Ratatouille

My favorite stew to make from my garden vegetables.  Have you tried this.  You will love it.  Eggplant, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, zucchini, garlic and herbs.  I had to wait for my eggplant to catch up with everything else.  This dish can be served hot, cold or at room temperature.  I have had it as a side dish, as a main dish and even as an appetizer.

You may have heard of the word ratatouille.  It is a movie, a video game and this great dish from France, I believe Provence.  Although I never got to Provence I did manage to squeak in Paris once on a trip to Spain. 

Summer seems to be rapidly coming to an end so this is a good dish to bring all these vegetables together.  It is one of those recipes you can just experiment with.  Add more or less of what you like.  You can't really mess it up.  Use this recipe as a guide then adjust how you like it.  I don't even measure anymore but that is a good place to start.

Ratatouille one of those free spirit gypsy style dishes we love.

Ratatouille

1/4 cup olive oil, plus more if you need it
1 1/2 cups diced onion, I used red this time
1 clove garlic diced
2 cups eggplant, diced with skin on
2 cups diced bell pepper any color
2 cups zucchini diced
2 cups tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 Tbsp fresh basil chopped
1 Tbsp fresh parsley chopped
1/2 Tbsp fresh thyme
Salt and Pepper

Use a large pot over medium heat and add olive oil.  Add onions and garlic and cook until wilted about 5 minutes.  Add eggplant, cook 5 more minutes.  Add bell pepper, cook 5 more minutes.  Add zucchini, cook 5 more minutes.  Add tomatoes, herbs and salt and pepper.  Cook 5 more minutes.  Put cover on, reduce heat to simmer and cook 15 more minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

So explore ratatouille.  The movie, the video game and the dish it's all fun.

Okra

This isn't really much of a recipe just maybe a way to get you to look at a vegetable you probably ignore.  How many times have you seen okra and just walked past it.  These are from my garden.  This year it has been hot and humid so I am getting a bumper crop.  Have to do some research myself to see how to preserve them, I haven't had that problem before.  Okra is popular in the south and tougher to grow in the north.

Look for firm, brightly colored pods about 2-3 inches long.  Larger pods may be tough and fibrous.  Sometimes okra in the stores looks black and wilted, walk past those.  Canned and frozen okra is widely available.  Braise, bake, saute and of course try them raw.  When cooked okra gives off a substance that serves to thicken any liquid in which it is cooked.  It is a favorite ingredient in many dishes, the best known being gumbo.

I like it sliced in half and sauteed in olive oil with some spice added.  When doing it this way I don't seem to get that thickening effect so much.  What is a northern girl doing with all that okra you ask.  Just like to explore I guess.  Since this is a southern vegetable.....Oh here it comes "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn", they are just good.  Next time stop, look, buy, try.

Okra Sauteed

Okra sliced in half
Olive Oil
Spice

Just slice the pods in half and saute in the olive oil.  Sprinkle your spice and maybe salt and pepper.  The trick is put the cut side down first until brown.  Then turn and saute until desired firmness.  I turn each individual okra piece once.  This might be the secret to not getting that thickening effect people seem to dislike.  I think it is all part of the character of the vegetable.  Just like us humans, vegetables have individual traits.  Enjoy each one for its uniqueness, just like the people in your life.

Gypsy Kale Slaw

I have so many greens coming from the garden I had to do another recipe featuring them.  I recently posted collard wraps this is all about kale.

This slaw is something I created as I went along.  Four different types of kale in this one.  Yes I have collards, four varieties of kale, chard and lettuce in my garden.  When I say I eat greens there is no exaggeration there.  Now that we are in August this food type is almost over in this area.  Greens like cool weather and August around here is hot and humid.  We have been eating greens everyday for almost ten years now.  So many ways to use them.  Soup, juice, steam, stir fry, bake, dehydrate and of course raw.  Breakfast, lunch or dinner works for me.

I notice the grocery stores are now carrying many varieties.  This can only mean some of you are at least experimenting.  If you are uncertain try them slightly steamed or wilted first.  A very nutritional food.  I think life is about change.  Why not change out a white food for a green food.  Mix up that energy in your life.  Do it for fun, do it for the adventure, do it for the color, do it for your health.......anyway just DO IT.

Gypsy Kale Slaw

4 different kale varieties (Just use one that works too) Remove center stalk and rough chop
2 carrots shredded
1/2 red onion shredded
1 red bell pepper chopped
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

Dressing

1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 garlic clove chopped
3 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
4 Tbsp grapeseed oil
1 tsp celery seed

Extras

1 dried chipotle pepper chopped
Sprinkle of S&B Nanami Togarashi (Japanese mixed chili pepper) Or use red pepper flakes

I put the kale, carrots, onion and red bell pepper in a large bowl.  Make the dressing in a blender or I used a mason jar with my emulsion blender.  Blend well.  Pour dressing over kale and stir. Use all or part depending on the amount of kale you have.  Add sesame seeds.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  Then add chopped chipotle and sprinkle spice.  I like things spiced up so skip that if you don't.  Easy.

Beet Salad

The beet is a highly versatile vegetable.  They can be boiled, sauteed, roasted, pickled, eaten raw, made into soup or juiced and I have even substituted them for zucchini when making bread.  I like them all these ways.  Today I am featuring beets in the raw.

The most common color is a garnet red.  However, they can range in color from deep red to white.  The one I really think is intriguing is the concentric rings of red and white.  I have all of those and yellow in my salad and of course all are from my garden

The poor beet is so misunderstood.  People have a love or hate relationship with them.  It seems that relationship might have something to do with how you have had them prepared.  The taste is very different when they are raw to let's say boiled.  I think that is the key to a lot of food.  Bad experiences can set some people off of a food for life.  I always say "try it you might like it but how will you know if you don't try."

Be careful beets bleed.  The juice acts like a dye and everything it touches turns red.  Yes that is a unique trait of beets - one we all wish we had.  The ability to be so colorful.  Reminds me of a song I heard at a concert Monday night - You know the song "Colour My World" by the great band Chicago.  Talk about memories.  As airplanes were flying over our heads, Chicago was playing the song at sunset.  I was at EAA in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  Wonderful.

Try the beet next time you are in a colorful mood, you might expand your food horizon and add some color to your soul.

Beet Salad

3-4 different colored beets, peeled, stems and root removed, sliced thin on mandoline
1/2 to whole lemon juiced
Handful of cilantro, chopped
12 cherries pitted and chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Just combine all the ingredients and adjust the lemon and olive oil to your taste.  How easy.  

Cookie Dough

It's Friday and not so sunny here today so I thought a quick weekend pick me up would be good.  This feeds that childhood habit of wanting to eat the cookie dough.  The dough I grew up with however had eggs in, this does not.  There are a number of ways to make dough like this and I have tried various ones.  This is raw and quick and perfect for summer no baking.  Adapt it for yourself and use whatever ingredients you like.  The nut choices can be any nut varieties.  Just try it and have fun.


Gypsy Dough Delight

1/2 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup dates pitted
1/4 cup chocolate chips (I used enjoy life dairy, nut, soy and gluten free)
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (combination of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger and cloves use whatever you like)
1/4 tsp cardamom (skip if you don't have it)

Put nuts and spices in food processor and pulse until chopped.  Add dates and chips and blends until it forms a sticky dough.  I pressed into foil cupcake tins and refrigerated for 1-2 hours.  I filled with coconut bliss vanilla.  So easy so good.  I rolled some of the dough into balls for quick bite size future snacks.  Refrigerate or freeze. 

Use your imagination and fill with whatever your heart desires.  How fun.

Collard Wrap

The wrap is a fast healthy lunch I enjoy.  With all the greens coming out of my garden it is a fun alternative to corn or flour.  I like the collard wrap which is what I have here today.  You can use lettuce, kale, chard or whatever you have available.  The filler in this one is a hummus and a Romesco sauce with vegetables.

The Romesco is a classic sauce from Catalonia, Spain.  Finely ground mixture of tomatoes, red bell peppers, onion, garlic, almonds and olive oil.  This sauce tastes like Spain.  Yes another gypsy adventure.  I loved Spain.  The smells, the tastes, the gazpacho, the olives, the architecture.  Definitely a place I would go back to.  I adapted this sauce a little of course.  The traditional one is good too.

So when you are feeling like something healthy and green with a little hint of Spain try this.  A master piece even Picasso could appreciate.

Gypsy Romesco

6 colored sweet petite peppers, stems and seeds removed
3 garlic cloves
1/2 fresh tomato
1 1/2 tsp smokey Spanish paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp sherry wine vinegar
1 Tbsp almond meal (or use blanced almonds)
1/8 cup olive oil

Put all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add more of any ingredient to your taste.  Keep leftovers in refrigerator.

Hummus

I think we all have our favorite way to make this.  This is mine for this day.

1 15 oz can eden organic garbanzo beans drained
1/2 lemon juiced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 handful chopped parsley
1 garlic clove
salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in food processor and blend.  Adjust to your taste.  Keep leftovers in refrigerator.

Collard Wrap

Collard leaves with middle stem removed
Assortment of vegetables like cucumbers, carrots, fresh beans, avocado all sliced small.  Basically whatever vegetables you like.

Spread the hummus on collard then place vegetables on and spread some Romesco sauce on top.  Roll.  That's it.  Once you have the hummus and Romesco in the refrigerator just keep chopped vegetables around and you can make these in a flash.  Just feel the nutritional goodness with each bite. Enjoy!

Zucchini Noodles

Yes here comes the garden.  This was dinner Saturday night.  Steak, garden beans and zucchini noodles.  The steak was from a local farmer but the vegetables are all mine.  The fruit of my labor.  The first ones are the best.  So many ways to deal with this great summer squash.  For this recipe you want the medium large zucchini, not those huge ones you make bread with.  You know how zucchini is, if you turn your back on it you swear it wasn't there yesterday and today OMG!  Where was that hiding.  Its looks like something from a sci-fi movie like the alien zucchini thingy.  I try to pick most of mine small and petite to medium.  However, every now and then you get one of those monster bread making kind.  I will do some other recipes with this vegetable later.

I have been eating this way so long I always think everyone knows this stuff.  Maybe there are some of you who have never tried zucchini this way.  It is so easy.  There seems to be a heightened awareness of vegan and raw cooking going on and I think both of those styles make zucchini noodles.  I have done these totally raw as well but this recipe is slightly cooked.  When the gypsy lived in Hawaii raw was everywhere - even at the beach (I am talking food of course).  So call it what you want I just call it good.

Zucchini Noodles Gypsy Style

2 medium large zucchini any color (this was just enough for two)
1 garlic clove minced
2 artichokes with stems (I used the kind that are in water not marinated Trader Joe's)
olive oil
fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

Take a vegetable peeler and run along length of zucchini to create noodles.  You can also use a mandolin.  Put olive oil in pan on medium heat.  I used about 2 tablespoons use what you like. Saute the zucchini noodles, garlic and artichokes to desired texture.  Add fresh chopped basil and salt and pepper.  That's it.  Faster than fast food but oh so much better for you.