Vegetables of the week!

I couldn't wait to get some eggplant, so I was sooo happy when I got my box to see that finally the time had come to work with eggplants again ye! We have red peppers too and leeks..I already have tons of ideas of what I'm going to do with them...I'm thinking roasted eggplant and pepper dip, ratatouille, stuffed thin slices of eggplants with ricotta cheese and a nice little tomatoes sauce...babaganough will also be on my list and many more...

Lobster Salad

One thing I really miss about working on yachts (for the ones who don't already know...well yes, I used to work on yachts as a private Chef...seems like centuries ago) is spending the summers in New England and eating fresh lobsters and juicy sweet clams on a bed of linguinis with my dear friend Debby...all fresh from the ocean, I am feeling soooo nostalgic right now..snif.. remembering these good old days...but it only last a few seconds before other memories come rushing through my mind of long, exausting days of work and all of a sudden the nostalgia is gone and I'm quite happy where I am with my freshly caught lobsters from.. well....Sam's..
But hey! all the other ingredients are from our lovely organic farm.

For the Salad:
You can certainly use the vegetables of your choice. Mine had:
2 avocados, sliced
1 cucumbers, cut into ribbons with a potato peeler
2 hard boiled eggs, cut in half
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1/2 zucchini, cut in half and sliced thinly

1 bunch of fresh basil

2 cups of lettuce, cut bite size

Dressing (my favorite ever)

In your food processor, puree:

1 whole shallot

1 tbl sp of Dijon mustard

1/2 cup olive oil

Fresh lemon juice to taste (about 1 part of lemon to 3 parts of oil)

Dash of red crush Chile pepper

Salt and Pepper

Sautee of swiss chard, lots of whole basil leaves,fresh corn, zucchinis and cherry tomatoes

Basil is wonderful but it doesn't last very long. I have done a lot of pestos but recently I have used it not only as a herb but as a green..I sautee the whole leaves, and quite a big bunch of them at once, and add it to other vegetables or just eat it by itself with a bit of minced garlic, crushed chile pepper, lemon zest and soy sauce, it's yummie as a side dish or with jasmine rice. I thought it might be too strong at first but it isn't...it makes the dish very fragrant and flavorful!!

Ingredients
2 scallions, sliced
4 cups of chard, chopped bite size
1 cup of fresh corn kernels
1cup of zucchinis, cut in strings of 3 inches long
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, sliced to 1/4 inch
2 packed cups of whole basil leaves
3 tbl sp of dark balsamic vinegar
2 tbls sp of olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Directions
Heat medium size skillet on medium heat. Add scallions cook until transparent, about 1-2 minutes. Add chard, corn and zucchinis, cook for an additional 2 minutes or until tender. Add tomatoes, whole basil leaves, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and fresh cracked pepper.
Enjoy!

Warm salad of kale with roasted peppers, goat cheese and pain de campagne

I always like to clean my salad plate by wiping a piece of bread on the left over dressing. A piece of bread soaked in balsamic vinegar and olive oil is simply delicious no? That's is what inspired me for this salad.

I used a piece of pain de campagne (I don't know what it is in english..farmer's bread, country bread?) that I had for 2-3 days. It was starting to get a bit hard, that's mainly the reason why I decided to include it in this dish.

Perfect for recycling a piece of bread that's getting a bit tough!!

Ingredients

2-3 cups of kale, chopped

2 shallots, quartered

1 1/2 cup of good stale bread, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 roasted peppers (red, orange or yellow, your choice), each sliced in 8 pieces

1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled

5 tbl sp of olive oil

3 tbl sp of dark balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

Directions

Heat medium size skillet on medium heat. Add 2 tbl sp of olive oil, when oil is hot add onions, sautee 2 minutes or until transparent. Add kale and cook 2-3 minutes or until tender. Add the roasted peppers, balsamic vinegar and remaining 3 tbls sp. olive oil, add bread and toss to coat with the olive oil and the balsamic vinegar, add salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Transfer to serving platter or plates, sprinkle with goat cheese and serve.

Spaghettinis with kale, black olives, capers, roasted garlic and toasted pine nuts

You can substitute the kale with any other greens. However, the collard green might need to cook a little more.

Ingredients
1 lb of spaghettinis (or pastas of you choice)
4 tblsp spoon of olive oil
6-7 big garlic cloves, roughly chopped (it sounds like a lot but when the garlic is nicely roasted it becomes quite mild and sweet)
½ cup of pine nuts
¾ cups of black olives (more or less depending of your preferences)
¼ cup of capers
2 -14 ounces cans of tomatoes, pureed in the food processor
2 full cups of kale, chopped

Directions
In a large skillet, heat olive oil on med-low heat. Add garlic, reduce heat to low. Roast garlic for 10 minutes. Remove garlic – keeping as much as the garlic infused oil as possible - from skillet and set aside to cool. Return skillet to burner and toast pine nuts on medium heat, in the garlic infused olive oil, until nice and brown. Add black olives and capers and sauté 2-3 minutes. While black olives and capers are dancing in the skillet mash the garlic with the side of your knife’s blade until it’s reduced to a puree and add to black olives and capers. Add the tomatoes and cook for approximately 10 minutes, still on medium heat. Add kale and cook 2 minutes. Serve on pastas of your choice. You could also add some zucchinis to this recipe since we have some really nice organic ones from the farm.

Hope you like it!