Flexible Late Summer Recipes
By: Beith Rotto, Cheese and Chill Buyer
Let me get right to some recipes you’ll want to use for some wonderful, easy meals featuring fresh veggies, grains, and a little cheese. Once familiar with these recipes, they can all be made in less than 1/2 hour. They are quite flexible as far as amounts and can incorporate leftovers in many cases. This is the way I often cook after a work day, and my husband Jon says he feels like he eats like a king.
Zucchini Quinoa Feta Salad
(Note – Soak 1 cup quinoa (rinsed) to save time and increase its digestibility. Experiment with soaking
all your grains!)
Cook 1 cup quinoa with 2 cups water and ¼ tsp salt. This takes 5-15 minutes, depending on whether or not you’ve soaked the quinoa. This can be done earlier in the day and left covered at room temperature.
At serving time add: 1 medium zucchini, shredded, 1/4 cup pitted green olives, sliced, and 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese (I prefer Mt. Vikos Feta Crumbles in this recipe.). The most delicious olives and your favorite feta are what make this dish special.
Whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil and your favorite vinegar. If you like the olive oil we use on our famous house made bocconcini (fresh marinated mozzarella balls), and who doesn’t, then use the Partanna Olive Oil sold at the Co-op in the colorful red tins. For vinegar, I use a simple herbed vinegar I make from rice wine vinegar and herbs growing in containers on my deck. Just wash herbs and cover with warm vinegar and allow to sit on your counter for a few days or longer. (Hint- good olive oil gets bitter when broken by blades, so always whisk your dressings by hand, not in a blender.)
Pour your oil and vinegar dressing over everything, reserving a little to mix with a couple of large handfuls of micro greens, spicy and fresh, from Root River Farm delivered to the Co-op from the farm just at the edge of town.
At last sprinkle handfuls of roasted, salted pumpkin seeds on top.
This recipe is my new “go-to” recipe for potlucks.
Cheesy Chard
This requires left over brown rice. Make extra next time. Spinach or other greens can be used instead of Swiss Chard, but I like Swiss Chard best.
Rinse, but do not dry, and chop a bunch of Swiss Chard leaves (reserve stems for another dish).
Saute a chopped onion and/or several minced garlic cloves in generous amount of olive oil. When soft, throw in the amount of leftover rice that you want and stir together with a little salt. Turn heat to medium and cover for 1 minute. Add chopped Swiss Chard leaves and cover for a few minutes until chard begins to wilt.
Meanwhile, grate 1 cup or so of cheddar or Gruyere cheese. Lift the lid and sprinkle the cheese on top. Cover again for a minute, then turn off heat and let rest a minute. Then serve. You can add leftovers to this dish when you add the rice.
Linguine with Fresh Tomatoes, Fresh Basil and Parmesan Cheese Fresh tomatoes and top quality olive oil and parmesan make all the difference in this simple, yet company-worthy meal. Combine and marinade 2 hours:
2 garden fresh tomatoes in 1/2” cubes
1/2 c chopped fresh basil
2 cloves pressed garlic
1/2 c olive oil (Partanna Sicilian olive oil sold in
the colorful tins is a good choice.)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Cook 3/4 lb pasta. Toss with the above along with lots of grated or shredded parmesan cheese. If you like to shred your own, choose either our delicious domestic whole parmesan, or the Italian Parmigiano Reggiano. Look for great deals in our bulk shredded or grated parmesan or cellophane bags of award winning Sartori parmesan.
Sweet Potato Quesadillas
Saute together: 1 small chopped onion, 1 chopped red pepper, 3-4 cloves minced garlic in 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add 2-3 peeled, grated yams and sauté until soft. Season with salt, lime juice, ground cumin, coriander, and cayenne. Add handfuls of fresh chopped cilantro.
To assemble: Place Stacey’s Organic tortilla (found in refrigerated case at the Co-op, either white or wheat) on griddle. Cover one side of tortilla with grated smoked cheddar or gouda cheese and a generous scoop of the veggies, then more cheese. Fold tortilla over to cover. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Serve with sour cream (regular or low fat), guacamole (make your own or grab some from the Deli) and salsa (don’t miss the fresh Salsa Lisa in the refrigerated case next to the tortillas.
Pita Pizza
Top thawed pita rounds (or pizza crusts) with one or more of the following:
Olive oil, pesto, red pepper spread, tomato based pasta sauce.
Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella, feta, or Jarlsberg cheese.
Decorate with one or more of the following: marinated artichoke hearts, olives, sundried tomatoes, leftovers.
Pop under the broiler until bubbly. If you have a little more time, use Waving Grains pizza dough, found in the deli grab-n- go case. Just roll out and follow directions on the bag.
Easy Smoked Turkey Panini with variations
Rudi’s sandwich bread holds together well for these. Try your own variations!
Prepare sandwiches. Butter lightly on the outside. Heat on waffle maker or on griddle.
Sandwich Idea 1: Bread with Smoked Turkey, Provolone (smoked or regular), marinated tomatoes and pesto mayonnaise (yup, just stir pesto and mayo together).
Sandwich idea 2: Bread with Smoked Turkey, Provolone (smoked or regular), avocados, and hot mango chutney mayonnaise (yup, just stir hot mango chutney with mayo).
