Comfy

When I was madly hustling to move the office and convert it to a guest room last month I longed for some down time to just be lazy. Careful what you wish for, right? With a tickle cough and frequent need for tissue to blow my nose it is all too easy to rue the hours I'm spending in bed. I do get to read a lot (when I'm not sleeping...this cold seems to require a lot of sleeping) but even that gets boring. Even oceans of hot tea is not a comfort. At lunchtime I decided it was time for true comfort food that was also quick and easy...a great combination.

A while back one of the favored party dishes was call Seven Layer Dip, a quasi-Mexican plateful of layers of refried beans, cheese, guacamole, olives, tomatoes, sour cream and tortilla chips. This is my variation on that dish, scaled down to a personal portion. If you have the ingredients, a microwave and about 10 minutes, you have a warm, gooey, savory, salty, crispy, tangy plate of deliciousness before you know it.

Start with a microwave safe plate. Add about 1/2 cup refried beans, spread out in the middle of the plate. I use non-fat traditional but there are lots of varieties to choose from. ( I happened to have in the fridge some ground turkey which had been cooked with some chopped onion, so I heated that up and added it, but usually I just go with the beans.) Top the plate with some waxed paper and microwave on half power about a minute to heat the beans.

While the beans are heating, cut an avocado in half and peel the part without the pit, then roughly dice it. The second half can be stored for another use and keeping the pit in helps it keep from going bad.

Once the beans are hot, remove the waxed paper and sprinkle on a handful of grated sharp cheddar cheese. Replace the waxed paper and microwave until the cheese is just melted, about 1 minute at half power.

While the cheese is melting, remove the stem end from a small to medium tomato and dice roughly, then add to the avocado, tossing gently to combine. If you have it you can sprinkle this topping with some lime juice.

Once the cheese has melted, remove the waxed paper and discard it. Top the beans and cheese with the avocado/tomato topping.

Spoon dabs of yogurt (I like Greek style) or sour cream around the dish and sprinkle on a bit of cayenne pepper...a lot if you like spicy heat, a dash if you are more timid like me.

That's it! Scoop up the warm/cool mixture with crunchy salty corn tortilla chips and enjoy your easy, comforting snack or lunch. That's what I did. I don't think I can credit this dish - it's probably helped by the nap I just woke up from - but I'm feeling better.

Summer Simple Soup

When it was lunchtime today nothing sounded right until I thought of soup. It wasn't really cold enough for the warmth of soup but somehow I just wanted the softness and variety of a good vegetable soup. I also found a can of cannellini white beans in the pantry to throw in. Combined with the corn and the chicken broth there was plenty of protein and flavor, too.

This time of year is so wonderful for having a variety of veggies to use in dishes. Sweetie bought some local red onions from the fellow who sells the amazing strawberries so I started with red onions. I have small sweet carrots, fresh corn, just picked garden zucchini squash and some red peppers from the market. Our tomatoes have suffered from the long cool spring and unseasonable summer and are still hard and green, but the market had some nice vine ripened ones from southern California, so I add some diced fresh tomatoes.

This soup goes together quickly and you can adjust the amounts to suit your taste. You can add different or additional fresh herbs...some fresh basil would be great with this soup! Wish I'd had some available but the basil I planted was done in by the cold and wet spring weather.

You can add some leftover cubes chicken or turkey. I topped my bowl with about a tablespoon of chopped prosciutto that I had crisped in a frying pan. (Then I went looking for my camera and Sweetie asked me to come look at some trim in the bathroom first, so by the time I took the picture the crispness was all gone...the joys of remodeling!) There are lots of ways to make this your personal simple summertime soup. It makes just enough for two, so share it with your Sweetie (or save for another lunch).

Simple Summertime Soup for Two

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 red onion, peeled and chopped
2-3 small carrots, peeled, halved and chopped
1/4 cup diced red pepper
1/2 cup sliced quartered zucchini
kernels from one ear of corn or 1/2 can of canned corn
1/2 fresh tomato in small dice, including the juices
1 can cannellini beans, well rinsed and drained
1 can (about 2 cups) chicken broth
1/8 teaspoon ground sage
1 teaspoon minced fresh Italian parsley
salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan saute' the red onion, carrots and red pepper in the olive oil until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Add the zucchini, corn and tomato and cook another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the cannellini beans, chicken broth, sage, parsley and salt and pepper, stir to combine and heat the soup through. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve at once.

Can be garnished with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, some diced ham, chicken or turkey, or cooked bacon, pancetta or prosciutto and/or more parsley.

Serves 2.

Walking Through the Garden Pie

As I've mentioned before, summer is not my favorite season. This summer of 2007 has been such a lovely summer that I might have to change my tune. With the exception of the occasional heat spell, we have had beautiful days and cool nights, fog to clean and cool the air, and some of the best stone fruits and berries that I can remember. To top it off, my garden is one of the best in 20 years. The squash plants have been giving a steady harvest of tender green and yellow zucchini and rounded beige butternut squash, with one hardy crookneck producing a squash a week. I never grew cucumbers before, but will next year. It has been a joy to pick a nice green regualr cucumber for a mixed green salad, or to combine that with some round, prickly yellowish lemon cucumbers for a relish style salad with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and some chunks of tomato.

Best of all, the heirloom tomatoes that I started from seed are finally ripening. Red, deeply lobed Costellutos came first. They were not very large in size, but had a sweet tomato flavor.

Next I served our first Black Krim tomato sliced with a drizzle of olive oil and a dash of garlic salt, then scattered some chopped opal basil over the plate. Black Krim originate in the Black Sea reagion of Europe and have a dark, almost brown red flesh, shot through with bright red and spring leaf green. They have a very deep, delightful tomato flavor and are firm, but juicy. The little yellow pear tomatoes ripened just as the first Green Zebra tomato began to grow golden under the green stripes. I served chunks of marinated mozarella cheese on top of chunks of Black Krim and Green Zebra for a delicious taste of summer.

But what about the pie? It was a spur of the moment idea to make for dinner last weekend. Don't be too envious of my garden. This is the first time in almost 15 years that I've had more than about 6 food plants total in the garden. Finally this winter and spring I had the time to sow seeds for tomatoes, squash, and chard and, late, for cucumber. What really takes time is finding enough places to plant those seedlings that are not vulnerable to gophers and then finding the time to water every day. So these summer jewels are rare for me and very appreciated.

Imagine walking through the garden and picking some fresh chard, some of that dark opal basil, a few zucchini, a few tomatoes, and then heading for the kitchen to make a pie that tastes just like high summer. I blind baked a pie shell (using a round of parchment paper and my much-used and saved for pie baking kidney beans to keep the pastry from rising or forming big bubbles in the crust. Then I put chopped onions and mushrooms into a skillet with olive oil to saute'. While that was cooking, I made half moons of zucchini and cut tomatoes into chunks. I chopped basil and sliced well-washed chard into ribbons about 1 inch wide, after removing the stems. Once the onions and mushrooms were tender, I added the squash and tomatoes, let them cook until the squash were tender, then placed the chard on top, added a couple tablespoons water, and covered the pan to steam the chard.



While the chard steamed, I mixed 1/2 cup milk, egg substitute workth three eggs, 1/4 cup pesto, and a few grinds of pepper in a bowl. When the chard was tender, I mixed the vegetable mixture into the egg mixture and poured it all into the pie shell. After baking at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes until the pie filling was set and browned lightly, I let it cool just enough that it could be cut, then served it at our little eating place on the porch to Sweetie with those sliced tomatoes and some lemonade. Wish you could have joined us.