QUICK SUMMER MEALS

Quick Summer Meals

            School is finished for the summer! The Maine Mother’s Day to Father’s Day black fly season is over!  Our mosquito and tourist season has just begun! It is finally summer and we are likely to cram in as many outdoor activities in our day as work, weather, summer visitors and level of energy permits.

            All of this means reduced time in the kitchen and planning for meals that require little time and fewer trips to the store for necessary ingredients. Cooking outdoors on the grill is a favorite solution, but there are days when the weather refuses to cooperate and you still wish to put an attractive and fresh meal on your table.

            Various stir fries can be attractively supplemented with fresh vegetables and a salad for this purpose. The usual base for such are pasta, rice or potatoes, but a quick and easy alternative is couscous. This is a staple in the Mediterranean and Africa and is made of crushed durum wheat semolina that has been pressed in very small clumps to look like miniature pasta grains. The quick cooking variety is a summer staple at our house and can be served with a variety of toppings. Quick cooking grits make a suitable gluten free alternative.

                                    Couscous

            In a 2 qt. pot bring to boil:  1 cup water, 1 cup chicken broth, 1 tblsp. olive oil, ½ tsp. salt and pepper to taste. Stir in 1 cup quick cooking couscous, cover tightly with a lid and set aside for 5 minutes. Stir with a fork and serve. Optional additions could be adding ¼ cup dried currants or slivered almonds to the pot before stirring in the couscous.

            Two of my recent favorite toppings have relied on shrimp and ham combinations with Feta cheese, which tends to be another useful summer staple for dressing up salads as well as stir fries. The following recipes serve 4, but can be scaled up or down depending on the number of people at the table.

                                    Shrimp Scampi with Feta

            Sauté 1 lb. raw peeled and deveined shrimp with 2 minced garlic cloves in 2 tblsp.  olive oil until shrimp are barely pink. Remove to a warm plate. In the same pan sauté ½ green pepper cut in julienne strips, 1 small onion thinly sliced in ½ tblsp. added oil for 3 minutes. Stir in ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes, 1 tsp. anchovy paste (optional), 1medim tomato cut in narrow wedges and ½ cup white wine. Cook for 2-3 minutes, return shrimp to the pan to warm and stir in 1/3 cup chopped chives and 3 oz. cubed Feta cheese. Cook stirring for 1 minute and serve on top of couscous in shallow bowls.

                        Creamed Ham with mushrooms and Feta

            Cut 3/4 lb. sliced ham in 2 x3 inch pieces. In a large pan sauté:1 medium onion thinly sliced, 1 minced clove garlic and 6 large mushrooms coarsely sliced in 2 Tblsp. butter for 4-5 minutes. Stir in ½ tsp. salt, 1 Tblsp. flour, ¼ tsp. pepper, ½ cup white wine, ½ cup chicken broth and 1 tblsp. balsamic vinegar. Heat stirring to make a sauce. Add the ham pieces and heat through turning several times. Gently stir in ½ cup heavy cream and 2 oz. cubed Feta cheese. When heated through, serve on couscous in shallow bowls topped with chopped parsley.

            These quick and tasty summer meals can serve as a basic template for many variations on the theme. Each could be made with precooked chicken, added red pepper julienne slices or even snow peas depending on ingredients on hand. And best of all, leave more time to enjoy your summer activities.

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

QUICHE FOR REAL MEN?

Quiche for Real Men?

            How many times have you heard the cliché “Real men don’t eat quiche”, while sitting in a group at a restaurant table or even an elegant brunch or lunch at home?  The comment is likely to be muttered more quietly at a private home gathering in fear offending the hosts or the cook.

            To trace the origins of this male antipathy, it is necessary to go back quite a few years. Quiche originated in France and was adapted to English cooking as early as the 14^th century. The early French version of an egg custard in pastry with lardons, became in England a hearty pastry with custard, bacon and cheddar cheese.

The more widespread appearance of quiche on American tables coincided with the growth of appreciation of diverse foods as well as a search for low calorie healthy ingredients. Hence the current popularity of: broccoli quiche, asparagus quiche, zucchini quiche etc. All mildly delicious in their own right, but a pale and far cry from the bold and hearty fare provided by the original type quiche.

This was amply demonstrated recently on our week-long cruise, where a different quiche was available for breakfast each day.  Unfortunately, they all looked pale and retiring and did not inspire a happy awakening of my taste buds. The chef had excellent credentials, but admitted that the delicate flavor was what the public favored in a quiche. However, those delicate flavors are likely to account for the prissy perception by “real men” for quiche.

And yet, quiche is an easy summer meal, is relatively uncomplicated to make and is no more caloric than everyone’s favorite – pizza, with comparable flavor. So on a recent evening we had a hearty quiche and salad for supper.

                        Quiche Loraine

Crisp in a pan 4 thick slices of bacon and drain on paper towels. Pour off most of the fat and sauté on low heat a thinly sliced onion until transparent. Line a 9 inch pie plate with a premade pastry crust, pressing down the sides and crimp the overhanging edges. Spread over the crust 1 cup Gruyère cheese, the sautéd onion, ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese and the crumbled bacon. In a separate bowl beat 4 eggs with 1 cup milk and ½ cup cream, ¼ tsp. nutmeg, ¼ tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper. Pour egg mixture over the contents of the pie. Bake in a preheated oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, turn down the heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for an additional 10-12 minutes until a knife inserted about an inch from the side comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving. Can be served warm or room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers. Individual slices can be reheated in the microwave for 30 seconds.

                                    Arugula salad with feta, cranberries and pecans

In a bowl combine 3 cups torn leaves of arugula, with ¼ cup dried cranberries, 8 pecan halves cut in half, 2 tblsp. chopped chives and 1 oz. cubed feta. Toss with lemony vinaigrette: 1 tblsp. lemon juice, 2 tblsp. white wine vinegar, 2 tsp. Dijon mustard, dash of salt and pepper and 2 tblsp. olive oil.

            The adapted recipe for the following Italian type of quiche originally came from my friend Jane Button many years ago. It’s name will assuage the sensibilities of any male at your table.

                                                Pizza rustica

            Line a 10 inch pie plate with a premade crust, press down the sides and crimp the edges. Heat 2 tblsp. olive oil in a pan over medium heat and sauté 2 cloves chopped garlic for 1 minute with ½ tsp. marjoram, ½ tsp. oregano and 2/3 cup pitted and sliced Niçoise olives. Stir in 8 oz. tomato purée, 4 oz. tomato paste, and salt and pepper to taste. Slice a seeded green pepper in matchsticks and ½ lb. Mozzarella in very thin slices. In a bowl beat 5 eggs, 1 lb. ricotta cheese, 2 Tblsp. chopped onion and parsley each,1 tsp. salt,  ¼ tsp. pepper and 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese. To assemble the pie: spread a little more than half of the Ricotta cheese mixture in the pie shell, arrange over it 1/3 of the Mozzarella slices, cover with half of the tomato sauce and spread ½ of the green pepper over that. Repeat all the layers and top with the last 1/3 of the Mozzarella slices. Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes until well browned. Let stand for ½ hour before serving. Serves 6-8.

            This heartier fare will please regardless of gender with its fresh and flavorful ingredients. All calorie concerns can always be addressed by the quintessential advice of your family doctor: “it is all in the portion size!”

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

PEACH TREE BLOOMING

Peach Tree Blooming.

            Gray is a somber color and definitely unsuited for spring. But mother nature’s  fashion decree this year seems to be for endless cold, cloudy and gray days. Our normal joyously giddy feelings of spring don’t seem to have a chance despite the valiant efforts by daffodils and tulips. And then, this morning our peach tree braved the cold and opened it’s blossoms in all their bright pink glory.

            A peach tree in full bloom is enough to bring a smile on anyone’s face, regardless of the gray backdrop of the sky. Spring after all is hope personified as demonstrated not only by our peach tree. The resident tom turkey is back fighting his image in the garage window and feeling that he has successfully defended his territory against invaders for another year. Other less flagrant signs of spring are the vigorous growth of sorrel and rhubarb in the back yard, apparently not inhibited by our recent cool damp days.

            So, it is definitely time for the cook to adapt to the seasons. While the cool weather is still appropriate for hearty soups, adding a bit of green gives them a fresher feel. The following soup melds lentils, barley and greens, using either kale or Swiss chard. It is best to cook the barley separately for improved texture of the soup.

                                                Lentil, barley and kale soup

            Rinse ½  cup barley in several changes of cold water to remove the fines that make the water cloudy. Place in a 2 quart pot, add ½ tsp. salt and water to cover by at least 2 inches. Bring to boil and cook on medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and set aside until the lentil part of the soup is ready.

            Sort and wash 1 cup green French lentils. In a 4-6 quart pot combine the lentils, 1 ½ quarts chicken or vegetable broth and diced vegetables: 2 stalks celery, 3 large carrots, 1 large onion, 2-3large garlic cloves and 1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes. Bring to boil, add 1 bay leaf and 1 tsp. each cumin and thyme. Bring to boil, stir and simmer 30 – 45 minutes until the lentils are tender.  Remove stalks from ½ small bunch of kale, cut leaves crosswise in ½ inch strips, add to the soup mixture and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Stir in reserved barley, heat again and adjust any volume with water and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with chopped chives for garnish, or if desired julienned strips of ham.

            Rhubarb is one of the quintessential spring harbingers with its tart flavor unsurpassed in pies. Frozen rhubarb can be used year round in fruit compotes, but fresh and juicy rhubarb is needed for a pie,

                                                Rhubarb-dried cherry pie

            Roll out pre-made pastry and fit in the bottom of a 9 in. pie plate. Wash and trim 1.5 lb. rhubarb and cut the stalks in 1 inch pieces (3 ½  to 4 cups) and combine in a large bowl with ½ cup dried cherries. If rhubarb is not very fresh and juicy, toss with 6 tblsp. cold water.  In a small bowl combine 1 cup sugar with 2 ½  tblsp. cornstarch. Spread 1/3 of the sugar mixture over the bottom pastry. Toss the rest of the sugar mixture with the rhubarb and turn it all in the lined pie plate. Sprinkle with ½ tsp. grated lemon peel and

dot with 1 tblsp. butter. Cover with a top pastry layer, crimp the sides together and cut some slits in the top for vents. Sprinkle the top of the pastry with some nutmeg. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 25 minutes, or until top is browned and juice bubbles up through the vents. Placing a piece of aluminum foil on the rack below the pie, during the 350 degree part of baking, will catch any overflowing juices and prevent an undesirable oven cleanup.      

                                    Strawberry-rhubarb pie

            Essentially proceed as with the rhubarb-dried cherry pie, but use only 2 cups rhubarb and 2 cups hulled, sliced strawberries.

            A blooming peach tree makes a very convincing argument for spring and when the pear behind it bursts out in profusion of white blossoms, it is easy to be convinced that all those gray days did not really matter at all.

 

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)