Squashed tacos that are anything but flat

Remember the time that you "lost" a zucchini while picking the others, and the next time you harvested, it was big as a kiddie baseball bat? And you GREW it, so you wanted to do something with it? I mean, besides throw it in the compost heap? You probably stuffed it with sausage and baked it, right? How did that turn out for you?

Well, I didn't have zucchini that big, but I did have three squash of different persuasions that I needed to fix before going out of town. And I had chorizo. And a red onion. And tortillas.

Tacos!

And they were fantastically delicious. When people talk about using meat as a condiment, I think of sausage in general. It's too greasy to use on its own, yet it's well-spiced and flavorful in many kinds of dishes.

By pairing it with a fairly bland vegetable, such as squash, you get the pow of the sausage and a lot of nutrition as well.

Lori K's Chorizo Tacos
Serves 4

Ingredients
½ pound chorizo (see note below)
3-4 squash (zucchini, patty pan, yellow ... any summer squash)
¼ red onion
Salt to taste
8-12 corn tortillas
Cilantro leaves
Lettuce, sliced
Guacamole (optional)
Tomatoes, diced (optional)

Instructions
Put the chorizo in a cold cast-iron skillet and turn burner to low. As you wait for it to start frying, gather your condiments and cut your squash in a rough dice. Small dice the onion.

Put the tortillas in a towel or warmer and set them in the microwave.

Chop up the sausage as it fries. When you flip it, add the squash. Cook until the squash is tender but not mushy, about 8-10 minutes. Salt if you think it's needed.

Add the onion and heat the tortillas in the microwave for about a minute. One by one, fill the soft tortillas with the drained mixture, add cilantro, lettuce, guacamole and tomatoes, and enjoy.

Note: Be sure to use the raw Mexican sausage in this dish. The one I used for this dish came from The Rock Barn, via Relay Foods. The Spanish version is not spicy enough and more vinegary. For vegetarians, there are very good vegan chorizos available. I often use them because they are much less greasy and still have the punch and flavor of the meaty kind.

Candied bacon - need I say more?

I saw this recipe last week on Jamie Oliver's Facebook page and socked it away for when clementines are back in season (around Christmas). But after watching a food show that featured maple glazed donuts with bacon on top, I dug it out and made the substitution of marmalade for the sugar and clementine juice sauce. I still plan to try the original, but the tartness of the rind in the marmalade (homemade; many thanks to Bettina Blackford for a splendid gift) was a perfect foil to the richness of the bacon.

Lori's candied bacon salad
Adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe
Serves 2

For the creamy dressing:
• 2 tablespoons good-quality extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon nonfat yogurt
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:
• 4 slices of thick bacon or a meaty sliced smoked pork jowl
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 2 heaping tablespoons orange marmalade
• 1 jigger of Meyer's rum
• 2 large handfuls of mixed salad leaves, washed and spun dry
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 seedless clementine or mandarin orange, peeled and sliced horizontally
• a small bunch of fresh mint leaves, optional
• freshly ground black pepper

To make your dressing, put all the ingredients into a large serving bowl, whisk together, and season to taste. You want it to be slightly too acidic, so add a splash more vinegar if you think it needs it. Put to one side.

Get a large frying pan on a medium heat, add the bacon and cook until lightly golden (but not really crispy), turning them every so often. Remove the bacon to a plate and drain all but a tablespoon of the fat. Squash your garlic clove and add it to the pan, then turn the heat up a little. Cook until the clove is golden, remove it, then add the marmalade and rum and whisk until blended. Put the bacon back in, being careful not to touch the syrup. Stir the bacon around until it is coated on all sides and gets sticky. Use tongs to carefully remove the bacon to an oiled plate and let them cool.

Grab your bowl of dressing and add your salad leaves. Add the bell pepper and the orange slices. Add your mint leaves, if using, then use your hands to toss and dress everything thoroughly. Lay your candied bacon on top then pass the bowl around the table and let everyone serve themselves.

Wine suggestion:
Californian Fumé Blanc

Cleanup suggestion:
Pour hot water into the pan with the marmalade drippings and soak the utensils until after dinner. Cleanup will be easier.

Louie, Louie, crab Louis

If you order crab Louis and the waitress asks what kind of dressing you want on your salad, just walk out the door. Crab Louis has its dressing built into the dish. It is crabmeat. It is lettuce. But it's the dressing that makes it crab Louis.

Crab Louis
adapted from "Creole Gumbo and All That Jazz" by Howard Mitcham (Addison-Wesley, 1978, 180 pages)
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 large head (or 2 small) romaine lettuce
1 cup homemade mayonnaise
1/4 cup tomato sauce, or 2 tablespoons tomato paste
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon capers
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1 pound fresh crabmeat, picked clean and squeezed dry

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions
Wash the lettuce, remove the coarse ribs and shred. In a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise, tomato sauce or paste, lemon juice, capers and cayenne together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Blend in the lettuce and the crab, gently as not to break it up, until both are well coated. Serve in individual salad bowls.

Homemade mayonnaise

Ingredients
2 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco
1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
White pepper to taste
16 ounces olive or canola oil

Instructions
Beat together the yolks and the seasoning ingredients. Add the oil, a drop at a time at first, then in a slow, steady stream. Keep beating until all the oil is absorbed. If it curdles, you have added the oil too quickly. Start over with a new bowl and an egg yolk. Beat the yolk, and add the curdled mixture to it slowly. The final mixture should be velvety, creamy and smooth, and it should have a full-bodied zest.

Lettuce bring back memories

It's hard not to think of lettuce but as a backdrop for salad, a prop for "the goodies" such as tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, etc. And the lettuce that is picked elsewhere and shipped to where we are shouldn't be expected to be much more than that; the most you can ask of it is to be crisp and bright.

A trip to Provence opened my eyes - yes, even my jaded, Californian I-only-eat-mixed-baby-lettuces eyes - to what a difference it makes when the lettuce comes fresh from the garden only minutes before. We were day hiking near Mount Ventoux and our guides led us up a terraced hill to a stone farmhouse past a corral of goats. As we entered the quaint structure, a peaceful farm woman greeted us and bid us to sit at one of four long, sturdy wooden tables in the great room. She then went into the kitchen and returned bearing only three things: a platter of goat cheeses, from hours old, to aged 3 months; a platter of thinly sliced, salty jambon (ham) and a large shallow wooden bowl of romaine leaves, dressed only with olive oil and a sprinkling of herbs and salt. It was one of my best lunches ever.

The part I remembered most was that the lettuce tasted so ALIVE, that it didn't need a splash of balsamic vinegar to perk it up. The advantage to not using vinegar to dress the salad was that the acid in the vinegar would not ruin the tongue for the light wines we had with lunch. (That is also the reason that many French people serve the salad after the main course, to more fully enjoy the wine with the meal.)

So while the weather is reasonably cool, I grow lettuce in my flower boxes (the photo was taken this morning) where the bunnies can't get to it. I've been just clipping the leaf lettuces as needed for salads, and tearing off a few leafs of romaine for sandwiches and tacos. I'll harvest all of it before I take off for California over Memorial Day, and then plant again the week before Labor Day for the fall crop.

Baby lettuces: Best (almost) naked

One of the joys of the home garden is fall lettuce. As the nights get colder, the tomatoes and peppers wane, but perky little leaf lettuces keep chugging right along, except when a warm spell comes along and causes them to bolt (that's gardening speak for sending up a stalk and going to seed).

And picking off the leaves before they get too big ensures a tender, sweet salad. You don't need to do much to them; unlike lettuce that has spent too much time in the garden and then the refrigerator, they still have their delicate flavor. I'm sure you have a favorite dressing for salad, but now's not the time to show it off. Dress the tender leaves with a drizzle of good olive oil, then sprinkle with a grind of dried oregano, basil, red pepper, black pepper and sea salt.

The vinegar that adds so much flavor to most of your salads just overwhelms the fresh, baby lettuces. Save it for later, when your imported lettuces will need all the help they can get.

Vegetable and fruit tips

• Never put tomatoes in the fridge. It changes their cell structure and causes them to get mealy. (This is one reason that tomatoes picked green and shipped cold don't ever taste as good as garden tomatoes.) And if you are having a hard time slicing them, sharpen your knife. (Tip from the class: Serrated knives work well, too.)
• Many vegetables, including corn on the cob, are best cooked in the microwave. You can put two ears in, unshucked, cook for 3 minutes, shuck and remove silk easily, then finish on the grill. Brush with butter or oil with your favorite seasonings before serving.
• To keep cauliflower white while cooking, add a little milk to the water.
• For truly clean leeks, chop them first, then give them a bath in cold water and drain in a colander.
• If you need only 1/2 an onion, save the root half. It will last longer.
• When tossing a salad with a basic vinaigrette, always make the vinaigrette at least 1/2 hour ahead of time and let the mixture sit to allow the flavors to marry. Pour the vinaigrette on the chopped additions to the greens -- tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, sunflower seeds, sprouts, etc. -- not directly on the greens, and toss, for a more evenly dressed salad. If you want to plate a salad ahead of time, don't use a vinaigrette. Sprinkle chilled, crisp greens with sea salt, pepper, herbs and a a little fine extra-virgin olive oil, and toss to coat. The salad won't wilt.
• If you do have to use a plastic bag to store greens, wash and wrap them in dry paper towels. They will keep longer.
• Romaine and leaf lettuces are loaded with vitamins compared to iceberg. They have has three times as much Vitamin C and six times as much Vitamin A.
• When buying cabbage, look for heads that appear heavier than their size with crisp leaves.
• Buy mushrooms before they "open." When stems and caps are attached snugly, mushrooms are truly fresh.
• When picking a melon, smell it for freshness and ripeness. Check to see that the fruit is heavy for its size and that the spot on the end where it has been plucked from the vine is soft.

Prepping food for easy meals

Here are some tips that you can do after shopping that will save you time on weeknights after work.

Green beans: Snip the ends off. Bring a pot of water to a boil and put a drain insert or steaming basket in it. When the water is boiling well, put the beans in. Get a bowl of ice water ready. When the water comes back to a full rolling boil, take the beans out and put them in the bowl of ice water. Drain and store in the fridge for up to three days. To prepare, heat a tablespoon of butter or olive oil in a skillet, add beans, season with salt and pepper (and garlic or black bean sauce if you desire) and saute until heated. Serve. Top with a tablespoon of crumbled bacon, toasted sesame seeds or slivered almonds if desired.

Lettuce: Wash the heads thoroughly when you get them home and shake dry. If the bottom has turned brown, cut a 1/4 inch or so off. Wrap the lettuce in paper towels and put back in its plastic bag (clean the bag out first if the lettuce was especially dirty). You can even tear the leaves for salad if you plan on using it all in a day or two. Still, be sure to wrap the lettuce in paper (or cloth) towels. But don't use a metal knife and cut it; it will discolor rapidly.

Asparagus: If you like grilled asparagus, cook a pound or two at a time. Be sure to snap off the bottoms; they will naturally break where the tender part starts. Cook it about 8 minutes or until crisp-tender, no more. You can reheat it in the microwave (if it seemed a little bitter to you the first time, try reheating it in milk - that smooths out the taste) or use it cold in a salad or with a drizzle of lemon and butter and a poached egg on top.

More to come as I think of them.

Later this week, we will be gone a few days to see my nephew graduate; if I don't keep up my posts then, please check back after June 9 for sure.

Flounder, no floundering

A lovely, fresh flounder fillet called for a special treatment, but I had no time to consult my books - dinner had to be on the table in a half hour. So I picked up a half-pound of crab meat, some red, yellow and green pepper strips from the salad bar and some green onions, and headed for home. I had a half of a peeled yam left in the fridge.

I turned on the oven to 450, and put the 8-ounce fillet on a sheet of nonstick foil, about 4 inches longer than the fish. As the oven was heating, I diced the fresh pepper strips into tiny cubes and sliced two of the green onions. In a small bowl, I whipped one farm-fresh egg thoroughly with a fork, then mixed together the crab, peppers and onions with a generous grinding of pepper. I piled the crab mixture on the fillet, almost to the edges. Gathering up the long sides, I folded the edged a couple of times to seal, then folded up the ends so it was tightly wrapped. I placed the packet on top of the broiler pan, along with the yam, which I sprayed with olive oil and seasoned with a little salt and pepper. I baked the fish for 20 minutes; the yam wasn't quite done, so I put it in the microwave for another two minutes after I took out the pan from the oven. I made a simple salad of lettuce, arugula, cucumbers and feta while the fish cooked.

I opened the packet, which was still steaming, cut the fish in half horizontally, and put it on two plates, surrounded by a piece of vibrant orange yam, and the green salad. The confetti of the diced peppers gave the otherwise white dish a festive flair, and the plate looked great. I wish I had taken a shot of it - but we ate it immediately! A satisfying, low-fat, low-carb, low-salt meal. 

Lettuce examine the roots

When I first saw "living lettuce" in the stores, I doubted it was worth the extra cost. But three weeks ago, when I had a hankering for butter lettuce to eat with my tuna salad for lunch, I bought one of them in a clamshell and added a little water for its roots when I got home. Well, there is still a bit of it in the fridge and it's still just as fresh as when I bought it.

And I was even more impressed with it after viewing the video below. Most lettuce is more economical to buy by the traditional head, and since we have salad at almost every meal, there isn't usually the problem of any of it going to waste. But for specialty lettuces, I'm not going to feel too bad about spending a little extra for one with roots.