Garden Supper

This is why I like have a garden in my backyard. Walk out, pick some beans, pick some tomatoes, snip some basil and pull out Alice Water's Chez Panisse Vegetables.

Green Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad
Serves 6

1 pound green beans, though if you can find a mix of green and yellow beans, it will be all the prettier
1 pound cherry tomatoes
1 large shallot
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Basil or other herb (optional)

Top and tail the beans and break them into large segments. Parboil the beans in salted water until just tender. Drain and immediately spread them out to cool. Stem the cherry tomatoes and cut them in half.

Peel and mince the shallot and put it in a bowl with the vinegar and salt and pepper. Add the olive oil. Taste and adjust the balance with more vinegar, oil, or salt, as needed. Toss the cherry tomatoes in with the vinaigrette; this can sit for a while. Do not add the green beans until just before serving or they will discolor from the acid in the vinaigrette. For variety, the salad can be garnished with basil or some other fresh herb such as parsley, chervil or hyssop.

I didn't have any red wine vinegar so I went with balsamic vinegar instead. AND I marinated the tomatoes a bit in the vinaigrette but I drained most of it out before I added the green beans. I'm not a big fan of drowning my veggies in the vinaigrette. An excellent and simple salad.

Dim Sum Sunday - Pumpkins/Squash

So many choices of squash and pumpkins to choose from. Don't mind the funky gourds, I decided to use that lovely acorn squash along with a butternut squash to try a recipe I hadn't made before. I turned to one of my favorites when it comes to simple fresh cooking.
I toyed with the Squash Ravioli but instead decided on the Butternut Squash Pizza. No link this time so here's the recipe:

Butternut Squash Pizza

1 butternut squash
¼ c. grated mozzarella cheese
Olive oil
¼ c. grated Gruyere cheese
Salt and Pepper
12 sprigs parsley
2 cloves garlic
20 sage leaves
Pizza dough for 1 pizza
½ lemon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the butternut crosswise just above the bulge. Cut off the top about ½ below the stem and the bottom as well. Peel the two squash pieces. Cut both pieces lengthwise and then cut ¼ inch slices (after removing seeds from bottom half). You will have half moons for the upper part, and elongated C shapes from the bottom half. Brush the slices with olive oil and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast about 30 minutes or until the slices are lightly browned and tender to the touch.

Meanwhile, peel and chop fine the garlic and add to about ¼ c. olive oil. When the squash slices are done, remove from the oven and turn the heat up to 450 to 500 degrees. Brush the prepared pizza crust with the olive oil and garlic, and sprinkle evenly with the mozzarella and Gruyere. Arrange the slices of cooked squash over the cheese. Bake the pizza for about 10 minutes, until the crust is browned and the cheeses have melted. While the pizza is baking, chop the parsley leaves. Fry the sage leaves briefly in hot olive oil, then drain them on an absorbent towel. When the pizza is done, garnish with the sage leaves, the chopped parsley, and a squeeze of lemon.

The only change I made was adding sliced baked acorn squash to the butternut squash. I made my own pizza crust because I think it tastes so much better. I resorted to a pizza pan instead of cooking it directly on my pizza stone so I could more easily share the photos of the finished pie. I had my doubts about enjoying this pizza. I'm a classic thin crust, deeply flavored tomato sauce, cheese with pepperoni kinda gal. I'm not much for white pizzas. If there's no tomato sauce baked into that delicious thin crust where do you get the umami flavor?More than plenty umami going on here. The squash is tender and just a little bit sweet but melds so nicely with the tangy cheese (and under layer of bits of garlic) with the fried sage. Make sure you use the best olive oil for all parts of this recipe, it makes a huge difference and is an integral part of the flavor profile. Don't punk out on the fried sage and sprinklings of parsley, it's delicious. It's a wonderfully bright fresh taste and certainly a change from my normal pizza routine. An excellent fall feast.