Filed under: Grilling, Main Dish | Tags: asparagus, basil, eggplant, focaccia, pesto, red pepper, ricotta, squash, zucchini
Before I get to the main topic of this post, I wanted to share this picture I took yesterday. We planted sunflowers in the front garden, and they are starting to open up! There have been a lot of bees around lately (a great, great thing) and I happened to catch this guy feasting on the sunflower pollen.
Last Thursday, I realized I still had Japanese eggplants, a red pepper, and asparagus in the refrigerator leftover from the farmer’s market. Since I was leaving town for the weekend, I needed to use them up. And as always, there were plenty of yellow squash ready to be picked- plus our first zucchinis!
One of my favorite books, Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, has a recipe for a grilled vegetable panini. It was my starting point as an idea, but ultimately what we ended up with was quite different. First I decided to make focaccia because we didn’t have any “proper” bread around (meaning, something not sandwich bread) and the recipe in Simply in Season looked doable. I ended up letting it rise while I was at yoga, so when I got back it was ready to go. I snipped some rosemary to mix into the dough, and studded the top with thin slices of yellow tomato. Next I prepped all of the vegetables for the grill, and doused them in olive oil/salt/pepper.
While the focaccia was baking, I decided to make a true basil pesto, using a recipe from Simply in Season (can you tell how much I use this cookbook yet?). The basil and parsley plants in the garden have really been getting bushy, so I had plenty to work with! I had also made ricotta cheese earlier in the week (easier than you would think), so I mixed some of the pesto up with it for a simple spread. Here’s a picture of the ricotta draining:
I had envisioned piling the grilled vegetables on a piece of focaccia spread with the pesto ricotta. But we took a much less fussy approach by eating the pile of grilled vegetables while tearing off chunks of bread dipped in ricotta. All in all – my favorite kind of dinner!
Grilled Vegetables
Assortment of seasonal vegetables – I used eggplant, bell pepper, asparagus, summer squash. I sliced the eggplant, pepper, and squash in half vertically. The asparagus I left whole (minus snapping off the tough ends)
Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper – make sure all surfaces of vegetables are covered
Grill over medium heat until tender but not mushy – about 3-5 minutes on each side.
Pesto-Ricotta Spread
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts (or walnuts)
3-6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt to taste
2 sprigs fresh parsley
Finely chop together in a food processor or handheld blender.
1/3 cup olive oil
Add gradually while processing to make a thick paste.
1-2 cups ricotta cheese
Mix pesto into ricotta cheese, one tablespoon at a time, until flavored to your taste. You will probably have pesto leftover – great on sandwiches, pasta, etc.
Serve with focaccia, or other really delicious bread, and the grilled vegetables.
Filed under: Grilling
Artichokes are actually a thistle, and the bud, if left unchecked, will develop into a bright blue flower. However, I was introduced to the artichoke via canned marinated hearts, often found in salad bars. I knew that it was common to eat artichokes with an elaborate procedure of dipping the leaves in some kind of sauce, and then scraping the leaves with your teeth. But I never actually experienced this ritual until I moved to California at the age of 23. And even then, I wasn’t particularly impressed – it seemed like so much work for so little yield! So with the exception of occasionally sauteing the baby artichokes I found at the farmer’s market, I didn’t mess with the big guys.
Around September, Matt came home from the garden nursery with a pack of artichoke plants. We planted them in the newly-established raised bed we had built in the front yard. A month later we came back from a 3-week trip to Peru, and those front yard artichokes were different beasts- they were huge! A friend described the plants as “prehistoric-looking.”
They continued to explode in size, and this spring we were ecstatic to find they had little buds. And then more buds. Fast forward to May: we are drowning in artichokes. We give them away by the bag-full, we grill them in batches, and cannot eat them fast enough. I’m sure the flow will peter out soon, but until then.. its artichoke heaven.
Grilled artichokes
Medium-to-large globe artichokes, with 3-5″ of stem attached (if possible)
Lemon
Olive Oil
Salt/Pepper
Start a large pot of salted water to boil, enough to cover the artichokes. Wash the artichokes to get rid of any dirt and/or hiding bugs. Cut in half, and scrape out the fuzzy inedible choke with a spoon. Squeeze lemon juice over the cut size to prevent browning.
Drop artichoke halves in boiling water, and boil for about 10 minutes. Remove from water, and coat generously with olive oil, salt, and pepper, particularly the heart.
When the grill is hot, place the halves, cut side UP, on the grill. Grill for 10 minutes. Turn the artichokes over and grill the cut side for 5 minutes. Remove fromthe grill, squeeze additional lemon over artichokes if desired, and start eating! (If you want step-by-step directions on how to eat an artichoke, wikiHow has it covered here)
*If you wanted to use baby artichokes instead, you would simply cut them in half (don’t scrape out the choke – its not developed yet), boil for 5-7 minutes, and follow the steps from there.
