Summer Weeknight Supper: Zucchini, Tomato and Ricotta Tart

Friends, Labor Day may have come and gone, but summer is still around for a couple more weeks! If that whole solstice thing doesn't convince you, there's always the continued presence of summer squash and fat red tomatoes in the farmers' market. Faced with an overflow of both and a shortage of time, I decided to throw these two together into a quick and easy tart that is suitable for brunch, lunch or a quick weeknight dinner. 

There are a number of zucchini tarts out there, not to mention tomato ones, but I found a limited number of recipes that combined them and none that wowed me.  I started with a smitten kitchen recipe, as I often do, and let creativity (and laziness) lead me from there. I'll have to admit that the main thing I did was include tomatoes in an otherwise perfect recipe, but I also took a shortcut and used pie crust.  On some other night I will whip up homemade dough and make the rustic galette as Deb describes. 

 I also changed this up a bit from my usual ricotta routine. When there is ricotta to be eaten, I almost always hit up my old favorite, the Valley Shepherd Creamery.  This time, I was planning to cook before I could get to the Valley Shepherd stand.  I took a leap and tried the Amish ricotta cheese available at a grocery and specialty foods store near my office.  There's no messing around with this ricotta.  It's not the part skim that you're used to.  It was rich and creamy and really made the tart.  If you have it in a store near you, I recommend giving it a try. I used more than the original recipe called for because, well, I'm an addict.  

Meatless Monday: Spicy Garbanzo Bean Burritos with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce

I have a confession to make. Some nights, I just don't want to cook. Period. I know that happens to us all, but somehow the guilt comes rushing in every time.

For nights like those, I am trying to amass easy, tasty and healthy meals to save us from the call of takeout pizza. One of my favorite sources for inspiration for these meals is The Splendid Table Weeknight Kitchen emails. They're not always as simple as you'd like for a Tuesday, but the recipes are almost always a success.

This one was particularly successful because I mostly have the ingredients on hand at any given time. I haven't solved the wrap/flatbread as a pantry item yet since we don't go through them quite fast enough, but they are easy enough to pick up on the way home.

For me, the yogurt sauce is the star here, but the flexibility of heat and flavor for the garbanzos is great. There is so much potential for variety! If you play with it, let me know how it goes!

Spicy Garbanzo Bean Burritos with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce (adapted from the Splendid Table e-mail)

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1-1/2 cups thinly sliced onion (about 1 medium onion)
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• Two 15-ounce cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 6 large flour tortillas

Cucumber Yogurt Sauce 

• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (I used 2%)
• 1 small Persian or English cucumber, peeled and grated on medium holes (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat a large sauté pan over medium and add the oil. Add garlic and onion and cook for 6 minutes. Add the coriander, cumin, red pepper flakes, and paprika and mix well. Add the garbanzo beans and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper and then stir in the cilantro.
2. As the garbanzo beans finish cooking, make the sauce. Mix together all of the ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Spoon 1/2 cup of the garbanzo bean mixture onto each tortilla and top with some yogurt sauce. Fold up tortillas on one end, roll tightly and serve. 

Meatless Monday: Macaroni and Cheese with Butternut Squash

Back in the cold of winter, my friend Alissa of Simply Wholesome Kitchen invited me over for a cozy warm lunch with her and her adorable toddler.  She and I have a lot in common when it comes both to our food values and our love of food, period.  Therefore, it was with great interest that I tried her Macaroni and Cheese with Squash. 

She prefaced the dish by saying that it was healthy, but gave me few other details.  I have to honestly say that I did not guess that aside from the whole wheat pasta and a not-so-gooey cheese base, there was a secret healthy ingredient.  But, as you may have guessed from the title, there was - the squash. 

The recipe immediately moved to my "to-try" list and popped back up when I found myself with a craving for something cheesy and creamy, but on the healthier side.  However, instead of frozen pureed winter squash, I found myself with a late winter farmers' market butternut squash.  I figured I would give it a go.

With a fresh squash, there is no hiding the vegetable content of this dish.  Not to mention, the simplicity of throwing it together is eliminated when you have to peel, cut, seed and steam the squash before you get to the other prep.  Still, totally worth it.  If you want the easier version, I recommend heading over to Alissa's version or the Elie Krieger version she worked with originally. 

Macaroni and Cheese with Butternut Squash (adapted from Simply Wholesome Kitchen who adapted from Food Network)

• Olive oil mister or other cooking spray
• 1 pound whole wheat short pasta
• 1 medium to large butternut squash
• 2 cups lowfat milk
• 4 oz. extra-sharp Cheddar, grated, reserving 1/2 cup for topping
• 4 oz. Monterey Jack, grated
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp powdered mustard, such as Colman's
• 1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne powder
• 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Pecorino, divided
• 2 tbsp plain bread crumbs (or 2 slices whole grain bread, crumbled)
• 1 tsp olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with olive oil spray.
2. Peel, seed and cube butternut squash into approximately 1-inch pieces.  Place in skillet with water and steam until fork tender.  Mash and set aside.
3. While squash is steaming, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente.  Drain and set aside.
4. Combine bread crumbs, half the pecorino and 1 tsp of olive oil in small bowl and set aside. 
5. When squash is ready, add to empty pasta pot along with the milk.  Cook at medium-low, stirring occasionally until mixture is smooth and very hot.  
6. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining pecorino, Monterey Jack and all but 1/2 cup of grated Cheddar, salt, mustard and cayenne pepper.  Add pasta and mix well. 
7. Transfer mixture to baking dish and top with cheddar and bread crumbs. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and broil for 3 minutes or until top is golden brown. 

Serves 6-8

Meatless Monday: Polenta with Poached Egg and Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions

Awhile back, I came across the apparently viral Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions that had been all over the internet.  I was late to it even then, but it looked so simple and tasty that it went into the remember-to-make-soon brain folder.

I finally got around to it and have to say that I was pleased.  I am a fan of a simple smooth slightly sweet tomato sauce.  This is exactly that.  It satisfies in a soothing way and certainly comes together in a snap. All you need, I kid you not, is canned San Marzano tomatoes, butter and an onion. Period.

In the comments section for the tomato sauce recipe at Smitten Kitchen, there were a few variations including using a poached egg or eating the cooked onion (which gets removed in the recipe) on toast with some balsamic vinegar.  I thought, why not do all of those!?! And, my friends, I did.

I pan-fried some organic polenta (yes, the kind in a tube, but I had to use it up) and topped it with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, some onion, a bit of sauce and a poached egg.  Some fresh parsley or basil would have made a lovely addition, but the beauty of the dish is that all of the aforementioned things are around my kitchen pretty much all the time. 

Polenta with Poached Egg and Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions

• 2 1-inch slices of prepared polenta (or your preferred serving of polenta from scratch)
• 2 good drizzles of balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions, divided
• 1/4 onion from Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onions
• 1 egg, poached
• 2-3 sprigs fresh basil
• fresh cracked black pepper

1. Pan-fry polenta cakes.
2. Set on plate.  Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.  Top with 2 tbsp tomato sauce and onion. 
3. Place poached egg on onion.  Top with additional 1 tbsp tomato sauce.  Garnish with basil and fresh black pepper to taste.
4. Dig in, yolk first.  Enjoy!

Meatless Monday Snack Edition: Banana Coconut Bars

One cold rainy afternoon, I sat by the window contemplating snack time.  The weather was terrible and there would be no leaving for a quick bite or missing ingredients.  I had also been emptying the freezer and reviewing the contents, so I knew that I had four frozen bananas (Starting to turn brown? Pop them in a freezer bag and into the freezer.  The skin turns dark, but the bananas stay fresh!) that I wanted to use up.

My fellow healthy-food lover Alissa over at The Simply Wholesome Kitchen told me about a blog that focuses on healthy baking, Sweet & Natural.  I figured I would take a look over her recipes and see what I could do with my bananas.  Here I found Banana Coconut Bars which had the benefit of using up some of the coconut I have in the freezer and the agave sweetener that I picked up at Trader Joe's. 

I can't say that my pantry always has the items required for this healthy snack or that yours might, but the recipe itself is a good argument for keeping them around.  The result is a healthy-tasting bread-like sweet bar which is perfect for tiding one over until the next meal.  I used whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour, because that was what I had around.  The result was fine, although my understanding is that the pastry flour yields a lighter bar.  Play with it.

The last comment I have is with respect to agave nectar.  I've been very intrigued by this ingredient since it often comes up in clean eating recipes and is generally considered a healthy alternative sweetener.  Over the past couple of weeks, however, I've been hearing whispers in the health food community that agave nectar is very highly processed and that there are some heavy environmental impact issues surrounding agave's production.  I'm going to find out more and continue to experiment, but I wanted to put out my current thinking on the subject.  I'd appreciate hearing other perspectives.

Banana Coconut Bars (adapted from Sweet & Natural)

•  4 mashed bananas (fresh or frozen)
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 1/4 cup organic agave nectar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Prepare 8x8x2 baking pan with olive oil cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix together first four ingredients and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients (except coconut) until combined.
4. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just blended.
5. Fold in coconut.
6. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for approximately 50 minutes.