7 August Friday 2009

This Friday was squash blossom Friday. Robert picked a lot of them--45 I think. We pick only the male plants--without zucchini. When you pick them and use right away they don't close up and are easy to stuff. I take out the stamen inside, pull off the tiny spiky green leaves on the outside, chop off the stem and shake out bugs, maybe lightly rinse, though I hate to.

I made a stuffing with cooked quinoa, olive oil sautéed onions, thyme, currant, toasted pine nuts and Italian Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Then I baked them for 45 minutes, covered, with a little broth and olive oil poured over to steam them. Breadcrumb, herb and cheese stuffings or ones with meat are common in Italy. We all loved the lightness of the quinoa.

I also made White Bean Soup (yep we have lots of white beans and Robert especially likes them) with potatoes and kale. I started with a sofrito of onions, leeks, carrots and sliced garlic cooked in lots of olive oil. I added the cooked beans, their cooking water, rosemary and salt and simmered it for 30 minutes. When I was ready to serve the soup, I brought it to boil and add chopped kale. That I cooked for 4 minutes. A dollop of lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper finished it off.

I also made a traditional Dijon mustard emulsified vinaigrette. It went over green salad--and I tossed it with raw chopped vegetables--Swiss chard and chard stems, carrots and green beans with minced garlic for the salad.

Jenny gave me 3 of her prized heirloom tomatoes, which I sliced and set out next to the vinaigrette.

Here's a recipe for the vinaigrette. I made it in a blender.

Mustard Vinaigrette

1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 ounces oil: half olive half sunflower or canola
salt and pepper

Whisk together mustard and vinegar in bowl. In a SLOW and THIN stream, SLOWLY add the oil, whisking constantly. The vinaigrette will thicken as you add oil. If it "breaks" or separates, place more mustard into a clean bowl and slowly this time, whisk broken vinaigrette into it.

This is great on vegetables or fish. Purée herbs into it or add chopped things. I added minced garlic. Yum.