Cucumber Salad

We’re having what may be the final barbecue of the year for us this weekend. After a season of potato salads and coleslaw, I was thinking a lighter side dish might be in order. Cucumbers are still going strong in our area, and so I was reminded of this Eastern European dish. Cucumber Salad is cool and refreshing and makes a great accompaniment to barbecued meats.

This is my husband’s recipe. It’s satisfying but light, and offers an excellent alternative to typical mayonnaise-based sides; yogurt and sour cream provide far more calcium and protein than typical potato salad, and cucumbers offer far less carbohydrate.

Greek yogurt gives the dish more structure than plain American style yogurt, and the sour cream lends its sweet creaminess. We got our garlic from a vendor at the Rowley Farmer’s Market and the cucumbers came from a farm down the road.

Cucumber Salad – serves 4 – 6

1/2 C full fat sour cream
6 ounces plain Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed and diced
2 cucumbers
1 t dill
salt to taste

Peel the cucumbers, halve lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch slices.

In a large bowl, toss the cucumbers with garlic, sour cream, yogurt and dill. Season with salt to taste.

Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with dill, if desired.

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.

Chicken Parmesan

As you know, tomatoes are at their peak this time of year. As wonderful as they are served freshly sliced in a caprese salad, per esempio, it’s really not a tragedy to simmer them into a thick marinara sauce. In fact, doing so concentrates their already sun-condensed sugars even more to create a lusciously sweet tomato sauce that you would swear had a teaspoon of sugar tossed in for good measure. But there’s not. Tomatoes are running the show here and they wouldn’t stand for it. In this case, I used two pints of grape tomatoes, which are very sweet – the perfect foil for the Parmesan breaded chicken.

Eggplant Parmesan is a dish that I often helped my mother make when I was growing up. By high school I’d mastered the Parm and it became a frequent go-to dish when I lived on my own in college. Though we rarely made Chicken Parmesan when I was a kid, I ventured to make it on my own.

I recently asked my mother why it was that we mostly stuck to eggplant, and her response was quite logical, “I hardly ever make Chicken Parmesan, nor did my Mother make it often.  I always felt that chicken can be done so many ways more than eggplant.” Excellent point, Mom.

For the chicken pieces, I use chicken tenderloins, pounded to one quarter inch in thickness. This allows the meat to cook quickly so that the breading doesn’t get too dark as it fries.

As nice as it is to try new things and experiment with different flavors in cooking, sometimes a classic comfort food is nice too. And to me, Chicken Parmesan fits the bill.

Chicken Parmesan - serves 3 – 6

1 lb chicken tenderloins
1 C buttermilk
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed and diced
2 T tomato paste
1 – 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 t finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 pints grape tomatoes, halved
1 C plain bread crumbs
3/4 C finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 C flour
1 T dried oregano
1 egg
1 – 8 ounce ball of fresh mozzarella
1 lb cooked pasta
Grapeseed or canola oil

Start by pounding the chicken tenderloins with the flat side of a meat tenderizer (or the bottom of a pan) until they are about 1/4 inch in thickness. Place in a shallow bowl or marinating dish. Pour buttermillk over the chicken, being sure each cutlet is coated. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Meanwhile, start on the sauce by heating the diced garlic in olive oil over medium heat. Stir in tomato sauce and paste. Bring to a simmer. Add diced tomatoes, cover and bring to a low boil. Lower heat slightly and allow to simmer for 2 hours, covered.

Beat the egg in a small bowl. In a large, shallow dish, combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, flour and dried oregano. Working one piece at a time, dip the marinated chicken cutlets into the egg. Allow excess egg to drip off before dredging in the bread crumb mixture. Press each cutlet between both hands to help the moisture from the egg absorb into the bread crumbs. Allow the the pieces to rest for 5 minutes. Doing so allows gluten strands to form between the moisture and gluten in the crumbs, which will help the breading to stick to the chicken and not fall off.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Pour the oil into a saute or frying pan to 1/4 inch depth. Heat the oil to 350 degrees. Carefully place the the cutlets into the oil, two pieces at a time. Fry for 2 minutes on either side until the crumbs turn golden brown. Drain on a dish or cooling rack lined with paper towels.

Arrange the chicken cutlets in a baking dish. Top with mozzarella cheese slices and a little bit of the tomato sauce.

Bake for 10 minutes until the cheese is melted. Toss the pasta with the sauce and plate with one to two pieces of chicken per person.

Gazpacho

Hot. Humid. Availability of fresh, local vegetables. Yup. Perfect conditions for gazpacho.

As you may be aware, tomatoes are best served fresh from the vine at the height of summer, because they taste like – brace yourself – tomatoes! Sweet, juicy, luscious tomatoes. Freshly picked summertime tomatoes are completely different from the crimson, grainy guys found in supermarkets. Fresh local tomatoes have that deep, almost gleeful magenta color throughout the fruit and a happy-go-lucky sweetness too. They’re just joyous little beings, like doughnuts ready to be snacked.

Fortunately, it is now the height of summer. If you have a garden, great. I advise that you check for plump red tomatoes. Go now. I’ll wait. If not, perhaps you live in an urban area, make friends with the nearest neighbor with an urban garden or one of those upside-down hanging tomato planters. Do what you need to do in order to get in on freshly picked perfectly ripe tomatoes while their hot – or still warm from the afternoon sun.

Gazpacho is a great way to showcase the sweetness of fresh tomatoes. I also used fresh local cipollini onions, garlic, green peppers and a cucumber, all of which were generously bestowed upon us by a friend whose cup runneth over with CSA produce. Always happy to help a fellow locavore, we gladly accepted the veggies. Thank you, if you are reading this!

Some like to blend gazpacho. I do not. Because a blended soup is a wonderful, light treat. A cold soup is a wonderful, refreshing treat. A blended cold soup is a cold vegetable smoothie eaten with a spoon. Not my idea of a fabulously satisfying meal. If it is going to be served chilled, the least it can do is provide a little tooth.

Tomatoes contain plenty of vitamin C, vitamin K and lycopene. Onions and garlic – originally consumed for medicinal purposes – also contain vitamin C and are said to offer antibacterial and cardiovascular benefits. Despite the heavy glug of olive oil in this recipe and the bread, I consider gazpacho to be a supremely light. Refreshing, light and nutritious – the perfect food for summer.

Gazpacho - serves 2 – 4

4 fresh medium tomatoes
1 green bell pepper
1 clove garlic
1 cipollini onion (small to medium in size)
1 t ground cumin
1 t balsamic vinegar
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C water
3/4 C cubed baguette
1/2 t salt

Finely dice all of the vegetables. Combine in a large, non-reactive bowl. Add cumin, vinegar, olive oil, bread, and salt. Salt is important because it will draw the liquids out of vegetables to make the  gazpacho more soupy.

Refrigerate for one hour. Using a masher or the back of a slotted spoon, mash the soup until the bread bits are broken up and the juices are rendered from the vegetables.

Serve cold.

Peach Bacon Greens

I’ve always been a proponent of balance. Savory and sweet come to mind, but also nutritious and not-so-nutritious. A big dish of veggies is great, but why not add a little cheese or bacony goodness to even the playing field between good and wicked? What would good be if there wasn’t a wicked? What would greens be without bacon? Just fine of course, but isn’t everything better with bacon? You’re getting all that lovely nutrition, why not add a little something to it?

I concocted this dish a few weeks ago when I noticed a peach from an earlier visit to the farmer’s market was looking a little peaked. Not bad, just a little past its prime. I couldn’t in good conscience let the poor little thing go to waste – after all he was a local. I decided to cook it somehow.

Then I thought of how lovely it would be sliced and caramelized with a little bacon. But that would be silly wouldn’t it? I could never serve bacon and peaches as a side dish on its own. Or I could, but if I did, it would have to be one of those things I kept to myself – like the cream I pour over berries sometimes when no one is looking, but you didn’t just read that.

Our very generous neighbor had once again gifted us with a fresh assortment of greens from her garden: young kale, chard and New Zealand spinach. Just what this dish needs to become a respectable side dish. It turned out to be fantastic. To be safe, I made it again tonight, this time using mostly young kale and chard.

The best part is that the greens do more than just make this dish respectable. They add that substantial, sunshiny, almost bitterness that would otherwise be lacking in a simple combo of peaches and bacon. A cup of greens contains a day’s supply of folate, peaches are packed with vitamins A and C, and bacon contains baco-endorphins that are essential for omnivore happiness. I made up that last part, but doesn’t it seem a little bit true? A tiny bit?

Cooking peaches with a little bacon fat caramelizes the surface area for a smoky, crisp crust, while the peach juice condenses and sweetens. Tossed with the bacon you have sweet and smoky, salty perfection. With nutrient-rich greens, no less.

Peach Bacon Greens – serves 2

4 slices of bacon (about 4 ounces), cut into 1 inch strips
1 peach, diced
2 – 3 cups fresh young greens (kale, chard, spinach, etc.), stems removed

In a large frying pan, brown the bacon over medium high heat until most of the fat is rendered. Drain.

Lower heat to medium-low and add peaches. Saute for 3 minutes until peaches become slightly translucent and begin to form a golden brown crust.

Add the greens and toss with the bacon and peaches. Continue to cook until the greens are just wilted – about 2 – 5 minutes (depending on the thickness of the leaves).

Remove from heat and serve to people who trust your judgment.

Ingredient origins: bacon – Vermont; peach – Massachusetts; greens – right next door.