This is a long-time favorite of the Accidental Locavore. When properly prepared, it’s delicious! Even when it’s a work-in-progress, it’s pretty good. A little time consuming, but if it’s raining out and you’ve got a stack of zucchini… Depending on the size of your squash, figure 1-2 per person.
For the squash:
6 summer squash, or zucchini, or a mix of the two
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion chopped
1/2 pound ground lamb
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 cloves garlic, finely minced, or crushed in a garlic press
1 teaspoon each, salt & pepper
1 cup rice
Yogurt sauce:
1 quart full fat yogurt
1 egg
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon dried mint, or 1 tablespoon fresh, finely sliced for garnish
Cut a small slice off the wide end of the squash. With a squash corer, or a small spoon, carefully core the squash, leaving about 1/4″ all around. Be careful not to pierce the skin. Set aside.
In a large sauté pan heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, sauté for 5 minutes. Add the ground lamb, breaking it into small pieces as you add it, along with the garlic, cinnamon, pine nuts, salt and pepper. Stir to mix well. Add the rice and mix well. Remove from heat and place in a bowl to cool.
When the mix is cool, use it to stuff the squash. The easiest way is to use your fingers, but you can do it with a small spoon. Fill the squash 3/4 full to give the rice room to expand. Set aside.
In a large pot, big enough to hold the squash, over medium heat, mix the egg, yogurt, and cornstarch. Stir continually until it comes to a boil. Do not leave it unattended or the sauce will separate! When it comes to a boil (you’re safe now), reduce the heat to low, add a clove of crushed garlic, and the squash. Cover and cook for about an hour until the rice is cooked and the squash is tender. It may need more time to fully cook the rice. Serve with the yogurt sauce and mint sprinkled on top. Enjoy!
This month the Accidental Locavore and other Charcutepalooza participants gave up the sausage stuffing for a more refined pastime, making terrines. Our mission was to make them beautiful as well as delicious. Since I had a houseful of vegetarians coming for the weekend, as well as a box full of gorgeous vegetables, I decided to give Michael Ruhlman’s grilled vegetable terrine a shot.
In return for some recipes for cherry tomatoes, my farmer was cool enough to let me pick up my farm box early in the morning, after I had asked for an “advance” of a couple of zucchini and a squash. Someone who knows me well had given me the perfect Le Creuset terrine a while ago so I was set.
It’s a pretty easy recipe and great for this time of year when everything is at its peak. There’s a lot of prep work, but it’s mostly slicing and grilling and then assembly. The hint about wetting the terrine before you line it with Saran wrap is almost worth the cost of the book and thank you Mrs. Wheelbarrow for pointing that out.
With any terrine, a little pre-planning is important, especially in this case when style points count. Since I had both green and purple basil, an alternating leaf pattern on the top (or the bottom as you’re layering) would be a good jumping-off point. There were no red Roma tomatoes at the Greenmarket, nor red peppers, so it turned out to be a medley of greens, purples and yellows. I added some chopped thyme to the goat cheese layer but otherwise played it pretty straight.
The final result? A lovely if a bit monochromatic terrine. The verdict? Delicious! Everyone had seconds and there was barely anything leftover. The leftovers were the filling of choice for omelets the next morning (and highly praised). My thoughts? For the next one, longer eggplants and I would divide up the goat cheese instead of having one thick layer. The oven roasted/dried tomatoes seemed a little tough, I might just grill them with everything else. And for some crazy reason, I kept expecting artichoke hearts to show up, so in the future they will. The thyme and basil were good, but there could have been more of it and maybe a little garlic?
Here, the Accidental Locavoreshows you three easy, quick and delicious ways to cook any kind of zucchini or summer squash. The best part is you can do them in the microwave, oven or grill.
Makes 1 package per person.
Basic Recipe: • Take some small zucchini or summer squash, 1 per person, and cut the ends off.
• Place each squash on a piece of parchment paper.
• Drizzle a small amount of olive oil, use the good stuff here, over the squash.
• Add a sprig or two of thyme, and sprinkle with sea salt (also time for the good stuff, I like Maldon here).
• Fold the top of the parchment up, and fold in or twist the ends to make a packet.
• Put in the microwave for 5 minutes (depending on the strength of your oven) until tender.
• You can also bake them on a cookie sheet in the regular oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes until tender.
• If you use aluminum foil instead of the parchment, you can grill them for about 20 minutes. Serve them in their packets, or remove and slice for presentation.
Greek Variation: • Take some small zucchini or summer squash, 1 per person, and cut the ends off.
• Cut a slit lengthwise down the squash almost cutting it in half.
• Place each squash on a piece of parchment paper.
• Crumble some feta cheese over the zucchini.
• Drizzle a small amount of olive oil, use the good stuff here, over the squash.
• Sprinkle with some fresh mint, cut into narrow strips (chiffonade), and a little sea salt (go easy on the salt, as the feta is pretty salty).
• Fold and cook as the basic recipe.
Mexican Variation:
• Take some small zucchini or summer squash, 1 per person, and cut the ends off.
• Cut a slit lengthwise down the squash almost cutting it in half.
• Place each squash on a piece of parchment paper.
• Crumble some queso fresco, or goat cheese over the squash.
• Drizzle a small amount of olive oil, use the good stuff here, over the squash.
• Sprinkle with some chopped cilantro, and sea salt.
• If you like a little heat, add some finely diced jalapeno or serrano chiles.
• Fold and cook as the basic recipe.
This weekend, while we were shooting our next Accidental Locavore video, I learned a lot about zucchini, and summer squash. Bet you didn’t know that they can double in size during the course of a day. So if you’re the type who gets tired of watching paint dry…
Also size does matter. If you’re serving them in slices, choose smaller ones; the seeds won’t be soapparent and they will hold their shape better. For the recipe I posted last week, you want nice smallones. Use the bigger ones where looks don’t matter. Zucchini bread, ratatouille and soups; these you can use a larger one. You should also look for squash and zucchini with firm skin with a slight sheen to it. Store them in the crisper drawer of the fridge.
Also in the basket this week, a beautiful eggplant. When my husband saw it, he immediately asked for eggplant parmigiana, so I’m off to get some local mozzarella.
More corn, but better this week, sweeter and smaller kernels. Made a batch of the no-fail mayo, and we’re going to try the corn Mexican stylewith the mayonnaise and some queso fresco.
Cucumberswill be made into a great cucumber, yogurt soup with the surprise of pepperoncini.
Frank made a great pasta with some of the broccoli, a lavender pepper, some of the zucchini, and some of the peas from an earlier basket.
And thanks to Bill Telepan, for reminding me to shuck and freeze the rest of the peas (more about my great lunch there later).
But wait there’s more…
Large orange beets, which I roasted for Frank, since you know no matter what color they are, I’m not eating them!
A big head of red leaf lettuce
Green beans
Three colors of peppers, lavender, pale yellow, and chartreuse.
That’s it for this week (and next as Farmer Paul is off the the bluegrass festival and some well deserved time off). Stay tuned for the new video, it’s going to be great!
What do you know about kohlrabi? Kinda weird looking, don’t you think? Along with romanesco, it will definitely go in the Accidental Locavore’s veggies from outer space file… Doesn’t seem to have much of a fan club, starting with my farmer, Paul, who told me it was my problem, when I asked him what to do [...]
The Accidental Locavore blog is about what I've cooked and eaten with an emphasis on local and fresh. The posts are centered around my weekly basket from my farmer, Paul Wigsten, in Dutchess County NY, and how I cook with what I find in the basket. It's always a surprise, and it's always about real food for real people. Sign up for the blog and see how easy and delicious cooking amazing local food can be.
This is a long-time favorite of the Accidental Locavore. When properly prepared, it’s delicious! Even when it’s a work-in-progress, it’s pretty good. A little time consuming, but if it’s raining out and you’ve got a stack of zucchini… Depending on the size of your squash, figure 1-2 per person.
Here, the 
