Curried barley salad

Here's one of the recipes I'll be making at The Westport Farmers' Market tomorrow, Thursday, September 8th from 11-1. Come on by for a taste.


1 C. uncooked pearl barley

2 C. water or stock

1 C. cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

1 C. grated zucchini, drained

1 C. chopped tomato

½ bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped

¼ C. Golden raisins

Juice from ½ lemon

1 Tbs. finely chopped garlic

1½ tsp. curry powder

1 tsp. turmeric

½ tsp. Smoky paprika

2 tbs. Olive oil

Kosher salt to taste

Combine barley and water in a pot with a lid; simmer for 30-40 minutes before fluffing with a fork. Or, try using a rice cooker. Add 2 1/2 cups water per cup of barley.

While barley cooks, combine remaining ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside until barley is cooked. When barley is cooked, fluff with a fork and gently combine with vegetables. Season to taste with salt. Salad can be served warm or cold.

Learn more about Nicole Straight and Time to Eat’s cooking classes at www.timetoeat.tv.

Greek zucchini fritters

I saw this recipe in the NY Times a few days ago and although I've made zucchini fritters (think potato latke) these have some delicious Greek additions. I ate it with tzatziki and a salad. Kirk and I liked them, but the kids-not so much...

Here's my adaptation of Greek zucchini fritters:

2 large zucchini, trimmed and grated on the wide holes of a grater or food processor
Salt
2 eggs
2 cubes each- frozen dill and parsley
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. Greek (or Italian) seasoning
1 tsp. celery salt
3/4-1 C. breadcrumbs
Freshly ground pepper
3/4 C. crumbled herbed feta
All-purpose flour for dredging

vegetable oil for frying

1. Salt the zucchini generously and leave to drain in a colander for one hour, tossing and squeezing the zucchini from time to time. Take up handfuls of zucchini, and squeeze out all of the moisture. Alternately, wrap in a clean dish towel, and squeeze out the water by twisting at both ends.

2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and add the shredded zucchini, frozen herbs, cumin, celery salt, Greek seasoning, bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste and feta. Mix together well. Take up a small handful of the mixture; if it presses neatly into a patty, it is the right consistency. If it seems wet, add more breadcrumbs or a few tablespoons of all-purpose flour. When the mixture has the right consistency, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour or longer.

3. Heat 1 inch of oil in a large frying pan until rippling, or at about 275 degrees. Meanwhile, take up heaped tablespoons of the zucchini mixture, and form patties. Lightly dredge in flour.

4. When the oil is very hot, add the patties in batches to the pan. Fry until golden brown, turning once with a spider or slotted spoon. Remove from the oil, and drain briefly on a rack, or keep warm in the oven.

Pork medallions with lemon & peas, and zucchini coins.

I have a pork tenderloin and was looking for a new way to prepare it. Here's my recipe for pork medallions and zucchini coins, they're both easy to make and really delicious.

Pork Medallions:
1 (1 lb) pork tenderloin
1/4 C. olive oil
seasoned flour (1/2 C. flour mixed with 1 Tbs. Lawry's season salt and 1 tsp. black pepper)
1/2 C. white wine or chicken stock
juice from 1 lemon
1 Tbs. capers
1 C. frozen peas
1 C. sliced mushrooms (optional)

Cut the tenderloin into 1/2" thick slices. Heat oil on a large nonstick pan on medium heat. Dredge pork in seasoned flour. When the oil is hot, cook dredged pork for 1-2 minutes per side. When the pork is cooked, remove from the pan, and keep warm in a covered plate. Add white wine or chicken stock, lemon juice, capers, (mushrooms-optional) and peas to the pan, cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 1 minute. Pour sauce over pork and serve with warm crusty bread and broiled zucchini coins.

Zucchini coins:

Preheat oven to broil.

Thinly slice a zucchini, lay pieces on a foil lined cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil, cracked pepper, kosher salt and a pinch of grated Parmesan cheese.

Cook for 3 minutes or until cheese has just melted. Turn oven off and keep in oven until ready to eat.

Vegan stuffed zucchini

My friends are coming over for lunch today and one of them is vegan. I had a few zucchini in the house so I decided to make quinoa and brown rice stuffed zucchini.

Here's the recipe: The stuffing is delicious eaten as a salad or can be stuffed into zucchini or red bell peppers.

This recipe makes 3 cups of stuffing/salad

Finely dice 1/2 purple onion, and saute in 2 Tbs. of olive oil in a large nonstick pan on medium high heat for 5-7 minutes or until onion begins to brown. Add a good pinch of kosher salt and pepper. While the onion cooks, grate 1 whole zucchini and add to the pan. Continue cooking until zucchini has softened. Add in a small pinch of dried thyme, 1/2 C. toasted pine nuts and 1/2 C. golden raisins. Stir to combine and remove from heat.

I had leftover quinoa and brown rice, you can add either or both or even couscous. I added in about 1 1/2 C. total of mixed brown rice and quinoa with another tsp. of olive oil. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. You could also saute a few finely diced mushrooms with the zucchini, and a drizzle of truffle oil would be delicious.

Remove the mixture from the pan and add 1 Tbs. of olive oil, 1 C. of bread crumbs and 1/2 tsp. of garlic salt. Cook until breadcrumbs turn brown, about 1 minute. Watch these closely and stir frequently as they brown very quickly. Remove from heat so they don't burn.

I washed and sliced 2 zucchini in half lengthwise, and using a grapefruit spoon hollowed out the center of the 4 pieces. Preheat oven to 425. Line a cookie sheet with either a Silpat mat or aluminum foil and add the zucchini boats. Fill each boat with the stuffing and top with toasted bread crumbs. Cook in the oven to 10-12 minutes.

Zucchini Bread and Camp Mom.

The girls are finished with summer camp and they are home with me. Initially I was pretty anxious about it, but have decided to look at it as an adventure and take the time to go places we have never been.

We went bowling this morning, visited the horses at Emma's barn, then went for a tour of the Lockwood Matthew's Mansion in Norwalk. The girls had gone here on a field trip this summer and raved about it. They insisted we return and so we went today for a 1 hour tour. I was surprised how interested they were in the history of this building, it was interesting to me, and I was (secretly) thrilled this held their attention.

We came home and the kids took a break, Abby went to Chess club and I took them for Mickey D's. I had some leftover Angel Hair pasta with garlic, olive oil and Parmesan cheese.

I am having friends over for dinner on Friday and am planning to make those Provencal Tartlets that I demo'ed at the Peacock Party in NY.

I have finally gotten a decent crop of zucchini in the garden and made a yummy zucchini bread. Here's the recipe.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups granular sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon orange zest


Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.
Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool.