Zesty Zucchini Soup

It’s safe to assume we all still have squash in our crispers, yes?

And was it yesterday morning, that I sorta, kinda, a little bit, wished I had grabbed a cardigan before leaving the apartment?

OH NO IT’S STARTING!!! Don’t.freak.out.

The drastic change between Saturday’s sweat show and Monday morning’s “where’s my sweater?” weather begs to have a summery twist on a comforting, warm bowl of soup.

I’ve actually been waiting and waiting to share this. I had made this during that time when squash was threatening to overtake my refrigerator. But every week seemed just too early to be like “eat boiling hot liquid for lunch or dinner, whydontcha!”

But it’s time has come. I keep telling myself to be excited for soup and stews and chili.

Here’s how I’ll start.

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Zesty Zucchini Soup

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of grass fed butter, or other fat

1 small onion, diced

1 jalapeno, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 small-medium green zucchini, sliced into thin rounds

1 small yellow zucchini or yellow squash, sliced into thin rounds

32 oz. (4 cups) chicken broth

½ teaspoon of cumin

1 teaspoon of paprika

cayenne to taste

salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup grass fed heavy cream

Directions:

Get the butter melting in a large pot over a medium heat. Once melted saute onions, jalapeno, and garlic in pan until onions are soft, translucent, and a bit caramelized. About 5 minutes.

Add the squash to the pot and cook until just starting to get tender, another 5 to 10 minutes. (They’ll continue to cook in the broth and get soft.)

Add broth to the pot as well as cumin, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer.

Simmer soup until the squash is soft and tender, approximately another 10 to 15 minutes.

Turn off heat and slowly stir in the heavy cream.

Yield: approximately 2 quarts

Stuffed Tomatoes & some facts of life

I mean I feel like I should be tired of tomatoes by now.

But I’m not.

So I made these stuffed tomatoes, as inspired by smitten kitchen.

I had big plans to make these using cauliflower as rice.

What I didn’t plan on was the fact that we have not yet entered cauliflower season. I’m new at this whole seasonal eating thing. I’m still crossing my fingers that cauliflower and tomatoes might overlap? I don’t know if they do…..So I did these as written with rice, because I don’t have so many strong feelings towards white rice being evil. Once in a blue, seems cool to me.

And then not only did I do them using rice, I didn’t change a thing about the recipe. At all. It’s perfection. (Lies, I did use grated parmesan instead of breadcrumbs on top, but that's all I did differently! Oh and I knocked the serving size down to 4 and adjusted accordingly.)

You can find the recipe here, if you’re inclined to make these. I hope my pictures are tempting enough for you to click over there and get on them immediately! 

I leave you with these facts from my weekend away:

1.) Burrata is a way of life.

2.) I almost always go for the burger. Two out of three meals this weekend were burgers. One was for breakfast. #sorrynotsorry

3.) Everything can and should be pickled, especially peaches. Must figure out how to do this STAT.

4.) Balsamic Reductions go a long way to make all things delicious.

5.) Three out of the four things listed above had to do with ONE starter I ate this weekend. Obvs, it rocked my world. 

Recreation is on my to-do.

Corn and Peppers

In continuation of the Mama Lunetta Summer Classic series - here’s yet another childhood mainstay. I happened to have corn in the freezer from my CSA two weeks ago and I got a pepper in last week’s. And that meant that this HAD.TO.HAPPEN.

Since Summer vegetables require little to no anything to be awesome, I do realize that I’ve been posting things that really aren’t all that eventful. Sorry. Are you bored of me yet? These are just the recipes that I think of when we’re in this season. I’ve also been relying greatly on my farm share to inspire my cooking each week.

When I got the corn, I didn’t have time to use it right away and you should use fresh corn within a day or two. So I quickly blanched the cobs and then cut off the kernels and froze them.Then last week I received a beautiful green pepper in my share and I immediately thought of Mom’s Corn and Peppers, a summer comfort food.

Typically when people think comfort foods, we think of winter stews, soups, and casseroles. Things that take a long time and require the warmth of the oven. They warm both home and soul. But when I think back on my mother’s cooking, it’s her summer standbys, that remind me of home and comfort. Her corn and peppers, fresh sauce, blackberry sauce, ratatouille, tabbouleh, and her mint iced tea. Those are my “comfort foods”. Although I have been making slight changes here and there, de-grainifying the stuffed zucchini, using maple syrup instead of sugar in the blackberry sauce. Through and through the recipes still have the same backbone. Super simple dishes that were inspired by what she brought in from her garden each day, similar to how I’m waiting on my farm share each week.

#longlivesummer

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Corn and Peppers

Ingredients:

4 ears fresh corn, shucked and sheared from the cobs** (approximately 2 cups)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 large sweet pepper --- my mother always grew Italians but my CSA gave me a green bell pepper so that’s what I used here

1 tablespoon grassfed butter

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Get your butter melting down in a large saute pan or cast iron skillet.

Once melted add in your onions and saute them until soft, translucent, and slightly caramelized.

Add in your corn and peppers next. Saute with onions until soft and tender. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4 as a side

Butter and Dill Carrots

Every summer I get to spend a long weekend in the beautiful state of Maine visiting family. It’s the kind of place where there’s a mile between all the houses and you don’t hear anything but sounds of nature all day long. They live in the dead middle of the state and their house is surrounded by nothing but trees and open skies.

My cousin Evelyn cultivates a huge, beautiful garden. This year’s bean stalks were taller than me and there were tomatoes for days.

Late one morning she harvested a few pounds of baby carrots and barely ten minutes later they were simmering on the stove top destined for lunch.

What she served us was so simple and also just so good. The combination of flavors was something I’ve never encountered before. It felt both fresh and rich at the same time. It was so different from anything I've ever had that I asked for permission to share it on here.

The dill and carrots pictured are her gorgeous produce. I mean look at those cute little "tails"!

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Butter and Dill Carrots

Evelyn’s Recipe

Ingredients

1 pound fresh carrots, cleaned and trimmed of their tops - ideally the type just recently yanked out of the ground, and on the smaller side if possible. Halve or quarter bigger carrots so they cook through equally

1 tablespoon grass fed butter

1 heaping tablespoon chopped fresh dill

salt to taste

Directions

Bring water to a boil in a 1 quart sauce pot.

Once the water is boiling drop in your carrots. Cook them until just fork tender, about 6 to 7 minutes. This could take longer depending on the size of your carrots.

Strain the water from the carrots and place in serving bowl. While the carrots are still warm stir in butter and dill until the butter has melted and the dill has evenly distributed.

Salt to taste and serve.

Serves 4 as a side