Lightning fast Thai yellow curry. From scratch. No joke.

If you have a food processor, you can make this Thai yellow curry from scratch in roughly a half-hour.  It is a great (and delicious) way to use just about any type of vegetables that you happen to have lying around.  Tonight, we made it with Thai eggplant, long-stem green beans, and yellow squash, all from our CSA box (plus a cup of frozen broccoli florets tossed in for good measure).  It is particularly good with a couple cups of baby bok choy thrown in near the end of the cooking time. 

 

Thai Yellow Vegetable Curry
(from About.com, recipe by Darlene Schmidt)

For the sauce:
1-2 cans coconut milk
1/2 tsp. fenugreek
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. black mustard seeds
1-2 yellow chilies (or green or red chilies, either de-seeded or with seeds if you like more heat)
1 tbsp. ground cumin
3/4 tsp. ground turmeric
3 cloves garlic
1 thumb-sized piece galangal or ginger, peeled and sliced
1 stalk lemongrass, sliced thinly (or 2 tbsp. frozen prepared lemongrass)
1/2 onion
3 tbsp. fish sauce or 4 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 cup cilantro, including the stems
2 tbs. brown sugar
juice of 1/2 lime
2-3 kaffir lime leaves, fresh or frozen, cut into strips (or 1/2 tbsp. lime zest)

2 tbs. Canola oil

Vegetables:
Any combo of your choice, in any amount of your choice, but probably at least 6 cups of vegetables and legumes.  Some ideas: 1 can fava beans, broad beans, or chick peas; approximately 2 cups bok choy, baby bok choy, or Chinese cabbage, chopped; 4-6 shiitake mushrooms, sliced; 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced; 1 large carrot, sliced; 1 cup broccoli; 1 cup cauliflower.

Plus 1/2 to 1 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped if the leaves are large.

Directions:

Put 1/2 can of coconut milk (reserving the rest for later) with all of the other sauce ingredients in a food processor.  Process well. 

Heat oil in wok or large frying pan over medium to high heat.  Add the curry paste and gently stir-fry for 1 minute, or until fragrant.

Add the reserved 1/2 can of coconut milk and stir.  Then add those vegetables that require the longest cooking time, such as carrots, mushrooms, and cauliflower.  Stir well and bring to a simmering boil.  Turn down heat to medium, cover, and cook for 5-10 minutes.

Depending on how much sauce you prefer, plus how many vegetables you are cooking, add 1/2 to 1 can more of coconut milk.  Then add the rest of the vegetables.  Stir well and cover, allowing to cook for another 5 minutes until vegetables are tender.  (NOTE: Add bok choy/Chinese cabbage last, as these only take a minute or two and you want them still slightly crunchy.)

Remove from heat and do a taste test.  Add more salt or fish sauce/soy sauce if not salty enough.  If too bitter, add 1-2 tbsp. more brown sugar.  If it's too sweet, add more lime juice.

Sprinkle the curry with fresh basil and serve with plenty of rice.*

*We like black forbidden rice, but use whatever you like.  There are no rules here.

Grill, baby, grill.

Maybe it’s the looming proximity of (my favorite holiday) the Fourth of July, but we seem unable to make a meal these days without schlepping out to the grill. It has gotten so that I am not sure that I would necessarily recognize something as “food” unless it is all gussied up with the delicious criss-cross char of grill marks. But in my book, this is not a problem. A few of our favorites (new and old), follow.

If I could, I think I would eat these fish tacos twice a week at least:

Fish Tacos
(Bobby Flay, sir, my stomach thanks you and the Food Network)

1 pound white flaky fish, such as mahi mahi or orata (*we have also used tilapia and it is delicious!)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoons ancho chili powder (*”chili powder” unmodified by “ancho” also works fine)
1 jalapeno, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
8 flour tortillas

Optional garnishes: shredded cabbage, chopped cilantro, chopped red or green onions, hot sauce, salsa, sriracha, crema or sour cream

Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Place fish in a medium size dish. Whisk together the oil, lime juice, chili powder, jalapeno, and cilantro and pour over the fish. Let marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove the fish from the marinade and place onto a hot grill, flesh side down. Grill the fish for 4 minutes on the first side and then flip for 30 seconds and remove. Let rest for 5 minutes then flake the fish with a fork.

Place the tortillas on the grill and grill for 20 seconds. Divide the fish among the tortillas and garnish with any or all of the garnishes.

* * *

Lest you think I've forgotten those CSA roots (pun intended, mwah ha ha!), we’ve also been grilling the bejeezus out of all stripes of vegetables.  Some recent surprise favorites have been okra and tomatoes.  The recipe we used follows, along with a ridiculously good preparation for scrumptious grilled yellowneck squash.

Grilled Tomatoes and Okra
(modified from epicurious.com recipe for Steak, Tomato and Okra Kebabs)

3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
As many cherry, roma, or campari tomatoes as you can eat
Ditto as to the fresh okra

Whisk together shallots, vinegar, mustard, sugar, 1 tsp salt, and 3/4 tsp pepper. Add oil in a slow stream, whisking until emulsified.

Toss tomatoes and okra with vinaigrette in a bowl. Let sit for at 20 minutes minutes. Thread tomatoes onto skewers. Thread okra crosswise onto pairs of parallel skewers, leaving small spaces between pieces. (*If using wooden skewers, make sure to soak for at least 20 minutes before.)

Grill skewers (covered only if using a gas grill), turning occasionally, until tomatoes just begin to wilt and okra is tender, 8 to 10 minutes total. Transfer to platter and serve with any remaining vinaigrette.

Grilled Yellowneck Squash
(modified ever so slightly from allrecipes.com)

4 medium yellow squash
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed or squeezed through a garlic press
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat grill to medium heat.  Cut the squash horizontally into 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick slices.  Heat olive oil in a small pan and add garlic cloves (or garlic squeezy goodness).  Cook over medium heat until the garlic starts to sizzle and become fragrant.  Brush the slices of squash with the garlic oil, and season with salt and pepper.  Grill squash for 5 to 10 minutes per side, until slices reach the desired tenderness.  During cooking, you may brush with additional garlic oil and turn occasionally to prevent sticking or burning.

A salad for grilling season.

First, the beets that came in our box this week were so beautiful.  And I think beets are ordinarily among the lookers of the vegetable kingdom, but these were extra special.  When we cut them open, they looked like strawberries.  

Naturally, I made everyone* in the house come and ooh and aah at them with me before the food preparing process could move forward. 

Also in the box were bundles of crunchy lettuce and more yellow squash than you could shake a stick at (unless you had a group of people shaking very many sticks, then I think it could be done).  This particular combination of goodness made our Saturday lunch decision plain: it was time to break out our favorite grilled vegetable salad from Bon Appetit. 

There are so many things that I love about this recipe, not least among them being that someone thought it would be a great idea to grill fennel (they were right!) and that, although it is ridiculously delicious when made just as directed, it can easily be modified to accommodate most any confederacy of vegetables that you happen to have hanging around.  But I think that what I love most is its inclusion of blue cheese.  Blue cheese, for me, always triggers fond thoughts of my parents.  In one of those incidental bits of food memory that tags along with us from childhood, I remember very lovingly the glass jar of Marie's blue cheese dressing as a virtually ever present staple in our refrigerator.  For better or for worse, we were and are a blue cheese kind of family and I still can't eat it without pausing for a moment to say a silent prayer of thanks that serendipity set me down in the middle of the oddball group of folks that I am lucky to call kin. 

But, I digress.  Here it is, so that you might try it for yourself with your own rare and motley crew:

Grilled Vegetables with Mixed Greens and Blue Cheese Dressing
(on epicurious.com, originally published in Bon Appetit)

Serves 4 as a main course.

2 tbs red wine vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
9 tbs extra virgin olive oil, divided + a bit more for brushing the onion
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (about 2 ounces)
2 medium zucchini or yellow squash, halved lengthwise
2 bell peppers (colors of your choice), seeded and quartered lengthwise
1 lb red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/3 inch thick slices
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cut through core into 8 wedges
8 fresh shitake mushrooms, stemmed (I often use other mushrooms when I can't find fresh shitakes)
10 baby beets (about 1.5 inches in diameter), trimmed, scrubbed and halved crosswise
1 large red onion, cut into 1/3 inch thick slices
1 5-ounce package mixed baby greens (or greens of your choice)

Whisk vinegar, Dijon mustard, and 5 tbs olive oil in small bowl.  Stir in cheese.  Season dressing with salt and generous amount of pepper.

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat); brush grill with oil.  Place all vegetables except beets, onion, and greens in large bowl; drizzle with remaining 4 tbs oil and toss to coat.  Transfer to large rimmed baking sheet.  Place beets in same bowl; toss to coat with any remaining oil and transfer to baking sheet.  Sprinkle vegetables on baking sheet with salt and pepper.  Brush onion slices with oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Grill vegetables until slightly charred and tender; about 12 minutes for beets, potatoes and fennel, turning occasionally, and about 4 minutes per side for zucchini (or squash), peppers, onion slices, and mushrooms.

Mound greens in center of 4 plates.  Scatter onion slices over greens.  Arrange vegetables around greens.  Drizzle dressing over and serve.



* The husband and the dog.  The neighbors did not appear to be home, so they got a pass.  This time.

An ode to Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough.

Oh, Trader Joe's.  Others wax rhapsodic about the two buck chuck, your frozen chocolate croissants, and even I, a long-time pretzel skeptic, admit to a night or two of absolute devotion to your peanut butter filled pretzels.  But by far your most profound contribution to our household has been your whole wheat refrigerated pizza dough. 

Tragically, you have yet to set up shop here in Columbia, but whenever we are in the vicinity of one of your Southeastern stores (thank you for Athens, Greenville, and Charlotte), we make a detour to stock up, buying five or six bags of dough at a time.  Then we throw it in the freezer, where it keeps perfectly until pizza night. 

During CSA season, pizza night often comes once a week.  It's a particular favorite for the day that we pick up our box, because you can put almost anything on a pizza with delicious results.  Last year, we went weeks where our box brought us heaps and heaps of zucchinis and yellow crookneck squash, which in turn led us to this fantastic (and legitimately "superfast") vegetarian pizza recipe from Bon Appetit, reprinted below.  We've since used this recipe as the base for just about any kind of pizza imaginable and I've included some of our favorite variations below, as well. 

Just last night, we decided, for the first time, to try this pizza dough on the grill.  I adjusted the recipe some for grilling and think the results were among the best we've had.  (But to be fair, I can't remember a bad pizza night.  That would be like an episode of Veronica Mars not worth watching.  Inconceivable.) 

Here is the recipe from Bon Appetit, with my editorial comments.  It is also available in all of its original glory at epicurious.com.

Superfast Vegetarian Pizza

1 tbs olive oil
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 medium yellow crookneck squash, diced
1/2 tbs dried crushed red pepper
Pizza crust (recipe calls for Boboli crust, I use TJ's)
1 14-oz jar mushroom pizza sauce (I use pizza or pasta sauce and saute sliced mushrooms in the sauce--adds a bit more time but you really get the fresh mushroom flavor that way)
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup packed mozzarella cheese (about 4 oz)
1/2 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (or to whatever temp advised by the directions on the pizza crust package).  Heat oil in a heavy medium skillet over medium heat.  Add zucchini, yellow squash and crushed red pepper; saute until vegetables are almost tender, about 5 minutes.

Place pizza crust on baking sheet (if you are using TJ's, you will have to roll out first -- when we bake it in the oven, we make a big rectangle shaped pizza on a lightly oiled rimmed baking sheet).  Spread mushroom sauce over.  Sprinkle with garlic, then mozzarella.  Top with squash mixture and tomatoes.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Bake pizza until cheese melts and crust is crisp (or per the pizza dough instructions), about 13 minutes.  Cut into pieces.  Eat. 

Variation - Butternut Squash, Portabello Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Pizza

One of our favorite variations on the above is to make it with butternut squash and lots of other goodies.  Here's that riff on the theme:

1 tbs olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups sliced baby portabello mushrooms
1/2 butternut squash
2 generous pinches of light brown sugar
Pizza crust
1 14-oz jar pizza or pasta sauce
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup packed mozzarella cheese (about 4 oz)
1/2 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 small log of goat cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (or to whatever temp advised by the directions on the pizza crust package).  Heat oil in a heavy medium skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and saute until caramelized, about 5-7 minutes.   Add the mushrooms and saute until soft, approximately 3 minutes.

While the other vegetables are cooking, scoop all the seeds and slimy insides out of your half-of-a-squash.  Lay cut size down on microwave-safe plastic wrap and poke several holes with a fork in the rind side of the squash.  Cook in the microwave directly on the microwave plate in 5 minute intervals until soft.  When the squash is done, scoop out the innards into a small bowl, mix in the brown sugar and season, to taste, with salt and pepper. 

When the mushrooms are soft, add the squash to the vegetable mixture.  Saute for another 3 minutes.

Place pizza crust on baking sheet. Spread sauce over.  Sprinkle with garlic, then mozzarella.  Top with squash mixture and tomatoes.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Dot the top with goat cheese.  Bake pizza until cheese melts and crust is crisp (or per the pizza dough instructions), about 13 minutes.  Cut into pieces.  Scarf down.

Variation - Kale and Goat Cheese Pizza

1 tbs olive oil
1 small red onion
1 1/2 cups baby portabello mushrooms
3 cups chopped kale
1/2 tbs dried crushed red pepper
Salt to taste
1 14-oz jar pizza or pasta sauce
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 cup packed shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 small log goat cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (or to whatever temp advised by the directions on the pizza crust package).  Heat oil in a heavy medium skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and saute until caramelized, about 5-7 minutes.   Add the mushrooms and saute until soft, approximately 3 minutes.  Add kale and crushed red pepper and season with salt.  Saute until wilted, approx. 1-2 minutes.

Place pizza crust on baking sheet. Spread sauce over.  Sprinkle with garlic, then mozzarella.  Top with kale mixture and tomatoes.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Dot the top with goat cheese.  Bake pizza until cheese melts and crust is crisp (or per the pizza dough instructions), about 13 minutes.  Cut into pieces.  Devour it.

Grillin'

Last night we did a variation on the kale pie, using the beautiful red russian kale from our CSA box, and cooking the pizzas on the grill, instead of in the oven. 

In preparation, I looked at several grilled pizza recipes and learned about the two most common pitfalls of pizza grilling.  First, because of "hot spots" on the grill, if you just throw the crust straight on, it can be hard to get it to cook evenly---you are likely to end up with parts of your crust blackened.  Not necessarily the height of yum.  Second, it can be very difficult to get a loaded pie on and off a grill without some accoutrement to assist.  I ended up deciding to pick up these great pizza grill pans at Cost Plus World Market---they neatly avoided both problems. 

First, we divided the bag of TJ's dough in half and rolled out two medium sized rounds, both a bit smaller than the grill pans.  Then, we put the dough on the grill pans on the grill.  Cooking over medium heat, it didn't take long for the dough to bake and puff up, almost like big, beautiful rounds of chapati roti. 

At that point, we took the grill pans back to the kitchen to load the pizzas.  The very first item we put on the pizzas was the mozzarella cheese.  Then, we poured the sauce (which we had already heated on the stovetop) over the cheese.  On the grill, of course, all of your heat is going to come from below the pie.  This slightly unorthodox ordering of toppings ensures that your cheese will melt.  All of the other items went on in their regular order from the kale pizza recipe above and, last night, we also added a bit of spicy Italian sausage that we had cooked up on the stovetop in a skillet.  

Once everything was loaded on, we put the pizzas back on the grill, closed the top so that the handles stuck out the front of the barbecue and let the magic happen.  We checked on them every few minutes and, in about seven minutes, the pies were done and the crust was perfect: crisp enough that the slice didn't bend or buckle under the weight of the toppings when lifted from plate to mouth, but still chewy.  I see lots more grilled pizza nights in our future.