Eggplant—such a funny name for a vegetable!  For me, there is nothing eggy about it.  I suppose I have seen some small white eggplants that are egg-like in shape and indeed that’s where the name came from (the first eggplants Europeans encountered in the 1700s looked like goose eggs), but certainly it did not [...]]]>

Eggplant—such a funny name for a vegetable!  For me, there is nothing eggy about it.  I suppose I have seen some small white eggplants that are egg-like in shape and indeed that’s where the name came from (the first eggplants Europeans encountered in the 1700s looked like goose eggs), but certainly it did not come from the flavor of the vegetable.  None of the eggplants I’ve ever tasted have had the slightest egg flavor.  I would also venture to say that for someone who has never tried eggplant, the name might be a little bit of a turned off.  To me, the French name for eggplant, aubergine, sounds much more appealing.

Name aside, I am a big fan of this versatile vegetable.  It can be found in cuisines around the world (the name aubergine came to the French through Arabic, Persian, and ultimately Sanskrit) and often serves nicely as a vegetarian main dish.  However, cooking with eggplant does take a little bit of skill—it is not a vegetable that I’ve completely mastered.  I’ve had eggplant dishes turn out tough and bitter and others turn out super oily and slimy.

So when a rather large eggplant arrived in our CSA box recently, I was determined to make something edible from it.   I decided to go with a recipe that I learned how to make when I was in Italy a few years ago.   I had to make a few substitutions based on the ingredients I had on hand, so I was a little nervous about how they’d turn out.  Luckily they were a hit with both of us..!

Eggplant/Aubergine Croquettes

Adapted from The Organic Tuscany Cookbook

I substituted rosemary for parsley and topped the croquettes with fresh tomato sauce.   I think I ended up using about a cup of regular breadcrumbs in the croquettes and then rolled them in ¼- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs.  You may have to add more or less breadcrumbs to get the correct consistency.

• 1 large eggplant, peeled and cut into cubes
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon minced rosemary
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Breadcrumbs
• Salt and pepper

Boil the eggplant for about ten minutes in a large pot filled with salted water.  Once the eggplant is tender, squeeze the water out of the eggplant with a clean dishtowel.  Finely chop the eggplant.

In a large bowl, mix together the eggplant, egg, rosemary, garlic, breadcrumbs and salt and pepper.  Shape the mixture into patties.  If the patties feel a little soft, add some more breadcrumbs to the mixture.  Roll the patties in more bread crumbs.

Heat a large skillet and add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  Fry the patties in the oil until golden brown on both sides.  Serve immediately topped with fresh tomato sauce.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

• Olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 basket cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• Salt and pepper
• Several fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped

Heat the 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium sized pan.  Add garlic and cook for a minute.   Add tomatoes and cook unit tomatoes breakdown and the juices thicken.   Season with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat and stir in the basil leaves.

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A few weekends ago Graham and I escaped the weird wintry cold of the Berkeley summer and went to check out the farm where our CSA box comes from.   For several months we had been getting notices in our vegetable box about Saturday farm tours and decided the time was right to go [...]]]>

A few weekends ago Graham and I escaped the weird wintry cold of the Berkeley summer and went to check out the farm where our CSA box comes from.   For several months we had been getting notices in our vegetable box about Saturday farm tours and decided the time was right to go and see where our food actually comes from.

So we drove a little over an hour north of here to our farm, which sits in a valley surrounded by beautiful rolling hills dotted with majestic oak trees.  At the farm we enjoyed a picnic lunch while listening to a local band.  We checked out some fig trees and said hello to a few farm animals before stepping on to the tram for the official tour.   The tram that they had rigged up to a tractor took us to various parts of the farm—through some fields, past where they pack the CSA boxes, and finally to the huge tomato patch.

Apparently not everyone who comes to the farm gets to go to the tomato patch. Most are taken to another part of the farm where they can pick some greens and maybe an eggplant or two.  But as it turns out the other part of the farm had been cleaned out by the last CSA delivery, so they took us to pick cherry tomatoes in the usually off-limits tomato patch.

According to our tour guide the patch is prime real estate for snakes, so it is not the best area for visitors.   However, in order to give us the experience of picking something on the farm, they had been checking and clearing the area of snakes during the days before our visit.  Feeling a little bit reassured, we carefully ventured into the patch and picked some gorgeous and oh so tasty cherry tomatoes.

With two baskets of cherry tomatoes from the farm and another two baskets that had been delivered the day before in our CSA box, we were in tomato heaven!   One of the first things I thought to make with our bounty was a tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad—so simple, but yet so tasty.  With another basket, I made a tomato sauce for pasta, and the rest went into a sauce for some eggplant croquettes that I’ll share the recipe for next week.  On Friday, our CSA delivered another basket of tomatoes, so lucky for us the summer tomato fest will continue…

Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella Salad

1 basket of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

10-15 fresh basil leaves, sliced into strips

8oz fresh mozzarella cheese, cut in bite-sized pieces

olive oil

salt and pepper

In a large bowl, mix together the tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella.  Drizzle with a few tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Tasty Easy Healthy Green Recipe Ratings:

I’ve heard it said before that eating pimientos de padrón (or padrón peppers) is like playing a game of Russian roulette—you never know how spicy a pepper is going to be until you take a bite.  Yep, some of these little guys are spicy and some are not.  In my experience most of [...]]]>

I’ve heard it said before that eating pimientos de padrón (or padrón peppers) is like playing a game of Russian roulette—you never know how spicy a pepper is going to be until you take a bite.  Yep, some of these little guys are spicy and some are not.  In my experience most of them tend to be on the milder side, but every once and a while you’ll get one with a real kick.

Preparing padrón peppers is super easy, but finding the actual peppers can be a challenge.   They show up at our farmers market from time to time, but when I went last Friday they were already sold out.  Luckily I ran into some of these illusive peppers at a local grocery store though.

I’m not sure how easy padrón peppers are to find outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, but if you are fortunate enough to come across some, give this simple and fun recipe a try!

Pimientos de Padrón

• 1 cup padrón peppers
• olive oil
• flaky sea salt

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.  When the skillet is hot, add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  Allow the olive oil to heat up for a few minutes and then add the peppers.  Cook until the pepper skins begin to blister and brown, stirring occasionally.  The peppers can char quickly, so watch them carefully.   Once the peppers are done, remove them from the pan and sprinkle them with flaky sea salt.

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Let’s talk about herbs—fresh herbs.  I have mixed feelings when it comes to fresh herbs.  On the one hand, I love them—they can add zest and zip to all sorts of dishes.  On the other hand they kind of scare me.  Sometimes I feel unsure about the quantity of [...]]]>

Let’s talk about herbs—fresh herbs.  I have mixed feelings when it comes to fresh herbs.  On the one hand, I love them—they can add zest and zip to all sorts of dishes.  On the other hand they kind of scare me.  Sometimes I feel unsure about the quantity of herbs I should add to dishes.  How much is too much?  I’m also a little insecure when it comes to which herbs go well together.   Can you mix together thyme, sage, rosemary, and dill and still end up with something edible?

Because my love for fresh herbs trumps my fear, I recently decided to be bolder with my use of herbs (receiving a gift of several large bunches of fresh herbs, also forced me to be a little bolder).  I’ve been throwing fresh herbs into all sorts of dishes and experimenting with different quantities and mixtures and to date we’ve loved the results.

One of our favorite recent “herby” recipes was for biscuits.  These biscuits were an experiment to see what happened when I added large quantities of several types of fresh herbs together.  What ended up happening was something fantastic!  The chubby little biscuits were bursting with zesty herb and savory cheese flavor.   Just thinking about them makes my mouth water!  Why not give them a try and experiment with your own herb mixture?

Fresh Herb and Cheese Biscuits

Adapted from Food Network’s Down Home with the Neelys

For the cheese, I used a mixture of pecorino and manchego cheeses, because that’s what I had on hand.  Feel free to mix up the recipe with different cheese or a different mixture of herbs.  The fresh dill was delightful though…

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
• 3/4 cup grated cheese
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup non-fat Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°.  In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cayenne pepper.  Fold in the herbs and cheese and then add in the milk and yogurt.  Mix together until everything is just incorporated.

Using a large spoon, scoop out dough and place onto a parchment paper lined baking pan (or lightly oiled baking pan).  Brush the top of the biscuits with a little melted butter.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.

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We’ve got zucchini coming out of our ears!  Well maybe it’s not that bad, but lately we have had a steady stream of zucchini coming in our CSA box.  It started with just one or two small zucchini in the box and now we are getting five or six large ones.   [...]]]>

We’ve got zucchini coming out of our ears!  Well maybe it’s not that bad, but lately we have had a steady stream of zucchini coming in our CSA box.  It started with just one or two small zucchini in the box and now we are getting five or six large ones.   If we were zucchini lovers this won’t be a problem, but unfortunately zucchini doesn’t top our list of favorite vegetables.

However, since we try not to let vegetables go to waste, I’ve been trying to find recipes that use up a lot of zucchini but do not result in tasteless mush on a plate.  So I’ve been hiding zucchini in cookies, under cheese and with today’s recipe, in pancakes!

Pancakes happen to be one of Graham’s favorite foods, but I think he was a little leery of having zucchini pollute the pancake batter.   Nevertheless, in the end both of us thought the pancakes were good and we’re happy that the taste and texture of zucchini did not come through in the cakes.  While I can’t see myself running out and buying zucchini to make this recipe again, it is a good option if more zucchini happen to come our way.

Turkish Zucchini Pancakes

Adapted from Bon Appétit, January 1996

The original recipe calls for about 2/3 of a cup fresh dill and parsley.  I had chives and a little sage on hand, so I used that instead.  To serve, top the pancakes with a little garlic yogurt sauce (Graham also liked a little mustard as a topping—but I’m not so sure).

• 3 medium zucchini (roughly 1 lb), shredded
• 1 cup chopped green onions
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup flour
• 6-7 sage leaves, minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• olive oil

Garlic Yogurt Sauce:

• 2/3 cup low fat Greek yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper

Mix shredded zucchini with about ½ teaspoon of salt and place in a colander.  Let the zucchini drain for about 20-30 minutes and then transfer the zucchini to some paper towels.  Wrap the zucchini in the towels and squeeze out remaining liquid.

In a large bowl, mix together zucchini, green onions, eggs, and salt and pepper.   Slow mix in the flour and continue stirring until it is well incorporated.  Fold in the herbs, cheese and walnuts.

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet.   When oil is hot, drop heaping tablespoons of the batter several inches apart in the pan.   Fry until golden on one side and flip the pancakes and fry the other side until golden (about 3 minutes per side).   Transfer pancakes onto a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven.

For the yogurt topping, mix together the yogurt, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

Tasty Easy Healthy Green Recipe Ratings: