Last Call and First Alarm

An alarming scientific article says changes in the atmosphere due to changes in the climate have robbed or reduced the nutrients in our food. There is no there there. Essentially our food is the mechanism that transforms solar energy into fuel that powers our body and pollutants in the atmosphere are significantly interfering now. Likely, supermarket food is fast becoming useless, pretty but nourishment free. Best bet remains your local farmer: if there's any nutrients the ground can supply that food will have them.

This said, time is running out for the watery vegetables and fruits of summer. So here are a few delicious goodbyes to superior farm fresh produce. And of course, easy does it. You can make a meal of them, as the photo suggests. What you see are fresh corn fritters, farm fresh heirloom tomato sliced and salted, chard stuffed baby peppers, roasted cherry tomatoes atop goat cheese on olive bread, figs wrapped in prosciutto, Armenian green beans (see Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking and earlier blog posts on green beans) and olives. All together leaves room for chocolate torte. ;o)
NOTE; This is a very vegetarian post.

Himalayan Sesame Cucumbers
Another recipe from my cookbook in progress: The Himalaya: A Cook's Tour

 Serves 4-6

2 ripe med slicing cucumbers, peeled, split and seeded or 4 Persian cucumbers

1 tsp coarse including kosher salt

1 tbsp (heaping) sesame seeds (if you can find roasted that speeds this up)

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 large lemon, juice only

1 sm green chili, seeded and minced

1 tbsp mustard oil or 1 tbsp veg oil with 1/8 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

optional garnish: a handful of chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Dry roast the sesame seeds in a small nonstick frying pan if they are not already roasted. Cool slightly and grind them to powder (a coffee grinder is perfect) or smash them in a mortar.

Cut the cucumbers into 2” lengths, then slice off thin strips into a medium bowl.

Blend in ½ tsp salt and let the cucumbers stand for 15 minutes. Drain off any water that’s accumulated and pat the cucumbers dry. 

Blend in the ground sesame, turmeric, lemon juice, minced chili, and the remaining ½ tsp salt.

 Heat the oil in a small pan. Fry the fenugreek seeds about 30 seconds until they start to color. Pour the oily seeds over the cucumbers.

 Optionally garnish with the cilantro and serve.

Provencal Tomato Soup
An oldie but always goodie because it's so simple, so yummy, so pure in nourishment and it freezes well to boot.

Serves 4-5

2 lbs. fresh tomatoes, skinned (optional) and chopped

2 lg. onions, peeled and finely chopped

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. butter

1 mildly hot small pepper minced or pinch of chili pepper flakes

2 tbsp. dried thyme

1 bay leaf

¼ tsp. salt

freshly ground black pepper to your taste

2 tbsp. minced fresh parsley (5-6 sprigs)

Optional garnish: buttered garlic croutons

In a medium sized heavy gauge casserole, heat the butter and olive oil together until the butter melts. Stir in thyme and stir-fry 30 seconds. Add onions, bay leaf and a pinch of ground black pepper. Stir to blend and sauté over medium low heat until the onions are soft and glistening.

Add the tomatoes and hot pepper and mix well. If the tomatoes aren’t juicy, add ½ cup water to avoid burning. Cover and simmer on low for 20-25 minutes, until the tomatoes become soupy. (If the soup is too thick and pasty, add either another ¼ cup of water or dry sherry if you’d like.)

Remove the bay leaf and remove from heat. Your choice: blitz the soup into a puree or eat it chunky. Stir in the parsley.  Adjust salt and pepper to your taste and serve with or without garlic croutons.

Imam Bayildi 
I'm repeating this famous Turkish eggplant dish I posted in the book How to Fix a Leek ... because right now just about all the featured ingredients, especially eggplants, are piled high at market stalls.

For 8

4 small eggplants, the large Japanese work fine (about 1½-1 3/4 lbs)

Salt

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup plus 2 tbsp best quality extra virgin, first cold pressed olive oil

2 med onions, peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

6 lg garlic cloves, peeled and minced

2 ripe tomatoes, peeled* and chopped

¼ cup (about 1/3 bunch) parsley leaves, chopped

2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

juice of ½ lemon

½ -3/4 cup water

Cut stems off eggplants and peel strips of skin off at 1” intervals, for a striping effect.  Cut each eggplant in half lengthwise. Make a deep slit lengthwise through the fleshy side of the eggplant (the non-skin side), being careful not to cut all the way through and puncture the skin. If any of the halves do not lie perfectly flat on the skin side, slice off a tiny, thin piece so they do. Salt the exposed flesh, turn upside down and put on paper towels for 30 minutes to drain out the bitter juice. Rinse and dry.

In a very large skillet, heat the ordinary olive oil over high heat until it’s crackling or smoking. Put in the eggplants, flesh side down, and fry until golden brown, about 4-6 minutes depending on heat capacity, burner size and size of pan. Remove and drain on paper towels. Lightly salt.

In the same skillet, heat ¼ cup quality olive oil over medium high heat. Add onions and garlic. Sauté until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir frequently so nothing burns. 

Pour the contents of the skillet into a medium-size bowl. Add tomatoes, parsley, dill, pepper, pinch of salt and 1 tbsp quality olive oil.  Blend well.

Arrange eggplant halves slit side up in the skillet. Carefully stuff each slit with as much onion mixture as you can and then cover all exposed eggplant with it. Sprinkle lemon juice over all eggplants.

Put 1 tbsp quality olive oil into the skillet. Add ½ -3/4 cup water, enough to cover the entire bottom so nothing will burn. Cover the skillet (use foil or a cookie sheet if you have no lid) and simmer over low heat until eggplants are soft, about 50-65 minutes, again depending on how big the burner is relative to the skillet. Check every 10-15 minutes to see if you should add water because there’s no juice in the bottom.  Cool to room temperature. Pour any remaining skillet juices over the eggplants to serve.

Small Peppers stuffed with Cheese and Chard

Overwhelming just now the amount and color of peppers pouring into farmers' markets before frost. Usually I stuff mine with rice, dill, pine nuts, lemon zest or tomatoes. Sometimes I stuff them with orzo, tomatoes, parsley and tuna. This is a carb-free lighter version with surprisingly zesty flavor.

Serves four to six.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large bunch chard, trimmed, stalks and leaves finely chopped

Salt and black pepper
2 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed and minced
2 mild red chilies, deseeded and very finely chopped (roasted ones are even more yummy)
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp pine nuts, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
3 tbsp pecorino romano or parmesan cheese, finely grated
1/3 c shredded or grated mozzarella

2 lbs mixed baby peppers (ie, about 20 baby peppers)

Heat the oven to 400º. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, then for 15 minutes fry the chard, ¼ tsp salt and a generous grind of black pepper, stirring often, until the stalks are soft and starting to brown. Add garlic, chili and oregano, fry 1 minute, then remove from the heat. Cool, then stir in the pine nuts and cheeses.

Cut a little V from the stalk of each pepper down almost to the base and scoop out and discard the seeds. Stuff each pepper with the chard mix, then lay them all cut side up on the lined baking pan. Roast 20 minutes, until the peppers are soft and caramelized. Cool at least 10 minutes and serve warm or later at room temperature. (These make great picnic and boat food.)

Roasted Tomato Sauce (Achar in Nepali)
Another treasure from the collect of recipes in The Himalaya: A Cook's tour
It beats ketchup! Great with omelets, dumplings, baked potatoes and fish, for starters.

2-3 sm/med not so juicy tomatoes (avoid heirlooms and try Romas for this)

2 garlic cloves, peeled

½” piece of ginger, peeled

3 dried arbol chilies or one small fresh hot red chili pepper

½ tsp. tumeric, ground

1/3 bunch cilantro, leaves only

1/8 tsp. salt (more if you like salt)

Roast the tomatoes(a toaster oven at 450º works just fine) on a tray until they blister and the skin starts to peel off. Remove from heat and cool enough to handle. Core and peel.

In a blender or small food processor combine all the ingredients and puree until they form a thick sauce. Taste for salt and adjust.