One summer, when I was young, my grandmother planted two
zucchini plants. I showed up one day to
find her exhausted, sitting in her kitchen chair, staring at rows upon rows of
glass jars.
"It just won’t stop!
Every day I go out there and pick all that I can see and the next day
there are a dozen more the size of my arm!"
She spent that summer picking and canning every single
zucchini amounting to a grand total of 120 pints of zucchini relish, 20 pints
of zucchini pickles, and 12 loaves of zucchini bread. I know, she was a machine!
This year my garden has blessed us with an almost never
ending bounty. Every morning I harvest
every vegetable I can find, yet the next morning I come across a half dozen
more that I had over looked. So what do
I do with this overflowing horn of plenty ?
Well, I believe the correct term, in the parlance of our time, is
"get a little crazy".
Zucchini and squash have become the “Beige” of the gourd
family. They are so common in today’s
markets, with their year round availability; most people don't even notice them
anymore. But in our garden they take
center stage on this fun and exciting dish for summer, “Garden Fettuccine” with
goat cheese and roasted tomatoes.
We sliced the squash and zucchini on the mandolin for
perfectly uniform "noodles", then sautéed them in extra virgin olive
oil, salt and fresh cracked black pepper. The noodles were then tossed with a
sauce made from fresh vegetable stock, white wine, thyme, garlic, shallot, red
chili flake and fresh lemon zest. When
plating, we positioned them side by side then brought the colorful duo together
with a goat cheese medallion topped with hot roasted cherry tomatoes straight from the garden. The
combination of textures and flavors were outstanding, the goat cheese medallion
acted like an egg yolk melting into the noodles creating a silky smooth
sauce. The earthy notes of thyme paired
with garlic and shallot danced ever so delicately with the acid of the white
wine and lemon zest all set off with the slight lingering heat of the red chili
flakes. Perfect for these hot days of
summer.
But what summer plate up would be complete without
something from the grill? Well I
couldn't agree with you more, so here is our new summer classic; grilled patty
pan squash topped with Lebanese eggplant with basil and fresh tomatoes, goat
cheese and shaved parmesan. The patty
pan squashes we are growing grew a little bit bigger than we ever
anticipated. But with their size they
never lost the sweet squash flavor only to be accentuated by the intense heat
of the grill. The eggplant was made
using Ichiban Japanese eggplants freshly picked from the garden, mixed with
sautéed mushrooms, onions, garlic, fresh tomatoes, brown sugar and fresh basil. The combination of sweet and savory, herbal
and cheesy, perfectly played with the sweet and savory crunch of the grilled
patty pan.
But, I would be remiss if I did not discuss my lost
favorite, okra. Okra has been a favorite
vegetable of mine ever since Lamberts Cafe doled them out by the buckets to me
while I waited to catch a hot “throwed” roll.
But this noble plant of African origin deserves so much more than just a
quick batter and fry. No this glorious
pod deserves its time in the lime light, a chance to be more than another fried
snack at the forgotten foods buffet. So
we created this treat, roasted red okra spoon bread! Roasting the okra pods brings out all of the
wonderful herbal aromas and nutty flavors of the plant while eliminating the
slime so feared by okraphobics. The pods
were then diced and stirred into a soft spoon bread batter made with rich
vegetable stock, shaved parmesan and roasted grape tomatoes for an added sweet pairing. The spoon bread was then baked to a golden
hue; A perfect side dish for any southern dining experience.
This year our garden is growing inspiration, all we have
to do is keep up with the harvest…and, stayed “Inspired”.
Stay tuned for more inspired dishes from Lon Lane's
Inspired Occasions Research and Development Department!
No comments:
Post a Comment