Squash Kebabs

Monday night, we did baby squash and marinated mushrooms on the grill. I was just tickled by the way skewers look threaded with whole squashes.

I used salt, garlic powder and olive oil on the yellow squash and greek salad dressing on the mushrooms.

Jack and Cris' wedding (food)

My brother-in-law and his new wife, Cristiana, got married the weekend before Thanksgiving at the Sweetbriar golf club in Avon Lake, OH. The food at the reception was exceptional. I wish I had a photo of Joe's Apple Pork Tenderloin entree. I've never sampled such tender meat before. Stephen also liked his kid's meal: apple sauce, french fries and a real breaded chicken breast. Usually, I can't get him to eat meat, but he ate quite a bit.

I was one of only two guests to order the "vegetarian" option at the reception. It was excellent! A big, flaky phyllo-wrapped packet with roasted tomato, portabella and pencil asparagus. Served over rice pilaf and sauteed veggies.

Our first garden

 Joe built me a raised bed in the backyard of our new home last spring. This post is about 6 months late... but here's a summary of what we grew and ate from our own backyard through one of the driest growing seasons Hopkinsville ever had... My herbs: dill, Thai basil, globe basil and red basil, cilantro.

Eggplant-- I grew purple, white, and green varieties.

Cucumbers transplanted from the McQueens' garden.

"Pineapple Tomatoes" -- an heirloom variety that I got from an Amish seller at the Hopkinsville Farmers Market. Delicious flavor, but small with tough skin.

My personal triumph, even if they look weird: Sweet Potatoes! I dug these up in late October, not sure what I might find. We ate some of them roasted and added the rest to a big pot of chili. Pretty good, but a lot of work. Early in the season I ate some of the leaves in soup. In Taiwan, sweet potato leaves are a common "qing tsai".

Another cyberfridge cleanout...

Baozi. I promised I'd write the recipe last time I posted about these, but I never did. I'm gonna have to make another empty promise...
EDIT 5/7/10: OK,I actually found my chicken-scratch recipe for the baozi dough:

3 cups flour
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp yeast (or one packet)
1 cup warm water, give or take a teaspoon
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1 large egg

To make dough:
Combine flour, pinch of salt in a bowl. Make a well in the flour and pour in oil and beaten egg. Proof yeast with sugar in water. Once it's foamy, pour into the well and stir, gradually incorporating flour into liquid in the well.

Knead into a soft, but not terribly sticky, dough. If it's stiff, add a few drops of water at a time until it's soft. If it's sticky, add a tsp flour at a time until it's not.

Let it rise in a bowl, covered with platic wrap and placed in a warm, dry, draft-free spot. (I put mine on top of the stove.)

After an hour, punch down the dough. Let it rise again until it's double the original size.

Divide the dough in half, then each half into half... etc. until you've got 16 balls of dough.

Starting with one dough ball, press or roll the ball into a flattened circle, about 1/4-inch thick. Scoop one tablespoon of filling into the center and then pinch the edges together to close, giving it a little twist to seal. Place bun seam-side down in a steamer basket and steam for 10 to 15 minutes.

As for the filling, I'm afraid I usually just wing it.
So, try using the following ingredients to taste:
1 lb ground turkey, crumbled and cooked with
chopped sauteed cabbage
shredded sauteed carrot
chopped sauteed onion
a few splashe soy sauce
a few drops vinegar
generous amount of garlic/garlic powder
pinch cinnamon or five spice
a couple spoonfuls sugar
a few shakes salt
pepper
a dusting of cayenne or chili powder

You'll probably have filling left over. So, you'll just have to make some more buns!

Veggie Quiche Muffins. It's pastry made from scratch, filled with veggies, cheese and eggs. I made these for Joe to take to work, as I've been on a campaign to actually feed him.
On the opening day of the downtown farmers market, I bought some beautiful barrel-shaped radishes... from which I made baked radish chips that got eaten so fast that I don't have any photos. :-(
Morroccan Carrot soup... so delicious I was calling it a carroty butter cookie in a bowl. I ate it for breakfast it was so good. From Bon Apetit, which is just barely growing on me. I'm going to post the recipe as soon as I post the baozi recipe, if you know what I mean.
Finally, something I didn't cook: Tried some new specials at Da Vinci's while my mom was visiting. The foreground has lobster ravioli with sage and butter sauce. I love sage with pasta.

Paducah produce

Paducah's farmers market is awesome. We visited last July when my folks and Joe and I met up there before I had Stephen. I bought a white pattypan squash and it was delicious.... the same vendor, a very nice man originally from Syria, was at the market and had lovely produce again. ...And one giganto pattypan sitting atop a bin full of little dark green acorn squash. It was the only pattypan, and I didn't see a price for it. I scooped it up, like a treasure, and asked him how much.

For that? Just take it, he replied. He said that he'd been trying to sell it for two weeks :-) Mom bought three acorn squash for a dollar just to give him some business. He said he was opening his own farmstand in Lone Oak and will have someone else man his farmers market booth.

Produce, at last

Grandaughter of the president of the Bradford Square farmers market, Kayla Moss, will eventually have her own table at the market.
These are my patio tomatoes, which I'm growing in a big pot on my back porch. I'm also growing golden tomatoes and cucumbers in the communal garden on the Sivley's property.
These are some potatoes that Mr. Ezell was selling at the market. I didn't buy them, but I thought they looked pretty. I've been writing weekly market updates for the paper. It's a fun excuse to go out there each week and see what's up.

Pattypan squash in three ways

Tuesday I stopped at the Founders Square farmers market at lunch. Rossneau Ealom was selling pattypan squash 3 for a dollar. They were so cute, I couldn't pass them up. He also had asparagus, strawberries, scallions and greens.
Tonight I decided to cook each squash differently. First we have Italian style with egg and cauliflower. Then dredged in flour, salt and pepper and sauteed. Then stuffed with bread cubes, itself, cheese and a little ham.

This week's cooking

Lentil Veggie Soup

1 cup red lentils, soaked and cooked until mushy
1 cup chopped canned green beans
1 plum tomato, chopped
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp tandoori masala
garlic salt to taste

Zucchini Bake from East West Mennonite cookbook

3 big zucchini, grated
1 cup mozzarella
2 eggs
2 Tbs flour
1 tsp baking powder
salt and pepper
Baked at 350 til browned and firm

Couscous with pinenuts from a box!


Spicy Spinach Chicken - another Mennonite recipe

It's really great to have a cookbook with Indian and Bangladeshi recipes along side things like pumpkin cream cheese rolls. The book this recipe came from was written by well-traveled Mennonites who live in Bangladesh.

2 onions, finely chopped
2 Tbs garlic-ginger paste (made by mashing up fresh garlic and ginger)
4 Tbs oil
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cayenne pepper
chili peppers to taste (I skipped em)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 lb spinach, thawed and drained
1 chicken, cut into pieces

Cook the onions in oil until fragrant, then add garlic, ginger and cook a minute. Then add spices and yogurt, cook until oil separates. Add spinach and stir for a few minutes. Then add chicken and stir until chicken is browned. Turn heat to low and cover. Cook until chicken is tender.

I served it with couscous and a side of plain yogurt, remembering how our friends Alina and Satnam always had "Dey" with their spicy meals.

Italian cauliflower

My college roommate's dad, Dennis Poland, used to make an egg-battered fried cauliflower dish that was delicious. I think that dish involved deep or at least shallow frying. The day before traveling to Cleveland I sauteed a similar dish in the skillet. It was so good (but fairly different than the inspiration) that I made it three times in the last week.

Italian-ish Cauliflower
3 cups frozen cauliflower florets
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
2 Tbs fine bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon mediterranian spiced sea salt
Parmesan cheese
Vegetable oil
Optional: substitute one cup broccoli for one cup cauli, or add some chopped bell pepper as I did in this photo.

Saute until tender: cauliflower and onions in some oil and sprinkle with sea salt/spice mix.

Beat eggs and crumbs in a mixing bowl. Pour contents of skillet into bowl with egg mixture and toss to coat. Let stand a couple minutes and toss again. (I even prodded some of the florets with a fork to let the egg seep in.)

Add more oil to the skillet, then pour egg and cauliflower mixture into skillet. Cook until egg coating is set and browned.
Transfer to a serving dish and toss with a generous sprinkling of grated parmesan.

Rescued from the birds

I know we're into autumn already, but my tomato plants have been late bloomers. These are actually my first 3 successful tomatoes. Ever. In the entire history of me gardening. Sad, isn't it?

I had to pick the green one because yesterday I noticed that my prettiest tomato (not pictured) had a beak hole in the top of it and a smattering of wild grass seeds near the puncture, which oozed juice down the side of my precious fruit.

There's close to 20 green tomatoes out there... small and hard, not much bigger than cherry tomatoes. Any gardeners out there? Should I pluck them or let them grow? Will the frost or critters get them first? I do like fried green tomatoes...

In other news, things are going to get a little bit more moody around here because (A) I'm going on a temporary wheat-free diet to help with my chronic sinus problems. I did this for several months when we lived in Taiwan. Oddly, it really helped with my sinuses. I don't have any trouble digesting wheat, in fact, it's one of the easiest things on my stomach. So you might be seeing some wheat-free pancake and quickbread recipes in the near future.
(B) Starting a week from Monday, I'm no longer going to be a copy editor/designer. I accepted a job as features editor... which may mean I'll be insanely busy, but I think the job will fuel some new ideas about food as I get out in the community more.

vegetable or metalwork?

Yesterday morning, after spying on the blues, I noticed how photogenic some of Mr. Morris' vegetables were. I love the cabbages especially. And here's a nice head of brussels sprouts. And the corn leaves have finally gone wavy after our recent shower-- they were previously stiff and pointy from the drought.

Winter snacking

Yes! Veggie Chips!
In this long overdue post...I want to focus on two things.
1) snacks
2) people who give me snacks, and particularly, people who go out of their way to buy and send me snacks I can't get in western Kentucky.

This motherload of Asian munchies comes to me all the way from Darnestown, Md. where my good friend, fellow animal lover and favorite dessert maker, Lily, lives.

Growing up with weekend trips to Chinatown made me no stranger to Chinese snacks-- like shrimp chips and Botan rice paper-wrapped candies. Then living with a Taiwanese roommate in college got me hooked on dried squid, deep fried broad beans and wasabi peas (which, I recently noticed are actually not peas at all, but garbanzo beans masquerading around in an ungodly amount of green food coloring.) Next, a year in SoCal introduced me to the likes of Ranch 99, an Asian megamarket. Mango gummies and Taro jelly cups were standard fare in my house there. But all those Asian snacking opportunities couldn't compare to living in Taiwan, where many of these snacks originate.

One of my favorite parts of Taiwanese culture is the little bowls of snacks and plates of fresh cut fruit produced by any good host or hostess after dinner. On most Friday nights, Joe and I would walk ten minutes to another couple's apartment for our small group meeting. Sister Luan Seong always had the best snacks. :) An evening at the Seongs could involve mango, papaya, guava, wax apple or even durian, if they were able to smuggle one on the plane from Malaysia, their home country. There might be some egg jam and biscuits. Or some watermelon seeds. Or some dainty little cookies from a local bakery. Ahh... those were the days.

Well, whenever Joe and I hosted the small group, we made good and sure that we had the munchies. We also had plenty of origami boxes on hand for spitting out seeds or shells or rinds. I'd like to say we continue the custom today, but we really don't have people over as much as we used to in Taiwan, or in Champaign--where we lived last, and where I met Lily.

Let's take another look at those snacks up close:
It helps the taste buds immensly when candy is packaged in an "attractive small bag"
Though incredibly tempting, I'm going to rip into these AFTER Priscilla's wedding...(Read: AFTER I need to fit into a little red dress.)

This was indeed a happy present, but credit goes to Lily.

Tilsch Parrino Thanksgiving

As you might have guessed, there was a whole lot more cooking and eating going on in my house than picture taking and blogging this weekend. So now I'm beginning my feeble attempt to make up for it.
Here's my dad opening a bottle of sparkling grape, while the rest of our dinner waits on the table. We had an early dinner... everything was ready by 12:30. At the top is a Boston cream pie, which we won at the Turkey Trot raffle. Jack and Joe placed second and third, respectively. Go Parrinos!
Apparently there was a pumpkin shortage this year, so unless you had one sitting on your front porch leftover from halloween, you wouldn't have been able to make pumpkin dolma.
So we improvised. Mom and Dad Tilsch were looking all over for pie pumpkins last week. Instead, they found these festive looking acorn squash.

We really are blessed...
We feasted on turkey with sage from the patio garden, ham with brown sugar and mustard glaze, spinach salad, roasted veggies, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed squash, green beans with country ham, herb mashed potatoes,bacon wrapped mini hotdogs (pigs in a pig), rolls and pumpkin pie from Schlabach's bakery, Tofu pumpkin pie (Mom made it without lumps! yay!) and homemade pizzles from Grandma G. and chocolate from Malley's in Cleveland. Too many favorite things at once.
Was having trouble posting all my pics, but here's an album.

Emily's test kitchen strikes again

A little strange?
It's sort of like if Picasso put his version of a gingerbread man's face on a pie that wasn't a pie but a big stack of crepes alternating with layers of pumpkin pie filling. I'm going to call it Pumpkin Crepe Pie. To make this weird dairy-free, no-bake dessert, (or is it breakfast?)make one batch of crepes. You could follow this recipe for Emily's Being Lazy Lowfat Crepes, or you could follow this recipe, which is more like the way my dad makes them.
1 cup flour
1 Tbs oil
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cups milk (I use Vanilla Silk)
a dash of lemon juice for zip.

Use an electric mixer to blend all that stuff together and get rid of lumps. (Adding a little liquid at a time helps).

To spread between the layers: 1 1/3 cups pumpkin pie filling (from a can), reduced on the stovetop, set at medium low heat as you make your crepes. Let everything cool before assembling, starting with a crepe and ending with a layer of pumpkin. Add funky decorations by using a cookie cutter on the messed up crepe that is too ugly to use in its entirety.

Salt & Vinegar Chip Soup

It started out as a lentil soup... somewhere along the way I got distracted and it became this.

1/4 cup lentils, soaked
2 smallish potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped green onion
several cups of water, I'm sorry, I forgot to measure.
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp lemon pepper
2 Tbs white vinegar... or to taste.
1 tsp sugar
Dillweed to taste

Boil lentils until tender, then add everything else. Boil until mushy, but still intact. Dump everything into the blender and blend until smooth. Add water if it seems more like baby food than soup.

Heat & Potatoes

Taste Bud Travels Emily Parrino
(Food column that ran today. Some of the recipes are repeats, sorry!)

A college friend of mine used to say that Taiwan winters send a chill to the bones. I always thought she was exaggerating until I lived there. After all, the dead of winter on a subtropical island is much like the rainy season of early autumn in Kentucky, except with palm fronds rustling in the breeze.

Yet three sultry seasons have convinced an entire nation to live without indoor heating and insulated walls. To escape ‘bone chill,’ I learned from the locals that layered clothing and plenty of warming foods are essential.

Rose Wong, a second grade teacher where my husband and I taught English, gave us a hands-on lesson in the art of cozy cooking and snacking. One nippy morning she entered the English office to offer us two handfuls of tiny sweet potatoes. Roasted to caramelized perfection, steam curled from the golden flesh as we tore off the thin skin.

Rose had been baking the potatoes for her students in a toaster oven – which I think was also serving as a space heater. True, there are easier ways to heat a room. But I thought her brilliant for warming her little ones inside and out with such a healthful, cheery treat.
As the temperatures drop, you might be tempted to snuggle up to a heaping helping of (insert unhealthy comfort food here). Autumn’s bounty and summer’s final fruits can be just as comforting and they’re full of nutrients. I also find the vibrant oranges and yellows of fall squash, pumpkins and root vegetables a good mood booster in the face of ashen skies ahead. So take the edge off your chilly parts and your hunger for comfort foods with some of these nutritious and ridiculously simple recipes.

EMILY PARRINO is a New Era copy editor. Her column runs once a month. She can be reached at 887-3298 or eparrino(at)kentuckynewera.com.

Sweet potato oven fries
Peeled and cut 2 large sweet potatoes into French fry-sized sticks. Slather them in olive oil and spread them in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees until the edges brown. Sweet potato fries can be served with ketchup or honey mustard, or dusted in salt or cinnamon and sugar.

Eggplant rounds
Slice a medium eggplant in ½-inch rounds, drizzled with olive oil and Italian or balsamic vinaigrette. Roast in a single layer on a well-greased baking sheet for 30 minutes at 450 degrees. Bigger rounds can serve as veggie burgers.
Portabella mushroom caps
Slice three portabellas in ¼ inch thick pieces. Arrange them on a baking sheet and drizzle with your favorite salad dressing. Top with grated parmamsean or romano cheese and raw pinenuts. Bake until shrivelly, about 15-20 minutes at 350.

Roasted Veggie medley
Cover a thick cookie sheet with foil.
Toss the following in olive oil and lemon pepper or garlic salt.
Sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes. (Cooked until just tender in the microwave before baking)
Plus as much of any of the following as you can fit in your oven:
Zucchini in 1 ½ to 2 inch chunks
Medium onion, cut in half, then each half cut into about 8 wedges.
Canned whole tomatoes, drained and quartered
4-5 garlic cloves, quartered
Frozen broccoli florets
Frozen cauliflower florets
Frozen uncut greenbeans
Delicata squash stuffed with curried shrimp and vegetables
Cut the squash in half and remove seeds. Place the halves skin-side up on a baking sheet and broil for 45 minutes to an hour, until the skin is browned and blistered.
Meanwhile prepare the stuffing: Cook a half cup diced onion with 3 cloves of chopped garlic in a sautee pan with a little oil. When the onions become tender add a ½ cup each of pre-cooked frozen salad shrimp, frozen or canned corn and petite peas. Add a few shakes of curry powder and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until mixture is warmed.

Stuffed mushrooms
9oz package of white mushrooms, washed
1 slice of bread
¼ cup frozen broccoli
¼ cup finely chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon savory
¼ teaspoon thyme
pinch celery salt
1 egg
your favorite cheese
Toast the bread and let it sit out until all the moisture has evaporated. Gently remove the stems from the mushrooms, set caps aside. Finely chop the stems and add them to a frying pan with a little vegetable oil, the onion, garlic, thyme, savory and celery salt. Cook on medium heat until tender and fragrant then set aside in mixing bowl. Microwave or pan fry the broccoli until tender and then chop finely. Crumble the toast into fine crumbs. Add broccoli and crumbs to the mushroom mixture along with the egg. Blend with a fork until thoroughly mixed. Arrange the caps on a baking sheet and fill each cap as full as possible. Top each with a small piece of cheese and then bake at 450 for 45 minutes or until cheese is browned.

Stuffed to the stalk

I took the finished dolma out of the oven minutes before Joe returned from covering the magisterial debates. yes. we have magistrates in Kentucky, and people use the title "squire." I thought it turned out nice. But I never got to eat any of it! See recipe in yesterday's post.

Pumpkin Dolma

An unauthentic version

I stuffed this little pie pumpkin, loosely following a recipe in a cookbook geared toward teachers doing a diversity unit. It's one of my favorite cookbooks... bought when Joe and I were teaching at Kuei Shan. I remember making hummus for one of my gifted classes and they kept saying it needed sugar. Those crazy taiwanese... always gotta turn beans into dessert.

Anyhow. Dolma is something stuffed. It could be a vegetable or fruit (or grape leaves in the Greek version). I don't know how often the Turks or Armenians stuff pumpkins, but most of the dolma recipes I found on the web were savory (except this one.) The recipe in my book was sweet... so I decided to make it both.

Pumpkin Dolma
1 cup cooked rice
1 1/2 small granny smiths, peeled and cubed
6 turkey sausage links, cut into tiny pieces
handful of raisins and crasins
1 heaping spoon brown sugar
several shakes salt
3 Tbs toasted pinenuts
1 tsp oil
several shakes pumpkin pie spice

Book says to bake at 350 for 2 hours. Sheesh. It'll be bedtime before it's ready.