LemonGrassGirls.com

LG Sugar Pumpies

When I have the chance to travel to Santa Fe, I make a point to eat at two restaurants. The Shed, just off the Plaza, has the best red chili enchiladas in town. They are consistently fantastic, and the margaritas are pretty tasty too.

The other restaurant I love is Café Pasquals. Pasqual's serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner 7 days a week. You have to have reservations for dinner, as the dining room is small. They do offer a “family table” where you can often get a seat without a reservation, but as “family” suggests, you are sitting with a bunch of other people. I’ve eaten family style a couple of times and it is fun, but it is not the same as a quiet table for two.

Last summer, we bought Cooking with Café Pasqual’s, one of the two Pasqual’s cookbooks. I’ve made their delicious Green Chili and Pork Stew before, and last night I tried out Sugar Pumpkins Filled with Vegetable Stew in Chipotle Cream Sauce. It was delicious.

The sugar pumpkins are baked in a hot water bath and then filled with a mixture of onions, carrots, celery, button mushrooms, Portobello mushrooms, squash and corn. Once the little pumpkins are filled, you add a delicious sauce made with heavy cream, chipotle chilis (that is pronounced “chip-oat-lay” unless, of course, you are Bobby Flay and it becomes a 4 syllable word…”chip-oat-a-lay” That cracks me up every time)

There is something wonderful about eating vegetables in a spicy cream sauce – the sauce is not too rich, and not too spicy. The pumpkin flesh is tender and you can scoop it out and eat it with every bite.

I also think it was just about the cutest meal I have ever eaten. I am not a bit “cute” fan, but darn it, those little pumpkins filled with goodness were just adorable - and delicious.

Contributed by Cynthia McKenna

Caponata

My family is "very" Italian, having fed me things like escarole, broccoli rabe, and the old Christmas Eve "Seven Fishes" since I was just a wee tot. Even so, I didn't hear about Caponata until my 30th year, when all my old friends were officially married off so I moved in with two old-fashioned Italian girls who had put out an ad that they needed a third roommate. My roomie Jen Treole, turned me on to Caponata after preparing it for an all-girl "food party" we threw (and may I say it was quite the spread!)

I can't believe that no one in my family has ever made this. It's a wonderful appetizer or main-course side dish, and tastes just as good cold as it does hot.

Caponata prep:

Get yourself a great big sautee pan, cutting board, cheese grater and a good dicing knife.

Wash up/dice up the following veggies:

6 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery (I didn't have any so I didn't use it and mine came out great anyway)
2 small onions or one large one
1 small eggplant (tonight I used white ones - fresh from the farm market)
1 medium size zucchini
half a red pepper
handful of black olives
handful of green olives

other ingredients:

fresh tomato
half a jar of capers
olive oil
red wine vinegar
pinch of sugar (none in my caponata, thanks).

Drizzle some olive oil into the pan, sautee the garlic and onion on very low heat.

Chop the tomato in half and grate directly into the sautee with the cheese grater, then discard the remaining tomato skin (trick I learned from the Spanish - neat, huh?)

Sautee for 10 minutes or so, then add all the other diced veggies. Put the heat up a smidge to about 2 or 3, let cook for about an hour, stirring occasionally and adding a spash more of olive oil here and there if it seems like it's sticking to the bottom of the pan.

At the end, add capers, green and black olives (it really doesn't matter when you add them - I just did it as a big finale - woo hoo!). When everything's nice and mushy, add 2 Tbsp, aka a couple splashes of red wine vinegar. You can also add a pinch of sugar but I didn't and I like the way mine tastes (a lot!) Grind in fresh pepper, sprinkle salt to taste.

Store in refridgerator, serve on crackers or with a side of crusty bread. Keeps for several weeks in fridge.

Also - I read somewhere that Caponata can be used to stuff and stew whole tomatoes (mmm, think how nice this could work with veal or chicken cutlets!). Mine however, is not going to be around long enough for something like that! :)

Bon appetit!

Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing

Edamame

I have one word for you:  edamame. 

"Ed's a mommy?"  Huh? 

No, edamame (ed-a-ma-may) is actually just a soybean.  I buy the pods in the health food freezer in my grocery store and guess what?  Even the kids like edamame!  You can also buy them roasted like peanuts if you're craving a salty snack. 

I simply boil them lightly and put them in a big bowl on the table.   The kids pop the beans out of the pods and directly into their hungry little mouths.  We love our soybeans.  (The pods decompose nicely in the compost pile, too.)

And for me...well, as a pre-menopausal woman with hormonal challenges, soy products are a godsend.  Even my full time employer, IBM, has gotten smart and now offers edamame in the cafeteria.  It almost makes me want to be a tech writer forever just so I can eat soybeans in the cafeteria! 

Some of the benefits of soy products (these are just a few) are:

• soy protein can reduce the risk of coronary disease
• good for bone health (especially important for women in their 40s and beyond)
• good source of protein
• good source of fiber

Edamame - the kids like 'em and this mommy likes 'em too. 

Ann Zuccardy, Vermont Shortbread Company President and Lover of all Products Soy

A Spontaneous Healthy Meal from Chez Zuccardy

I'm sure this spontaneous healthy pasta meal I created a couple nights ago has a name, but I have no clue what a real Italian would call it. 

Here's what I did:

• Saute some garlic with olive oil (maybe about 1/4 cup) in a skillet. 
• Add a can of chickpeas after draining the chickpea liquid from the can. 
• Add a splash or two (about 1/2 cup) of white wine (always use wine you would drink, i.e., good wine).
• Let simmer.  Alcohol in wine will cook off.  Sauce thickens a little. 
• Meanwhile, cook some pasta.  I used the corkscrew kind (what kind of psuedo-Italian am I? - I don't even know what the pasta type is called!). 
• While pasta cooks, tear up some fresh basil leaves and throw them into the chickpea mixture.  Add some freshly ground pepper and some sea salt to taste. 
• When pasta is done and drained, toss it with chickpea mixture in a big, pretty bowl and place it on your table while murmurming "MMmmm....ahhhh....I think you'll like this," to your spouse and kids. 
• Serve with fresh parmesan, a salad and a glass of wine from the open wine bottle if you like. 

P.S.  My spouse and kid liked it!

Ann Zuccardy, Vermont Shortbread Company

A Summertime Eggplant Dish

The other day I came home with two fat eggplants and absolutely no desire to cook eggplant parmigiana, eggplant garlic stir-fry, or heaven forbid, mousaka. (I've never delved into Greek food anyway and wouldn't have the foggiest idea where to start with a Bechamel sauce).

So, I borrowed a great summer side dish (or perhaps a main course if you're a veggie) from my mom. It goes a little something like this:

Peel an eggplant in stripes, then slice into rounds.
Set up your dipping station - a bowl of flour, bowl of beaten egg, bowl of breadcrumbs.
Dip in each bowl in that order and arrange eggplant slices on baking trays. Bake at 350 until crispy.*

*Note - I thought that mine were too heavily breaded. I'm going to omit the breadcrumbs next time, doing just egg and then flour, and see what comes of this.

Next step:

Combine maybe a third-cup of olive oil (guesstimate), the juice of a lemon, half a small jar of drained capers, and three tablespoons or so of fresh, chopped parsley. Taste-test, dilute with water if too lemony. You can also add a splash of balsamic if you like. Sprinkle with salt and fresh cracked pepper.

Remove eggplant slices from oven and bathe in this lemon/caper dressing. Serve hot or cold (I prefer it cold, served as a chilled summer side dish). Sprinkle with fresh grated cheese before serving.

As Rachel Ray would say, "Da-LISH!!"

Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing