Disappearing Orzo Photos

Here are some photos of the zucchini orzo before and after it disappeared! It was really good.

Disappearing Zucchini Orzo

This is adapted from Barbara Kingsolver's recipe from her new book Animal Vegetable Miracle

Ingredients:
1 lb orzo pasta
Bring 6 cups water or chicken stock to a boil and add pasta. Cook 8 to 12 minutes
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
4 large zucchini
olive oil for sauté
thyme
oregano
¼ cup grated parmesan or any hard yellow cheese (or more to taste)
1 tbsp butter (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Use a cheese grater or mandoline to shred zucchini, sauté briefly with garlic until lightly golden.
Add spices to zucchini mixture, stir thoroughly, and then remove mixture from heat.
Combine with cheese and cooked orzo, salt to taste, serve cool or at room temperature.

Spanekopeta

Kyle and I made this Spanekopeta recipe for the chowhound picnic, and it came out really well. The recipe comes from my grandmother - not sure where or when she got it, but it's a family favorite. My aunt serves it every Christmas.

It takes a while to prepare - Kyle and I spent about 2 hrs working together to prepare the pies, then we froze them. They bake for about 1 hr and 15 minutes when frozen.

I took some pictures, which I will try to add to this post when I load them to my computer.

Spanakopeta

from Judy Pistrang

1/2 lb. phyllo dough (cut 1 lb. package in half)

2 packages frozen spinach, leaf or chopped (I like to use one of each)

2 T olive oil

1 medium grated onion

1 T dried dill

1/2 lb. feta cheese, crumbled

2 T grated romano cheese (or parmesan cheese)

2 T large curd cottage cheese

1/2 to 1 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 stick butter, melted

1 egg for glaze

Thaw phyllo dough according to package.

Saute onions in oil until wilted. Add frozen spinach to onion and cook together until defrosted. Cool. Add dill.

Beat 2 eggs well. Add baking powder, feta, cottage cheese and 2 T romano or parmesan.

Combine spinach and cheese mixtures.

Butter 13 X 9 inch pan. Construct Spanakopeta as follows:

Layer 5- 6 sheets of phyllo in pan, overlapping each other, covering the sides of the pan (overlap 1 inch over sides of pan). Brush each sheet with melted butter. Put half of spinach/cheese mixture in pan, spread evenly, sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Repeat with 5 or 6 more phyllo sheets, brushing with butter. Spread rest of spinach/cheese mixture, sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Top with rest of phyllo sheets, brush with butter. Fold sides over to seal. Brush with one beaten egg.

With sharp knife cut diagonally into 3 to 4 inch squares.

Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes, until brown. May be frozen and baked for 1 hour at 350.

Chocolate Coconut Pudding

from Heidi Swanson at 101cookbooks.com

Coconut Chocolate Pudding Recipe

September 4, 2007 | by Heidi

1 14-ounce can of coconut milk (lite is fine), divided
3 tablespoons sugar
scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup arrowroot powder, sifted
1 teaspoon raz el hanout spice blend or curry powder, (optional)
3 tablespoons alkalized dutch-cocoa powder, sifted (be sure to check the label- non-alkalized will not set!)
1 3.5-ounce bar semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut flakes, toasted in a dry skillet

Shake the can of coconut milk vigorously for a few seconds. In a heavy saucepan bring 1 1/4 cups of the coconut milk, sugar, and the salt to a simmer over low heat.

While that is heating, in a separate bowl whisk together the remaining coconut milk, arrowroot powder, spice blend (or curry powder), and cocoa powder.

When the coconut milk and sugar mixture has started simmering take about 1/4 cup of it and whisk it into the arrowroot mixture, creating a slurry. Now whisk the arrowroot slurry mixture into the simmering pan of coconut milk. Keep whisking until the pudding comes back up to a boil and thickens up a bit, about a minute.

Remove the saucepan from heat and whisk in the chocolate and vanilla. Keep stirring until the pudding is smooth. Place in a refrigerator to chill thoroughly. To prevent a skin from forming press plastic up against the surface of the pudding. Serve dusted with the coconut flakes and a tiny pinch of spices (or curry powder).

Serves four.

Melissa's Marinara with Meatballs

YUM! David and Alex and I made some pasta last night with meatballs and hot italian sausage and it was delectable.

for the meatballs:
• 1 lb. ground beef ( I used grass-fed from Whole Foods)
• 2 slices white bread (wheat is fine, but nothing nothing crusty- anything pre-sliced in a bag is good- eek!)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley
• a handfull of chopped basil
• a handful of breadcrumbs
• about 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
• salt and pepper


Soak the bread in the milk until soggy, add everything else, mix with your hands and form into balls. Brown outside in a frying pan before dropping into sauce to cook the rest of the way.

for the sauce:
• as many fresh tomatoes as you can get- any kind. I used Early girls and cherry tomatoes.
• 2 onions, chopped coarsely
• many cloves of garlic
• a handful of chopped basil
• a bay leaf
• a splash of red wine (optional)
• meatballs and sausage (optional)

Saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook until golden. Add tomatoes, basil, and bay leaf. Let cook until tomatoes break apart and it starts to look like a sauce. At any point you can add wine, meatballs, and sausages. make sure they cook through all the way!

Costa Rican Refried Beans

I made refried beans tonight using Salsa Lizano, which is a Costa Rican sauce similar to Worcestershire. If you don't have salsa lizano, you could add a bit of Worcestershire sauce and a bit more sugar and it would be similar. Or just skip the Salsa Lizano and it'd probably still be very good.

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 cup water
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil.
2 tablespoons salsa lizano (costa rican sauce)
1 teaspoon sugar

Open can of black beans, drain out the liquid, rinse thoroughly and drain again. Put beans in cuisinart and add one cup of water. Puree beans and water.

Meanwhile, fry onions and garlic in a saucepan w/ oil, cumin, salt and cilantro. When this is browned and ready, add the bean/water mixture into the pot. Add salsa lizano and sugar, and keep over medium heat. Simmer, stirring regularly, until enough water evaporates. You will be left with delicious pureed black refried beans (technically not refried I guess, since they are only fried once, but whatever.....) They tasted just like the beans that I ate this one time in Costa Rica.

Chayote Soup

I made this soup tonight and it came out great. This was my first time ever cooking a chayote - they are pretty weird when you cut them, but then they turn normal once they are cooked.

• 2 large chayotes, peeled and sliced into 2 inch thick pieces
  
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 potato, peeled and thinly sliced. I used a semi-sweet hybrid potato from Berkeley Bowl.
  
• salt and pepper to taste

Simmer chayote slices and potato slices in 2 cups salted water in a medium saucepan until tender, about 15 minutes. Puree chayote and potato in cuisinart, then add 1 cup of the cooking water and continue blending until smooth.

Meanwhile, saute onion and garlic in the butter in a large saucepan until the onion is soft. Pour in the chayote/potato mixture, and add more water until the soup is at desired thickness. At this point, chicken or vegetable broth could be substituted for water - this would make it better than the soup I made.

Season soup w/ salt and pepper. Serve in bowls with a plate of garnishes on the side to put into the soup. Garnish plate should include: chopped cilantro, finely chopped scallion, sliced fresh tomatoes and wedges of lime to squeeze. The soup would probably also be very good cold.

Overall, I was amazed at how easy this was to make (especially cause I semi-invented it) and it was quick and delicious.

DMP