in a while, which is why I like to use any number of seasonal berries in in Berry Shortcake.

Berry Shortcake - serves 4

1 pint of assorted  fresh blackberries, raspberries or strawberries
2 T – 1/4 C granulated sugar, depending on sweet tooth
1 C flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1 t sugar
1/4 t salt
1/3 C ice cold butter
1/2 – 3/4 C buttermilk (depending on the weather)
1 C heavy whipping cream
2 t sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Toss berries with the sugar in a large bowl and refrigerate for 1/2 hour, but no more than 2 hours. They start to get squishy and discolored after too long. We’re looking for fresh and bright, people.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Tip: When dicing the butter, I find that it’s helpful to coat the knife in flour and sprinkle the butter cubes with flour as you go. This way, the cubes are not fused together when they are dropped into the flour mixture.

Stir in the buttermilk until just moistened. Divide into quarters. Form each quarter into a ball and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 11 – 14 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops turn a lovely golden color.

Meanwhile, using either an electric beater, a counter top mixer or a whisk, combine the sugar and cream and beat until soft peaks form. Too far beyond that and it will end up as butter.

Remove the biscuits from the oven and allow them to cool. Carefully cut each in half, top the bottom half with a bit of whipped cream. Cover that with berries, a larger dollop of whipped cream and the top half of the biscuit.

Serve outside on a patio or deck after dinner, and watch the evening sky as the sun sets.

Green Market Quesadilla

Farmers Market season is back. Thank goodness. This time of year, there is an abundance of greens – young kale, chard, lettuces and cabbages – all so fresh and bright, they emit the aromas of spring’s sun and rain. You can taste the photosynthesis, they’re that fresh.

There are plenty of wonderful things to make with greens. Salads and sautés spring to mind. This quesadilla recipe is like baking them into a little present. Greens are sautéed beforehand to reduce their volume and remove some moisture.  Onion scapes add an additional layer of savory-sweetness, as well as texture.

I used Neighborly Farms Monterey Jack cheese and Grafton Cheddar, both from Vermont, but check your farmers market for local cheese artisans.

Green Market Quesadilla - serves 4 – 6

6 onion or garlic scapes, finely chopped
1 T olive oil
1 lb fresh young mixed greens – pepper greens, young kale, young chard, baby bok choy, etc
4 ounces Monterey Jack, grated
2 ounces Cheddar, grated
6 – 8 inch tortillas

Remove any tough stems from the greens. Loosely chop all greens. Combine the grated cheeses in a shallow dish.

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium. Add chopped scapes and sauté for 5 minutes until softened and bright green.

Add greens, cover and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Remove the cover and cook an additional 5 minutes, allowing excess moisture to evaporate off.

Preheat oven to 375.

Sauté scapes in olive oil for 3 min over medium heat. add greens and cook down until wilted and some moisture evaporates off – about 5 minutes.

To assemble each quesadilla, lay tortilla on a work surface and cover one half with a layer of cheese. Cover the cheese with greens.  Top the greens with more cheese. Fold the tortilla in half so that the bare side covers the stuff side.

Helpful hint: In order to evenly distribute the cheese and greens for each quesadilla, it helps to divide the cheese and greens into 6ths (see pic).

Arrange quesadillas on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes until cheese is melted.

Serve hot as an appetizer or main dish. Great to serve while watching the World Cup!

Ingredient origins: scapes and greens – Massachusetts; olive oil – Italy; Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses – Vermont; Tortillas -Rhode Island.

Cod en Papillote

It’s fish share day again and this week’s fish share was cod. As much as I love creating all of my silly little fish recipes, I still think the best way to enjoy fresh cod is simply baked with butter. Wrapping it in parchment paper allows the fish to steam as it bakes without drying out the meat.

Also, making the papillote, or pouch, is like making a fun little Valentine for your fish, because the paper is cut into a heart shape before the sides are tucked.

Dill is the classic match for cod and lends its fresh, grassy flavor without barging right in, and butter is butter. You know the deal.

Any white round fish similar to cod (haddock, pollock, etc), will work perfectly for this dish. I just happened to have plenty of fresh cod laying around today.

Cod en Papillote – serves 2 – 4

1 – 1 lb cod, haddock or pollock fillet
2 T butter
3 – 5 sprigs of fresh dill, finely chopped (about 2 T)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

While the oven preheats, melt the butter in an oven-proof dish until lightly browned and bubbling.

Place the fillet diagonally on the left-hand side of a large piece of parchment paper – large enough for the right half of the paper to fold over the top of the fillet. Fold the right-hand side of the paper over the fish. Allowing a 2 or 3 inch margin on all sides, cut out the silhouette of the fish just as if you’re cutting out a heart for a Valentine Day card.

Turn the paper back again to pour the browned butter over the fish and sprinkle with dill.

Fold the paper over. Tuck and crease the edges to form a seal.

Cook for 10-15 minutes until the fish is just beginning to flake apart with a fork.

The fish and butter will form a rich sauce in the papillote. Be sure to spoon this over each serving for maximum yums.

Serve hot.