Test Kitchen: Zucchini Hash with Arugula Mint Salsa Verde

I don't have the lengthiest attention span. Usually, I jump from new recipe to new recipe, a culinary globetrotter. Doesn't leave a lot of room for refinement.

Next Saturday I'll be doing a cooking demo at the local farmers' market, thanks in part to this little blog! I've worked in a professional kitchen and I've been demonstrating my recipes online here for a few years. But I haven't done a demo like this, so I want to bring something special.

You can find the final recipe at the bottom of the page, but allow me to take you through the process, with words and pictures.

I started with zucchini and tomatoes. I first made this Zucchini "Pasta" with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes last year, with zucchini ribbons, a traditional pesto, and a creamy lemon sauce.

On my first reworking, I used cherry tomatoes rather than vine-ripe, and I used the julienne setting on my mandoline to slice the zucchini into more noodle-like shapes. I replaced the creamy lemon sauce with a lemon yogurt sauce and opted for an arugula mint pesto, sweetened by honey and spiced by cayenne.

The results? The cherry tomatoes—topped with fresh garlic—were delicious, but I should have roasted them for longer at a lower heat, because they weren't evenly caramelized and had charred a bit at the bottom.

The pesto, which I added to bit by bit in the food processor based on taste tests, was good but its consistency too similar to the yogurt.

The noodles were too moist and could have used more seasoning. Not to say that the dish was a disaster—far from it—but it was easy to see where I could improve and how.

On to test two! I added yellow squash to the mix, still julienning the squashes but squeezing them dry before I cooked them—this time on higher heat with a little lemon pepper, going for a crisper noodle.

I went for slightly larger tomatoes, cutting them into eighths and sprinkling them with garlic powder rather than fresh garlic—mostly because the shape of the wedges made them not as conducive to topping with garlic slivers as the cherry tomatoes were. I tossed the tomatoes completely in oil and rotated the pan in the oven halfway through the roasting process, which ran for about an hour and a half at 250.

 

I used the same lemon yogurt sauce but instead of the arugula mint pesto, I grabbed some fresh arugula and mint, chopped it up, and mixed in honey, lemon juice, olive oil, and cracked black pepper.

And so we arrive at the final recipe. It's pretty...and pretty tasty.

Zucchini Hash with Arugula Mint Salsa Verde
Yield: 8 appetizer servings

Ingredients: 

For the zucchini hash:
2 large zucchini, peeled
1 large yellow squash, peeled
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tablespoon lemon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

For the roasted tomatoes:
1 large tomato, cut into eighths
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
Cracked black pepper

For the lemon yogurt sauce:
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
Zest and juice from one lemon
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano (or Parmesan)

For the salsa verde:
1 cup arugula, minced
1/2 cup mint leaves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
Cracked black pepper

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 250. Place tomato wedges on  a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic powder and pepper, and toss tomatoes. Roast for an hour and a half, rotating the pan halfway through, until tomatoes are evenly caramelized.
2. Make the sauces. In two different bowls, combine the ingredients for each sauce. Cover and chill each sauce for thirty minutes.
3. Julienne the zucchini and squash. I used the julienne setting on my mandoline slicer, but you can do it by hand as well. Using a clean towel, squeeze the moisture out of the slices.
4. In a large skillet, heat two tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add minced garlic and sautée for 2–3 minutes. Add in julienne squashes and cook, flipping often, until the slices are browned and starting to crisp.
5. To plate: Begin with a heaping mound of squash. Top with a dollop of lemon yogurt and a spoonful of the salsa verde. Tomato wedge on the side.

Buttermilk and Bacon Grease Cornbread

Ya know, I've spent the entire twenty-five years of my life in Louisiana, but this dish—more than anything—hammered home that I'm a Southern girl.

There's a lot to love about the South. I eschew the camo and pick-up trucks. But the food...my God, the food.

We're having a potluck at work tomorrow, and I opted to do another Test Kitchen: Creole crawfish and tasso chowder from New Orleans' The Bombay Club. For my addition/enhancement, I went with this cornbread, sourced from Local Milk, the most gorgeous blog I've seen in a while. I don't have natural light in my kitchen—nor do I have that blogger's photography skills. But I'll be damned if I didn't turn out a delicious product. So I'm sure you will too.

So render your bacon, whisk your dry ingredients, pre-heat your cast-iron...and brace yourself. Delicious bread is coming.

Cornmeal mixed with bacon grease—so golden.

Buttermilk Bacon Grease Cornbread (adapted from Local Milk)
Yield: 1 10-inch skillet of cornbread

1 1/4 cup cornmeal
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons bacon grease (I rendered this from two slices fried, which also greased the skillet for the cornbread)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon baking soda, made into a slurry with a bit of water

1. Pre-heat oven to 425. Once bacon is fried, place skillet into oven while it is heating.
2. Whisk together cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium mixing bowl.
3. Use hands to mix in bacon grease until mixture has achieved a sandy texture.
4. Stir in eggs and buttermilk well. Add in baking soda slurry and combine completely.
5. Pour mixture evenly into heated cast-iron and bake for twenty minutes, until top is golden-brown.

How To: Matchstick Vegetables

This method may be old-hat for some, but for the type of people googling "How To: Matchstick Vegetables" (or some reasonable facsimile, it should hold some appeal.

Sometimes during all the joie-de-vivre, devil-may-care, "I'll tell you what a pinch is" type of cooking many are prone to, technique falls by the wayside. Here's a small step toward recovery.

STEP ONE: Peel vegetables and cut into two- to three-inch segments. Slice off edges until segment is reasonably square.

STEP TWO: Slice each segment into a square about one-quarter inch thick for large matchsticks; one-eighth inch for thin matchsticks.

STEP THREE: Slice into matchsticks! For an increased level of difficulty (but faster pace), you can stack the squares as you slice.

Where do you go from here? I pickled mine (along with carrot), and ate it as a side to my dinner! (Also delicious on bánh mì.)

Chayote Curry

Here in Louisiana we call this gourd the mirliton. In its native Mexico, it's the chayote. They call it "chow chow" in South India. I suppose I'll call it the chayote and get on with this.

I picked up the chayote at the produce stand this evening and came home to make this lovely, light curry. Authentic? Possibly not. But it served my purposes of being light and receptive to flavor (of which I tossed plenty into the pot.)

Definitely planning to explore more with this many-monikered fruit. For now, we have this take on a curry.

Chayote ("Chow Chow") Curry
Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:
1 chayote, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
2 candlenuts (Indian walnuts)
2 cardamom pods, cracked
1/2 tablespoon turmeric
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
Cooked rice (for serving)

Note: The chili in the picture is just used as a color prop, but if you'd like a little more heat, feel free to add some!

Method:

1. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat coconut oil over medium high. Add mustard seeds and cook until they begin to crackle.
2. Add candlenuts and cardamom pods and cook for another three minutes. Stir in onions and cook, stirring frequently, until golden-brown.
3. Now add remaining spices and chopped chayote. Cook covered, stirring every few minutes and adding water to keep the chayote from burning.
4. Once chayote is golden and softened, remove from heat, extract candlenuts and cardamom pods, and serve over rice.

Sweet Potato & Lentil Burgers with a Roasted Garlic Avocado Spread

 Always great when a shoddy weather forecast works in your favor. Purportedly, the area was going to suffer a storm of biblical proportions this weekend, but the ground has barely gotten damp....maybe it's just tardy.

But with the sun out and the weather about-to-rain breezy, I've enjoyed three lengthy bike rides and now these delicious vegan burgers—which are sooo cheap, as well as delicious!

Turmeric adds a fleck of gold to the bold orange sweet potato, so you've got yourself a pretty patty. I threw together the roasted garlic avocado spread on a whim; I was initially going to just top the burgers with sliced avocado, but it was a simple upgrade.

Sweet Potato & Lentil Burgers 
with a Roasted Garlic Avocado Spread
Serves 4.

Ingredients:
For the burgers:
1 sweet potato
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup lentils
1 1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons milled flaxseed cereal
2 tablespoons coconut oil, plus more for cooking
1 pinch dried oregano
2 teaspoons turmeric
Salt
Pepper

For the spread:1 avocado
1 head garlic
Olive oil (for roasting)
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 400. Prick sweet potato several times with the tines of a fork, then rub lightly with olive oil. Place on foil-lined baking sheet. Take the head of garlic, peel off the outer layers, and trim the top. Wrap in a small sheet of foil, then drizzle olive oil inside. Place on baking sheet with sweet potato. Bake for 35 minutes, removing garlic after 25.
2. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in lentils, then lower heat, cover, and cook for 30—35 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed.
3. While the lentils, sweet potato, and garlic are cooking, quarter and peel the avocado. Using a potato masher, smash the avocado in a small bowl. When garlic is done roasting, squeeze roasted cloves into the bowl as well. Add lemon juice and stir together until fully combined. Cover and chill for thirty minutes.
4. Drain cooked lentils. Remove sweet potato from oven. Peel and smash. Place both in food processor, along with the remaining ingredients, including 1 1/2 tablespoons of coconut oil. Combine on medium-high.
5. Form mixture into four small patties. Heat remaining coconut oil in a medium, non-stick skillet. Cook patties, 5—7 minutes on each side.
6. Top with avocado spread and serve.

Cardamom Ginger Crunch

Usually when I'm going to blog about a recipe, I have a pretty good idea as I'm making it and end up snapping pictures of the various stages (sometimes coming dangerously close to interfering with said recipe...)

But I didn't plan ahead here. In fact, it was almost midnight and I was feeling restless when I stepped into the kitchen to whip up this crunchy sweet treat. And oh man, was it worth it! My coworkers thought so too, once I brought it into work so I wouldn't eat the whole thing myself...

So even though I don't have the requisite pictures, I felt compelled to share. Any time you get the chance to envelop your kitchen in spices and melted butter, you're going to feel pretty serene. Then you take a bite and it's even better.

Rather than ground cardamom and ginger, I worked with cardamom pods (which I cracked, extracted the seeds from, and then ground the seeds) and freshly grated ginger. For the glaze, I went with a combination of cinnamon and nutmeg rather than more cardamom, plus the grated ginger. I didn't have confectioners' sugar—see above about not planning ahead—so I threw granulated sugar into the blender with a little cornstarch. Et voilà! Crunchy, spicy goodness.

Cardamom Ginger Crunch (adapted from Saveur)Yield: 12 pieces Ingredients:
For shortbread:
4 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cups flour, sifted
1/2 inch ginger, peeled and grated
3 cardamom pods, seeds extracted and ground
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch kosher salt

For the glaze:
3 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 inch ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 pinch kosher salt
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar (or 1/4 granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cornstarch, blended together at high speed)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease 7x11 in. baking dish with baking spray. For shortbread, put butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together with mixer on medium until fluffy. Add flour, gringer, cardamom, baking powder, and salt. Mix until fully combined but still crumbly. Pour into baking pan and press flat (about 1/4 inch thick). Bake for 15 minutes, until top is golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.
2. Make the glaze by combining ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then pour over cooled shortbread. Let cool again. Cut into rectangles and serve.

Rosemary Pepper Drop Biscuits

This week at the Country Roads' Test Kitchen, I'm trying out Café Sbisa's shrimp épicé. In the New Orleans restaurant's dish, pan-seared shrimp swims in a delicious sea of andouille cream sauce. Café Sbisa serves their shrimp over a baked Focaccia biscuit, but I elected to go another route.

Rosemary pepper drop biscuits: simple, delicious, and cheap! I found the recipe on a blog called Budget Bytes, which I'm bookmarking right away. I find it far too easy to let my culinary ambitions lead my poor wallet all over town, so lately I've been trying to make my cooking experience work toward my finances. It does seem possible!

These biscuits provided an impeccable delivery system for the andouille sauce (which I must describe to you: notes of honey, soy, and ginger; sharp red onion; ripe tomatoes; and, of course, andouille and cream. It's even better than it sounds.)

It'd be a crime to miss a drop. And here's why you don't have to:

Rosemary pepper drop biscuits (from Budget Bytes)


Yield: 8 biscuits

Ingredients:(Note: Budget Bytes has, as expected, excellent budget-related info related to this recipe. Check it out at the link above!)
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup (1 stick) butter
2 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp dried rosemary
½ tsp freshly cracked pepper
1 tsp sugar
approx. 1 cup milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Roughly chop the rosemary to prevent large, sharp pieces. Combine the dry ingredients (rosemary, pepper, flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder) in a large bowl and stir until well combined.
2. Take the butter out of the refrigerator just prior to using it. Slice the butter into pieces. Add the pieces of cold butter to the dry ingredients and work it in until the mixture takes on a sandy texture.
3. Starting with ¾ cup, add just enough milk to moisten the mixture into a thick, paste-like texture (see photos below). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop 8 dollops of the biscuit dough onto the paper (about ⅔ cup each).
4. Bake the biscuits in the fully preheated 400 degree oven for 18-22 minutes or until they are golden brown on the surface. Serve warm.