Somewhere in the world (not Vancouver, where it is grey and cloudy and dreary on this Saturday in July), it’s too warm to cook in a messy kitchen all day. Instead , a salad is being tossed for a haphazard sunset supper that will taste all the better served in the backyard, where you can holler hello to neighbours grilling burgers on their patios. A salad like this one, apple-sweet and shallot-sharp and avocado-rich and watercress bitter-crisp all at the same time. It’s summer on a plate, wherever the sunshine might be.

Avocado, Apple & Watercress Salad

{RECIPE} AVOCADO, APPLE & WATERCRESS SALAD

This is such an easy recipe that it doesn’t warrant a recipe.

{INGREDIENTS}

For the salad:

6 C watercress (thin stems and leaves only), coarsely chopped

1 Gala apple

1 firm-ripe avocado, or maybe two

For the dressing:

1/4 C rice vinegar

1 TB grated sweet onion or shallot (use large holes of a box grater)

1/4 C finely grated Gala apple (use small holes of box grater)

4 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp brown sugar

3 TB vegetable oil

{DIRECTIONS}

one. Prepare the dressing: in a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, onion, grated apple, soy sauce, sugar and oil.

two. Just before serving, quarter, pit, and peel avocado, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Slice apple into 1/4-inch slices. Gently toss with watercress and dressing in a large salad bowl.

{ADAPTED FROM}

Epicurious’ recipe for Avocado & Watercress Salad

The next moment… poof. It was GONE.

Save for this caper and this itty bitty roasted caulifower floret…

And these disappeared too- suddenly and quickly. An entire cauliflower devoured, all in one night. There was only one suspect in the messy kitchen. Guess who?

Roasted Cauliflower with Capers

{RECIPE} ROASTED CAULIFLOWER WITH CAPERS

1 (2 1/2-to 3-pounds) head cauliflower

2 TB extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

freshly squeezed juice from 1/2 lemon (or to taste)

2 TB capers (or to taste)

{DIRECTIONS}

one. Preheat oven to 450°F .

two. Cut cauliflower into 2-inch florets and place them onto a rimmed baking sheet.

three. Drizzle with olive oil and 1/2 tsp salt, then toss.

four. Roast for about 20-25 minutes, until cauliflower is golden and crisp-tender,tossing once or twice.

five. Place roasted cauliflower into serving bowl and sprinkle with freshly squeezed lemon juice and capers.

Kythira, Greece (Photo Credit:Flickr, Madeby197)

But on this morning, in lieu of transporting you to this Ionian island paradise off the coast of Greece, I bring you this:

A handful of parsley.

The scent of lemon groves.

Cool cucumber.

Cumin-spiced chickpeas.

A Mediterranean recipe to start your week on a dreamy note- wherever you may be.

Chickpea Salad with Parsley, Lemons & Cucumbers

{RECIPE} CHICKPEA SALAD WITH PARSLEY, LEMONS & CUCUMBERS

{MAKES} 4 Servings

{INGREDIENTS}

2 cucumbers, thinly sliced (approx. 4 C)

2 C tear drop or cherry tomatoes, halved

2 1/2 C cooked chickpeas (drained and rinsed if from a can)

1/4 C red onion, finely chopped

1/4 C Italian parsley, finely chopped

2 TB olive oil

1 TB red wine vinegar

juiced from 1 ripe

1 tsp crushed chili flakes

1/2 tsp cumin

{DIRECTIONS}

one. In large salad bowl, toss together cucumbers, tomatoes,chickpeas, onions and parsley.

two. Combine olive oil, red wine vinegar, cumin, chili flakes and lemon juice in small bowl. Pour over salad.

three. Toss. Lazily. As if in a place saturated with sunshine and sea.

four. Serve on its own, or with a simple grilled chicken or fish…preferably on a patio with a view of the ocean.

Colourful Curried Confetti Soup

The leaves have begun to scatter. After yesterday’s rain, they littered this morning pavement like coloured confetti. I can’t help but think that before long, even these leaves will pass, and we’ll be left with nothing but bare branches, grey pavement and even greyer skies for the winter months ahead.

It would be a melancholy time, if not for recipes such as this one for a colourful curried confetti soup, with its flurry of red onion and cabbage, orange pumpkin, yellow sweet potatoes and green zucchini. And for fall company like Lindsay, who  blew into my apartment a few nights ago as if on seasonal cue with a warm grin, girly gossip and a massive green salad from Whole Foods. I love that she’s the sort of friend I can share this sort of messy, unfussy soup with-both of us in comfy sweats, catching up on life and relationships between spoonfuls. Perfect company to colour grey fall evenings.

{RECIPE} CURRIED CONFETTI SOUP

{MAKES} 4 generous servings

{INGREDIENTS}

2 TB olive oil

2 cloves garlic, slivered

1 TB curry powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 small red onion, diced (approx. 1 C)

1 large sweet potato, grated (approx. 2 C)

1 large zucchini, grated (approx. 2 C)

2 C pureed pumpkin

2 C chicken stock

2 C coconut milk

1 C frozen peas

1/2 C purple cabbage, finely diced (for garnish)

salt and pepper to taste

{DIRECTIONS}

one. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat and add the garlic and red onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.

two. Stir in curry powder and cumin.

three. Add grated sweet potato and zucchini to the pot. Saute uncovered for 6-8 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften.

four. Stir in pureed pumpkin,  then chicken stock. Cover and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes on medium-low heat until vegetables are well softened, stirring occasionally.

five. Add coconut milk and green peas. Simmer on low until peas are bright green and just cooked through.

six. Remove from heat and stir in purple cabbage.

Serve with thick slabs of crusty bread and a crunchy green salad.

Brazenly Braised Purple Cabbage

You’ve got to admire the prima donna boldness of purple cabbages. While savoy cabbages’ crinoline leaves crinkle shyly under pressure, and average green cabbages go almost unnoticed in their Plain Jane simplicity, purple cabbages are bright, brazen and audacious. They’d pucker up their purple lips and flirt with your boyfriend in a heartbeat. Shamelessly.

Don’t bother trying to stop them. Braise them. It’s true they’ll soften sweetly and be even sexier the next morning. But he’ll fall in love with both of you.

{RECIPE} BRAISED PURPLE CABBAGE

{MAKES} Serves four to six generously as a side dish.

{INGREDIENTS}

2 TB olive oil

6 small shallots, finely sliced

1 small brazenly-red cabbage, quartered, cored and very thinly sliced

1/4 C apple juice

3 TB apple cider vinegar

2 TB honey

1 tsp salt

{DIRECTIONS}

one. Heat olive oil in a large, non-reactive skillet or pot over medium heat.

two. Add shallots and saute until translucent and slightly golden.

three. Add cabbage, apple juice, vinegar, honey and salt.

four. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until the cabbage is very soft but not falling apart  (about an hour).

Yes, that really is it. Serve with your favourite chicken or pork recipe, or in a big bowl for the morning-after.

{ADAPTED FROM}

A brazen adaptation of Molly’s Braised Red Cabbage with Apples.

And it made these small summer squashes all the more perfect when we found them on Sunday, tucked inside a deserted roadside produce stand. We chose the smallest ones, fist sized handfuls of sunshine from a stranger’s garden, place them on a scale, and dropped a few coins in a box in exchange.

On a fall night, this bright tasting recipe for Roasted Summer Squash and Shallots tastes of sun, Sunday and the small delights of an earlier season.

{RECIPE} ROASTED SUMMER SQUASH & SHALLOTS

{MAKES} 4 generous servings

{INGREDIENTS}

Summer squash is the brilliant yellow cousin of your regular garden variety zucchini, and comes in a variety of sizes. Choose whatever you might find at your local grocery store or country roadside produce stand.

6 fist-sized summer squash (approx. 5C or 2 lb), each sliced into 6 wedges

3 small shallots, roughly sliced

2 cloves garlic, roughly minced

juice from 1 lemon

1 TB red wine vengar

1 TB olive il

1 tsp dried Herbes de Provence (or thyme)

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

{DIRECTIONS}

one. In a small bowl, mix together lemon juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil and herbs. Add salt and pepper to taste.

two. Toss summer squash, shallots and garlic together in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.

three. Pour marinade over vegetables and toss to coat. Set aside for at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

four. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roast summer squash and shallots in oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour, tossing occasionally.

five. Brighten your fall table by serving these hot or at room temperature with roasted pork, chicken or fish. Leftovers are perfect pan-friend with an omelette the next day.

]]> http://www.messykitchen.ca/roasted-summer-squash-shallots-sunshine/feed/ 0 http://www.messykitchen.ca/septembers-cinnamon-cider-roasted-vegetables/ http://www.messykitchen.ca/septembers-cinnamon-cider-roasted-vegetables/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:02:43 +0000 messy kitchen http://www.messykitchen.ca/?p=340

September's Cinnamon Cider Roasted Vegetables

Given September and the season, we have been blessed with more sunny skies than we could have hoped for here in Vancouver. But today, as the month draws to a close, showers have slipped in and with them the suggestion of cozy sweaters, woolen socks, and the scent of cinnamon and apple cider to warm these wholesome roasted vegetables and the months to come.

{RECIPE} CINNAMON CIDER ROASTED VEGETABLES

{MAKES} A lot, enough to serve 4-6 people, depending on how much they like their vegetables…

{INGREDIENTS}

This simple recipe works with any combination of your favourite September vegetables, from sweet potatoes and swiss chard to shallots and squash. Combine colours and textures for flavour and crunch.

Fall Vegetables (or a combination of your own):

6 cloves garlic

1 red onion cut into wedges (approx. 1 C )

6 small carrots, sliced (approx. 2 C)

1/4 head purple cabbage, sliced (approx. 4 C)

1 small head broccoli, cut into florets  (approx. 4C)

2  zucchini, sliced (approx. 4 C)

scattering of salt and freshly ground pepper

Cinnamon Cider Roasting Sauce:

1 C natural apple cider or apple juice

3 TB extra virgin olive oil

3 TB apple cider vinegar

1 TB honey or brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

{DIRECTIONS}

one. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

two. Cut vegetables into similar-sized pieces, with root vegetables (such as carrots) sliced slightly smaller as they take longer to roast.

three. Toss vegetables into a large pan and season with salt and pepper.

four. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for the cinnamon cider roasting sauce.

five. Pour sauce over vegetables then roast them in the oven for 40-50 minutes, to your personal desired level of crunchiness. Toss at least twice to combine ingredients.

{INSPIRED BY}

Karina’s recipe for Cider Roasted Vegetables from her gluten free kitchen.

Homely Zucchini Fritters

A few weekends ago I met a Homely Zucchini.

The Homely Zucchini

He was lying by himself on a table at the Ambleside Farmers Market, next to an artistic pile of slender, tender pin-up girl zucchinis. He wasn’t quite symmetrical. His green skin had faded to a sickly yellow on one side and he had a  large gash on his forehead. He looked awkward next to the others and I imagined he’d spent the day trying to approach one of the girl zucchinis and had decided against it. Feeling sorry for him, I brought him home. Since then he’s been sitting on the bottom shelf of my fridge, looking homelier by the week. I’ve been rather unsure as to what exactly to do with him. Too big to stuff elegantly. Past his prime to even roast.

So I decided he should be grated and elevated  into Homely Zucchini Fritters.

{RECIPE} ZUCCHINI FRITTERS

There are lots of colourful and creative zucchini fritter recipes out there, but I like mine simple. This adaptation of Ina Garten’s recipe makes zucchini fritters that are crisp on the outside and light on the inside, with just a sprinkling of shallots, salt and pepper for flavour.

{MAKES} 8-10 fritters, enough for 2 hungry people or 4 as a side

{INGREDIENTS}

2 C grated zucchini, (approximately 1 large Homely Zucchini or 2 medium zucchinis)

1 TB salt (for salting zucchini)

6 TB flour

3 TB finely diced shallots (or onion or scallions)

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

generous grinding of pepper

a few splashes of olive oil for pan frying

{DIRECTIONS}

one. Coarsely grate the zucchini into a large colander placed in a large mixing bowl.

two. Sprinkle zucchini with 1 TB of salt and mix. Set aside for 10 minutes (or as long as overnight), and squeeze out the excess water. (I do this by placing a smaller bowl into the colander over top of the zucchini mixture, then pressing down on the smaller bowl to squeeze out the water.)

three. In a separate smaller bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, remaining salt and pepper. Add the flour mixture into the grated zucchini and mix well.

four. Then stir in the eggs and finely diced shallots, The resulting mixture will be wet. (Unless you like your zucchini fritters doughy, resist the urge to add more flour. Have faith, the fritters will hold together.)

five. Over medium high, heat a frying pan and add a few splashes of olive oil. Pan fry fritters in batches.Using a regular soup spoon, scoop approximately 2 TB of the mixture into the pan. Flatten each pancake with the back of your spoon.

six. Pan fry until golden brown on each side, about 4-6 minutes.

seven. Serve immediately, with a squirt of lemon or a dollop of yogurt for breakfast, a light lunch or as a side for dinner.

{INSPIRED BY}

Ina Garten’s Zucchini Fritters Recipe from  Barefoot Contessa at Home.