Gazpacho

The soup of the day today is Gazpacho, the most refreshing summer soup for a hot summer day. Make it a few hours early, or in the morning, or even the night before serving.
There are many varieties of gazpacho served in Spain, although this is the standard. There is a shortcut version if you don't have many tomatoes which uses tomato juice, a white gazpachos that skip the tomatoes and pepper, and various melon gazpachos if you want to use up some leftover watermelon.


1 cucumber
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1 pepper
2 medium ripe tomatoes
1/4 cup sherry wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
fresh thyme, parsley
sriracha
garlicky croutons

You may want to peel the cucumber so that the green and reds don't combine to make an ugly color when blended. Chop ingredients so that you can blend them easily. Pop veggies in the blender and blend until smooth. add oil, vinegar, herbs and hot sauce to suit your preferences.

Refrigerate for an hour or more, and serve with croutons and extra chopped veggies if you choose.

Ratatouille

A classic summer staple, make ratatouille when you have an abundance of summer produce. But first, let me tell you my confession: I tend to be too casual when cooking ratatouille. Over the years, I treated it like a meat stew, where you could throw everything in a pot and assume it would be great.
Read the instructions and you'll see how easy it is try and take shortcuts.

Ratatouille is a stew with lots of delicious vegetables, but you want to taste each veggie separately. To do so, cook them separately in olive oil, and just finish the dish off by throwing everything together in the big pot. The exact vegetables that you use, and the amounts of each vegetable are not crucial, so feel free to experiment with the recipe in that way. Let me know how it comes out!

1 small to medium eggplant
2 small to medium zucchini or yellow squash
1 cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic
4 tomatoes, chopped, or 15 oz can chopped tomatoes
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
fresh basil, parsley, thyme
salt, pepper


Begin by chopping the eggplant, salting it, and setting aside to rest.
Next, sauté the onion and chopped garlic over medium heat in 2 T oil for 5 minutes and set aside in a bowl.
Then, sauteé the  chopped peppers in 2 T oil for 5 minutes. Add it to the onions.
Add 2 more T oil to the pan, and cook the squash for a 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add squash to the onions and peppers.
Wipe the eggplants dry with paper towels, and fry in remaining oil until they start to brown and become transparent. Add tomatoes and spices, and cook for 10 more minutes.
Add all veggies to the pan, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.

This can be served with pasta, rice, or garlic bread and a salad.

Savory corn bean pie

This recipe combines corn and beans to make a complete protein, so that your body gets all the amino acids that it needs. I remember reading that a long time ago in the cookbook, Recipes for a Small Plant by Frances Moore Lappé. Its a good book that explains the Humanist basis for vegetarianism, that it can help the world have enough food to feed the hungry.
Preheat oven to 400

2 cups cornmeal
6 oz vegetable broth or less
Soy sauce
1/2 cup Olive Oil

3 stalks celery, chopped
1 1/2 cups carrots in thick chunks
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups beans, canned or rehydrated kidney, cannelini, black beans all ok I have also doubled the beans and that is good, too.
Cumin and seasonings
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

I made this this week, and I cut the olive oil down to 2 T for the crust. You can also add a Tablespoon of soy sauce. I also precooked the crust for 10 minutes. It came out chewier, and it stuck to the pie plate a bit. Maybe its a good idea to spray the pie plate if you cut down on the oil by so much.
Mix the cornmeal with the oil and broth until the consistency of play doh. Pat into pie pan. You can prebake it, or leave it to cook filled.

In large frying pan, sauté onions, celery and carrots until for 10 minutes, or until carrots get softened. Add beans and season with lots of cumin, some garlic, soy sauce, coriander, parsley, and black pepper. Pour into crust and bake 25 minutes, covered with foil. Remove foil, add cheese and return to oven for 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

Over the many years that I've made this, I have experimented with adding lots of other ingredients that would inch the pie closer to Mexican. Since it contains, cornmeal, beans, cumin and cheese, it seems like it belongs. It doesn't work for me! Tomatoes, peppers, fresh corn, and avocados are all great in real Mexican recipes, but I just love the way this tastes with the original list of ingredients.

Sprouted rice quinoa kale salad

This was a new creation today, and it my gardening friends Jeanne and Dawn enjoyed it as a light lunch dish over romaine and cucumbers.

3 cups Sprouted Rice Quinoa mix, cooked (1 cup dried prepared with 2 cups of water) and cooled
1/3 cup chopped toasted pecans
1/3 cup golden raisins
2 cups curly kale, lightly sprayed with olive oil,  massaged, and shredded into little pieces with ribs removed
1/2 cup shelled peas
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 T finely chopped green onion
olive oil
balsamic salad dressing
Lightly saute onions, garlic and peas.  Add kale, salt, and cook until just lightly softened, about 3 minutes.
Mix all ingredients and dress with balsamic vinaigrette. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Broccoli and Tofu with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Adapted from Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest and I don't change much



1 container firm or extra firm tofu
2 bunches of broccoli, chopped
2 cups or less of sliced onions
4 cloves of garlic
2 T chopped fresh ginger
1 cup chopped peanuts
1/2 cup peanut butter. Dad would make it one whole cup
2 T cider vinegar
2 T molasses, or any sweetener you have handy
4 T soy sauce
cayenne pepper, salt
canola oil- The original recipe used peanut oil, it stir fries hotter, but I never buy that.

Dry tofu on paper towels and dice tofu into 1/2 inch cubes.
Mince ginger and garlic and set aside.
Make sauce- combine peanut butter, 1/2 cup water, 2 T soy sauce, molasses, vinegar, and hot pepper to taste and heat until the peanut butter combines smoothly.

Add one T of oil in wok or large saute pan and saute half of the garlic and ginger with a few shakes of salt. After one minute, turn the heat up, add tofu and stir fry for 5 minutes.  Add tofu to peanut sauce pan.

Wipe out wok, add 2 T oil, and add the remaining ginger and garlic. Saute for one minute with a bit of salt, add onions and cook for a few more minutes, add peanuts and broccoli and stir fry for about 5 minutes until the broccoli turns bright green. Add soy sauce and stir through. Add peanut sauce and toss gently. Serve over rice.