Fettuccine with Vegetables and Prosciutto

"This is probably my favorite thing that you make" - Jonathan Paul

This dish is from my BetterHomes cookbook. We love it, and it's so easy! I didn't know what prosciutto (proh-SHOO-toh) was before I cooked this. . . It is a spicy, cured ham. I get mine in the deli section of my favorite grocer.

8 ounces dried fettuccine, broken
1 pound fresh asparagus,sliced into 1-inch pieces
1 TBSP olive oil
4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
3 ounces prosciutto, cut into thin strips
Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook fettuccine, drain and keep warm (shouldn't be a problem because it will be done about the same time as the veggies)
   
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook and stir asparagus in hot oil for 3 minutes or until nearly tender.
3. Add tomatoes and prosciutto; cook about 2 minutes more or until heated through.
4. Add asparagus mixture to fettuccine; stir gently to combine.
5. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper.
   

Poached Eggs

Poached eggs are fun, look neat, and are a tasty treat! They don't need to be intimidating either.

Fill a sauce pan with about 3 inches of water.
Put in 2 tablespoons of white vinegar.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Crack an egg into a small bowl.
The trick is to stir the simmering water into a whirlpool (I like to use a dessert spoon), then slowly pour the egg into the whirlpool. By pouring slowly you will get more texture in the egg, but the whirlpool effect will still keep the egg in an overall ball shape.
Let cook for 3 1/2 - 4 min for firm whites and runny yoke.
Take the egg out with a spoon with drainage slots.

I like to serve them on a piece of toast with cheese and grilled turkey or ham (substitute a thick slice of tomato for vegetarians). Then lightly salt and sprinkle with cayenne pepper.

For canine poached eggs simply put the egg on a scoop of dog food, 2 scoops for larger dogs (pictured), and garnish with tomato juice. The tomato juice will keep your lawn green.

Zucchini Pancakes

Lately I've seen recipes for zucchini pancakes everywhere, so we decided to try them tonight. Yum! They could easily fit into a breakfast or dinner menu! This recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens, July 2007.


5 cups shredded zucchini
3/4 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 TBSP finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp. black pepper
sour cream (optional)

1. Toss zucchini with salt. Place in colander and let sit for 15 minutes with a plate or something putting weight on it. After the 15 minutes, squeeze as much liquid out as you humanly can.
2. In a bowl beat eggs and garlic. Stir in flour, cheese, onion, and pepper just until moistened (batter will be lumpy). Stir in zucchini just until combined.
3. For each pancake, spoon 1 heaping TBSP batter on hot lightly oiled griddle or skillet, spread to 3-inch circle. Cook over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until pancake is golden brown.
4. Serve topped with sour cream or plain. Or cool, layer in freezer container with waxed paper, and freeze up to 3 months.
5. To reheat, preheat oven to 425. Place frozen pancakes in single layer on greased baking sheet. Bake, uncovered, 8 to 10 minutes or until hot and slightly crisp.

Zucchini-Tomato Gratin

Momma Mia! You'll love this vegetable dish that tastes like it came straight from Italy!
taken from Vegetarian Time, July/August 2009

1 1/2 lb. tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
2 medium zucchini (1 lb.), cut into 1/8-inch-thick diagonal slices
1 TBSP plus 1 tsp. olive oil, divided
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 TBSP roughly chopped kalamata olives
1/4 cup thinly sliced basil leaves
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1. Drape tomato slices over colander, sprinkle with salt, and let drain 45 minutes.
2. Spread zucchini on baking sheet, and sprinkle with salt. Let stand 30 minutes to sweat out excess moisture. Rinse well, and pat dry.
3. Preheat oven to 375. Heat 1 tsp. oil in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Saute zucchini 3 to 4 minutes or until golden. Transfer to plate. Do this in 2 batches if necessary, adding more oil between batches.
4. Layer half of zucchini slices in 8-inch-square baking pan. Top with half of tomatoes. Sprinkle with half of garlic, 1 Tbs. olives, half of basil, and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese; season with freshly ground black pepper. Repeat with remaining zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, olives, and basil. Drizzle top with 1 TBSP oil, and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Cover with foil, and bake 10 minutes. Remove foil, and bake 20 minutes more or until cheese is melted and gratin is bubbling. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Note: We made this without the olives.

Ratatouille

And you thought Pixar coined the phrase! This is actually a Mediterranean dish featuring eggplant, summer squash and tomatoes. We have been enjoying using our steady stream of CSA summer squash and zucchini for this dish ~ I use about 4-5 cups of both instead of the eggplant. It is delicious served hot or cold (perfect for eating those leftovers!)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 TBSP olive oil

3 cups cubed, peeled eggplant

1 medium zucchini or yellow summer squash, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch slices (about 1&1/2 cups)

1 Cup chopped peeled tomatoes (or one 7&1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained)

3/4 cup chopped green sweet pepper (1 medium)

3 TBSP dry white wine

1 TBSP snipped fresh basil

1. In a large skillet cook onion and garlic in hot oil over medium heat until tender. Stir in eggplant, zucchini or summer squash, tomatoes, sweet pepper, wine, dash of salt and black pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered over medium-low heat about 10 minutes or until veggies are tender. Uncover and cook about 5 minutes more or until most of the liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally. Stir in basil.
2. I serve this over a bed of quinoa (couscous would probably be good too!). After dinner I stir the leftover pasta and ratatouille together, and we enjoy the next day served cold.

Photo Submission for Uncle John's UBY soup

We had Uncle John's UBY soup for dinner and loved it!!!



I topped it with sauteed Mushrooms and Fresh Thyme. Delish!










For those of you who (like me) have no idea how many mushrooms you need to make 5 cups sliced - It's about 16 oz.

I used 8 oz of regular white shrooms and 8 oz of baby portabellas.




It may be ugly . . . but it's Oh, so good!

Thanks John!

Uncle John's and Grandma Bobber's Stuffed Mushrooms

More mushrooms! When you find a bag of 30+ mushrooms on sale for $1 (as we did recently), you may need to make UBY soup and Uncle John's and Grandma Bobber's stuffed mushrooms. Forgive the unorthodox directions and measurements. Instead of getting frustrated, consider it a new cooking experience... It's like coloring outside the lines, or modern music. Just go with it.



INGREDIENTS
• 10 large-ish mushrooms
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• a bit of green onion (3-4 onions), finely chopped
• a bit of red onion, finely chopped
• (more on what constitutes "a bit" below)
• 1.5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large pinch of oregeno
• some spinach
• some bread crumbs
• some parmesan cheese (2 tablespoons? 1/4 cup?)
• (again, more on what constitutes "some" below)
• 125 grams of cream cheese (sorry, I live in Canada! Google "125 grams" and you should get a conversion)

DIRECTIONS
• wash the mushrooms
• take out stems of mushrooms carefully, set tops aside
• finely chop stems
• add to stems chopped green onion (about 2/3 as much as stems), chopped red onion (about 1/3 as much as stems), and two chopped garlic cloves
• NOTE: we just kind of played it by ear w/ regards to the different elements of the stuffing; that's why the amounts are so non-descript. You are the chef... you are responsible here for getting desirable proportions! Remember: Anyone can cook.
• fry all of this in 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil, until garlic is starting to turn yellow (i.e., it is a little cooked; about 5-10 minutes)
• while frying, season with a big pinch of oregeno
• remove from heat, add lots of spinach (about 1/2 as much as everything else together)
• let cool somewhat
• thicken with bread crumbs (1 tablespoon?)
• add 2 tablespoons (or so) of parmesan
• add 125 grams of cream cheese
• mix it all up
• in the meantime, you should have pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees (F); you should also have put the mushroom tops topside-down in a pammed pan (not a cookie sheet... there may be some juices, so you'll want to keep them confined).
• put the stuff in the mushroom tops
• cook in the oven at 350 degrees (F) for 20 minutes
• we ate them when they were just starting to turn brown on the top in some places... some pictures we saw online had them all poofed up... probably depends on your proportions in the cream-cheese mix
• Eat. We used a fork and knife.