Cheesy Zucchini Casserole

When I arrived at work today I found a zucchini sitting on my desk; a gift from a co-worker.  I spent the day with zucchini preparation ideas floating in the back of my head.  I still hadn't decided what I was going to do with it when I stopped at a small local cheese store on the way home.  They had a cheese in the case called Dilly Girl, which is a cheddar flavored with dill and roasted garlic.  I thought that would go nicely with my zucchini so I purchased some.  I was right.  It was quite delicious (although I'm sure a plain cheddar or a garlic cheddar would also be good if you can't find Dilly Girl).

2 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup sliced leeks (I had some frozen from Trader Joe's on hand.  Onion would be fine too).
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 large or 2 small zucchini, diced
1/4 lb Dilly Girl cheese, shredded
1/3 cup bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt butter in skillet over medium heat.  Add leeks and saute until slightly browned.  Add garlic and cook for a minute longer.   Stir in zucchini and saute for another 5 minutes.

Grease a 8x11 pan with butter.  Spread zucchini mixture in pan.  Top with cheese and then bread crumbs.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until zucchini is tender and cheese is bubbly.

Enjoy!

Butternut Squash, Polenta & Ricotta Bake

I love butternut squash.  We periodically receive a generous basket of vegetables fresh from John's father's garden.  Butternut squash is my favorite thing he gives us.  It's versatility makes it a lot of fun to use.  I've never really cooked with polenta, but I passed it in the grocery store I thought it might go well with the squash.  I had no idea how this would turn out as I was making it, but it was a definite success!

Roasted Squash:
1 small butternut squash
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp fresh thyme
salt

Polenta:
1 tube polenta (I used Melissa's Italian Herb), cut into 1/2 inch slices
olive oil

Bechamel Sauce:
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 to 1 1/2 cups fat-free half and half
salt & pepper

For Assembly:
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Peel butternut squash.  Slice down the middle and scoop out the seeds.  Cut into small chunks.  Toss squash with olive oil, thyme and salt.  Spread in a single layer  roasting pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile heat enough olive oil in a frying pan to generously cover the bottom.  Fry polenta slices until lightly browned on each side.  Spread fried polenta slices on the bottom of a 8x11 pan.  Set aside.

Melt butter in a sauce pan.  Whisk in flour and continue to stir until lightly browned, about three minutes.  Slowly whisk in the milk.  The sauce should thicken as it heats (I added a bit too much half & half and had to add a little cornstarch to thicken it up).  Add a little salt and pepper.

Remove squash from the oven and reduce heat to 350.  Spread ricotta cheese over the polenta slices.  Top with roasted butternut squash and pour bechamel sauce over the top.  Sprinkle with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

"Beef" and Cheese Empanadas with Green Chile Sauce

I went to the grocery store this evening in search of plantains.  They did not have any so I had to quickly decide on a plan B.  I saw empanada rounds in the freezer case and decided to give them a try.  Now I'm glad the store didn't have plantains because these were excellent.  I used queso fresco, instead of a more traditional melty cheese (like cheddar).  I'm sure this isn't the "proper" use of queso fresco, but I loved the extra saltiness it added to the empanadas.  They made a great pairing with the delicious rice and beans my boyfriend made.  I'd include that recipe, but he threw so many ingredients in that I'm absolutely certain he doesn't remember how he made them!

Empanadas

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 bag Boca ground crumbles
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes (I used some that had pepper and onion added)
1 block queso fresco
20 store bought empanada rounds (I used Goya), thawed
2 cups canola oil

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat.  Add garlic and cook for a minute or two.  Stir in ground crumbles and cook for a couple of minutes.  Add tomatoes and their juices.  Simmer, stirring frequently, until liquid is completely evaporated, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Place a spoonful of the "meat" mixture on the center of an empanada round.  Take a small hunk of the queso fresco and break it up over the "meat".  Fold empanada round in half and crimp the edges with a fork.  Repeat until ingredients are gone.

Heat canola oil in a large frying pan.  Fry empanadas for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown.  You'll need to do this in several batches.

Serve immediately, topped with a spoonful of Green Chile Sauce.

Green Chile Sauce

2 poblano peppers
2 cloves garlic
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and chopped
3 green onions, ends trimmed
1 bunch cilantro stems and leaves
1/2 tsp salt
juice of one lime

Char poblano peppers on a grill or over the burner of a gas stove.  Wait until they're cool enough to handle and rub off charred skin.  Stem and seed peppers and place in food processor.  Add remaining ingredients and buzz until chopped.

Spaghetti Squash Primavera

Earlier this summer, I was asked to bring a vegetarian side dish to a family picnic.  I have not cooked with spaghetti squash very much, but this recipe popped into my head.  My spaghetti squash confidence was low, and I didn't have time to test this out ahead of time, so I brought something else to the picnic and filed this idea away in the back of my head. 

This afternoon we stopped at a farmer's market with nothing particular in mind for dinner.  They had crates of squash and bushels of lovely tomatoes.  I decided that tonight was the night to get over my fear of spaghetti squash.  I shouldn't have been afraid; it was very easy to work with.  I also shouldn't have been afraid to bring this dish to the family get together.  It turned out great!

1 spaghetti squash
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 lb mozzarella cheese, cubed
10 leaves torn fresh basil

Preheat oven to 375.  Pierce squash several times with a knife.  Place in a roasting pan and cook for an hour.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat.  Add the sliced onion and stir frequently for 20-30 minutes, until caramelized (you may need to lower the heat at some point to prevent burning).  Set onions aside.

Place the mushrooms in the same pan you used for the onions.  Turn heat to high and cook, stirring frequently until mushrooms have released and then reabsorbed their juices.  Add garlic to the pan a couple minutes before the mushrooms finish cooking.  Remove from heat and mix the caramelized onions in with the mushrooms and garlic.

Once the squash finishes cooking, cut it in half around the middle, being careful not to burn yourself.  Scoop out the pulp and seeds from the center and use a fork to separate the strands. 

Place the squash in a serving bowl.  Add tomatoes, mushroom mixture, 2 Tbsp olive oil, butter, salt, pepper, mozzarella and basil and toss.

Serve immediately.

Yogurt Dill "Chicken"

I love dill.  I think it's such fresh summer flavor.  Recently I was trying to think of a main dish to serve with these potatoes.  I hadn't really used dill very much this summer and decided it was past time.  I thought I would be able to find a recipe for yogurt dill sauce online that would be appropriate to pair with veggie chicken but I couldn't find what I had imagined so I decided to just make something up and see how it went.  I'm pleased to report that it came out very well!

1 cup plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1 box Quorn Naked Cutlets
1 tomato, chopped.

Combine yogurt, dill, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper.  Spread a quarter cup on bottom of small roasting pan.  Place Quorn cutlets on top.  Spread with remaining yogurt mixture over top of the Quorn.  Cover and marinate in the fridge for an hour or two.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Top Quorn with chopped tomato and bake for 30-35 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Curry Roasted Red Potatoes

Last weekend we stopped at Josephs Wayside Market in Naples, NY.  They were selling baskets of lovely little red potatoes, which I couldn't resist buying even though I didn't have plans for how to prepare them.

Then I remembered Shea's Sunday brunch.  For a couple years a couple years we were fortunate to have this restaurant located within walking distance from our house.  Sadly for us it moved out to the suburbs earlier this year.  One of the highlights at Shea's was the home fries.  They were basically chopped up french fries flavored with salt and curry powder.  Delicious!  I tried to use similar flavors to prepare my potatoes. They turned out great!  I highly recommend them as a side dish.

2 lbs small red potatoes
1 onion, diced
1/3 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 cloved garlic, chopped
salt to taste
3 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Slice potatoes in half.  Place in large bowl, along with the onions.

Mix together olive oil, curry powder, coriander, cumin, garlic and salt.  Drizzle over potatoes and onions.  Toss to combine.

Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Bake for 45 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking time.

Sprinkle with chives and serve.

Stuffed Veggie Dogs

One of my co-workers, who is absolutely not a vegetarian, was telling me about the stuffed hotdogs he was going to make the other day.  They sounded really good, so I decided to try a vegetarian version  Veggie dogs are much thinner than a regular hotdog (at least the ones I was using were), which makes them very difficult to stuff, so with this recipe each person gets two dogs per bun.  They're only 50 calories a piece, so why not?

8 veggie dogs
4 cheddar cheese sticks (like string cheese, only cheddar and not as stringy)
1 jalapeno, diced
2 slices tempeh bacon, crumbled (bacos or another veggie bacon would be fine too)
4 hotdog buns
1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 tbsp. honey

Make a lengthwise slit in the veggie dogs, trying not to cut them completely in half (don't worry if you do).  Place cheese sticks in the middle of 4 veggie dogs.  Sprinkle with jalapeno and tempeh bacon.  Top each with remaining veggie dogs.  Wrap separately in foil, so you'll have 4 little packets to put on the grill.  Cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, turning occasionally. 

Meanwhile, melt the butter and whisk in the honey.  Spread over the inside of the hotdog buns.

When you think the veggie dogs are almost done, carefully open one of the foil packets to make sure the cheese is melty.  Place the buns on the grill, butter-side down for a minute or two, until lightly browned.  Remove veggie dogs from foil and gently place on toasted buns.

One of the nice things about this recipe is that you can get the veggie dogs ready and wrapped in foil ahead of time.  Also, since they do get wrapped in foil this is a great thing to bring to a BBQ where meat will be cooked on the same grill.  You get to protect your food from the meat juices without looking like a vegetarian prima donna!