Summer treats, continued: Bell Peppers

Like most cooks these days, I rarely pick up a green bell pepper, preferring instead the other colors. My favorite, at least to eat raw, is the orange pepper. But there's one dish in my repertoire where only a tangy green pepper will do: gumbo.
I'm about to make a batch of gumbo -- with shrimp, crabmeat, chicken and andouille sausage -- and will post that recipe soon. But today there's an article in the Food/Dining section of the New York Times extolling the virtues of the green pepper.
Here is one of the recipes accompanying the story. It's a Basque dish that the author says can be used as a side, a main (perhaps with the addition of some meat) or a condiment.

Peppers and tomatoes: Piperade

RECIPE: Piperade
Makes about 3 cups


Ingredients:

• 3 plum tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped, about 2 cups
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 medium green bell peppers, stem, seeds and ribs removed, roughly chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon piment d’Espelette (or substitute hot paprika) 

NOTE: You also can mix red/yellow/orange peppers with the green, which makes a colorful presentation

Instructions:

1.

Cut a small X into bottom of each tomato. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add tomatoes and cook until skin begins to wrinkle and peel at the edges of the cuts, about 30 seconds. Drain, rinse with cool water and peel off skin with your fingers. Roughly chop tomatoes and set aside.

2.

In a 12-inch skillet over medium high heat, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add onions, peppers and salt and sauté, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent and peppers have started to lighten in spots, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and continue to sauté for 1 more minute.

3.

Stir in tomatoes, sugar and piment d’Espelette, reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until tomatoes are starting to fall apart and peppers are soft but still hold their shape, about 15 minutes. Remove cover and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens like a slightly runny relish, about 5 minutes more. Adjust salt.

Sweet corn: use some in this salad

Corn, tomatoes, radishes -- all are fresh and at peak season at your local farm markets.
Add some creamy avocado and for protein, shrimp.

Delicious, cool (no oven or heavy stove use) and easy.

RECIPE: Shrimp and Avocado Chopped Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the dressing:

2 T prepared Dijon mustard

3 T red wine vinegar

2 T chopped herbs (cilantro, thyme, or dill)

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

For the salad:

1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp (cooked and cut into bite-size pieces)

1 bag pre-washed mixed salad greens, chopped

2-3 large radishes, chopped or thinly sliced

I cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise

1 cup corn kernels

1 cup edamame, cooked

½ red bell pepper, diced

1 ripe avocado, diced

¼ cup chopped cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1.      Make the dressing (or use another vinaigrette of your own): in a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar and herbs. Add the vinegar while continuing to whisk, stir in the salt and pepper, and set aside.

2.      In a large bowl, mix together all the salad ingredients except salt and pepper (shrimp through cilantro). Add dressing and gently toss to coat. Adjust seasoning by adding more salt and/or pepper, if desired.

3.      Serve with tortilla chips (optional)

Load Up on Fruits and Veggies

            Summer is the easiest time of year to enjoy vegetables and fruit. Even so, most Americans fall far short of the recommended daily amount we should be eating.  As recently as 2012, only one in three adults had two or more daily fruit servings and even fewer (26%) had that many veggie servings. And that count of veggies included potatoes!  When you consider that the American Heart Association recommends a minimum of eight daily servings of fruits and vegetables, those statistics are even more, well, disheartening.

            While you’re firing up the grill this season, consider how easy and satisfying it is to add veggies, and even fruit, to the barbeque. Try putting chunks of vegetables and fruits on skewers, or cooking them on a grill topper that will keep them from falling through the grids.  You only need to brush the food with a little vegetable oil (not olive oil, which will burn), or try the recipe below for something only slightly more elaborate. Consider also grilling whole, fresh figs – put them on a skewer – for a delicious caramelized flavor. Stone fruit such as peaches and nectarines also take well to the grill; just cut them in half and remove the pit, but keep the peel on.

Recipe: Mixed Vegetable and Fruit Grill

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

½ pound fresh asparagus, trimmed

1 large red or yellow pepper, cut into 4 chunks

2 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise 

1 medium red onion, peeled and cut into wedges

1 pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into quarters lengthwise

2 medium bananas, unpeeled and sliced in half lengthwise

For the vegetables:

¼ cup canola oil

1-2 T honey

4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Salt and pepper

For the fruit:

¼ cup rum

2 T brown sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

In a small bowl, whisk together the canola oil, honey, vinegar, oregano and seasonings. Pour most of the marinade into a large resealable plastic bag. Add asparagus, pepper, zucchini and onion; seal bag and turn over to coat the veggies. Marinate about an hour at room temperature.

Transfer veggies to a grilling grid; place grid on preheated grill rack. Close the grill lid and cook over medium heat about 8-10 minutes, until crisp-tender, turning occasionally.

Once you have placed the veggies on the grill, brush pineapple and banana pieces with the brown sugar mixture and place on the outside of the grill alongside the vegetables. Close the grill lid and cook with the veggies. Watch carefully and turn pineapple as needed; the banana should go skin down and not be turned (it most likely will be done first).

Remove food to a platter as each piece becomes done, keeping veggies to one side and fruit to another. Drizzle remaining marinade over the veggies and brush fruit with any remaining brown sugar mix. Serve warm or at room temperature. (You can cover with foil to keep warm while you cook any meat, poultry or fish that you also want to serve at this meal.)

Eat ALL of that Broccoli (RECIPE)

Broccoli is my go-to veggie--available year round, easy to cook, super nutritious and I happen to really like the taste. If plain, steam broccoli is too boring for you, toss the cooked veggie with salsa, pesto, or top with some grated cheese.
And don't throw away the stem portions! They are just as nutritious and have an interesting texture and flavor of their own.
One of my favorite food writers, Martha Rose Shulman, just published a piece about how to cook broccoli stems. Here's the link.
And here is one of her featured recipes.

RECIPE: STIR-FRIED BROCCOLI STEMS WITH RED PEPPER, PEANUTS AND TOFU
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

• Bunch broccoli
• 1 14-ounce box firm tofu, drained and cut in 1/4-inch thick, 2-inch by 3/4-inch dominoes
• 1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce (more to taste)
• 1 tablespoon Chinese cooking sherry (Shaoxing rice wine) or dry sherry
• ¼ cup vegetable stock or water
• ¼ to 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 2 to 3 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 to 3 teaspoons minced ginger
• ¼ to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
• 2 tablespoons peanut, canola, rice bran, sunflower, or grape seed oil
• ¼ cup lightly roasted unsalted peanuts
• 1 red bell pepper, cut in 2-inch julienne
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Instructions:

• Cut broccoli stems away from crowns. Peel stems, slice lengthwise, then cut in 2-inch julienne. Cut crowns in thin slices and collect all of the flower buds that fall off onto your cutting board in the same bowl with the sliced crowns.
• Dry tofu slices on paper towels. In a small bowl or measuring cup combine soy sauce, rice wine or sherry, and stock or water. Combine salt and sugar in another small bowl and garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes in another. Have all ingredients within arm’s length of your pan.
• Heat a 14-inch flat-bottomed wok or 12-inch steel skillet over high heat until a drop of water evaporates within a second or two when added to the pan. Swirl in 1 tablespoon of the oil by adding it to the sides of pan and swirling the pan, then add tofu and stir-fry until lightly colored, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to a plate.
• Swirl in remaining oil, add garlic, ginger and pepper flakes if using and stir-fry for no more than 10 seconds. Add peanuts, all of the broccoli – stems, crowns and flower buds – and red peppers, and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add salt, pepper, and sugar, toss together and add soy sauce mixture. Stir-fry for 1 to 2 minutes, until vegetables are crisp-tender, and return tofu to the wok. Add cilantro and stir together for about 30 seconds. Serve with additional soy sauce as desired and hot grains or noodles.

 SOURCE: New York Times, 6/20/14

Best Veggie Combo. Ever.

While it's still cold outside, roasting vegetables makes for some delicious dinners. In fact, almost any vegetable tastes better when roasted, as opposed to steamed or sauteed, because the sometimes-hidden sugars in them really comes out when cooked by the dry heat of an oven.

This recipe also is great because these ingredients are plentiful now and not dependent on summer crops. The taste combination of fennel, eggplant, red bell pepper and zucchini -- along with some garlic, broth, and finished with cheese -- is better than it should be.

Recipe: Pasta with Roasted Eggplant and Fennel (Best veggie combo ever)
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into one-inch cubes
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into one-inch cubes
1 large (or two medium) zucchini, sliced lengthwise and sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 red or orange bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch dice
4 T olive oil, divided
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I make it with chicken stock, which is part of the magical whole flavor impact, but vegetable stock makes it a vegetarian dish, if you wish)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups uncooked pasta shapes, preferably multigrain or whole grain
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, toss eggplant, fennel, zucchini and pepper with 2 T of the olive oil. Spread vegetables evenly on a rimmed cookie sheet that has been coated with cooking spray. Bake for 25 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
2. About 10 minutes before veggies are done, heat salted water in a large saucepan and cook pasta according to package directions, until al dente. Drain and keep warm.
3. Heat remaining 2 T of oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for about 90 seconds. Stir in stock. Remove veggies from oven and add to frying pan.
4. Add thyme, salt and pepper. Stir in pasta and heat through.
5. Spoon into serving bowl and pass cheese at the table.

Microbrew Bison Chili

Use ground bison instead of beef. Bison (or buffalo) meat is much leaner than any cut of beef, and in a big pot of chili, nobody can tell the difference. And the addition of a good bottle of beer -- preferably something deep and flavorful, like a stout or porter -- makes it even better. Serve some of the beer with the meal!

Meaty chili

Recipe: Microbrew Bison Chili

Serves 6-8, or more

Ingredients:

3 T canola oil, divided

1 large onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped

2 ribs celery, thinly sliced

½ cup diced green pepper (optional)

3 T good-quality chili powder

½ teaspoon chipotle powder, or more to taste

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 large can diced tomatoes, preferably no-salt-added

1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

1 cup water

1 pound ground bison (buffalo)

1 bottle dark beer, such as stout

Salt, to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat 2 T of the oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add next five ingredients (onion through green pepper) and sauté, stirring frequently, until veggies start to soften, about 4 minutes.

2. Stir in chili and chipotle powders. Add next 5 ingredients (black beans through water) and stir well. Reduce heat to medium, cover pan.

3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 T oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add bison and cook, crumbling meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks. When the meat has no pink left in it, remove with a slotted spoon and add to the chili.

4. Stir in beer, and add more water if you want a more soupy consistency (leave it as is if you prefer stew-like chili). Cover pot, reduce heat to low, and let the chili simmer for at least 15 minutes to let all the flavors combine.

Season with salt to taste.

Serve over rice, with corn chips or (my favorite) cornbread.  Pass a bowl of grated jack or cheddar cheese at table, if you want. You can freeze leftovers and have it again on a cold winter night.