h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's getting warm out again, and things are getting back to normal around here. So, it's time again for you lot to share your warm weather recipes with me- the farmer's market opens in a couple of weeks.

I'm especially keen on greens, eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash, and anything with dried legumes. I'm thinking stove top and grill pan- I'd like to avoid the oven as much as possible. Rice cooker recipes would be fab as well. Also suggestions for millet, as I have a bag and would like to do stuff with it.

So leave your suggestions here. I made waaaay too much ratatouille last year and would like to be a bit more varied this summer.

Can you do a vegan cheese-sauce substitute? If so, my mate does this *incredible* asparagus and jalapeno pepper bake and I can get the recipe off him.

He does it on the barbecue usually, but you can do it in the oven or a griddle pan/George Foreman grill.

I do know how to substitute for a cheese sauce- several cheese sauces, even. And I do like me some jalapenos.

I've got a grill pan and a Foreman grill so I can manage. There may be times when we can use the landlord's barbecue, too, if we asked and if they weren't.

Sounds yummy.

Well, first of all, I heartily recommend the Smitten Kitchen blog (if I haven't already); she has many many vegetable recipes, and I suppose warm weather is quite ideal for, say, salads: http://smittenkitchen.com/recipes/#Salad

Here, it's all about dairy, right now - this weekend is Shavu'ot (Pentecost), which for some reason got associated with dairy foods, so it's kinda like a holiday of brunch, with lots of cheeses, quiches, etc. (and of course cheesecake - I have just made a chocolate caramel cheesecake, from the aforementioned blog, have not eaten it yet but it seems yummy ).


But I know this doesn't apply to you now that you're all vegan and stuff, so here's a rather nice salad recipe we got from a colleague of my father's. I hope you also bought some Za'atar in your recent visit to the spice shop... not sure what can replace it if you didn't, but I guess you could just experiment.

1 medium-sized cauliflower, raw, separated into rather small 'flowers'
3 ripe avocados, diced
1 red onion, diced
Salt, pepper, za'atar, olive oil, lemon

Mix, let sit for a while, and eat.

Now I'd never have though of that combination. And I know just the place for za'atar.

No za'atar at the spice shop I went to, but there's an Arabic grocery/ bakery within walking distance from home, and I'll look for it there.

It's summer here! First time in a couple of years. Got up to 23C today.

I made a Russian salad with potatoes, carrort, green beans, cauliflower, peas, radishes, capers and mayonnaise.

Last night I made penne (amaranth and quinoa flour, not semolina, though) with cauliflower in a sauce of tomato, garlic, fresh basil, and saffron. Carmelized some tomato paste after in the olive oil after softening the garlic. Yum.

Tomorrow I'm making grilled portobello caps, marinated in white wine, balsamic vinegar, garlic and tamari. We'll have them on whole grain ciabatta with red onion, Romaine lettuce, etc.

Tonight we went grocery shopping and grabbed a bite on the way... K had a hot dog and I had a tamale on a bun with all the trimmings.

I bought a fennel bulb. K's not big on anise-y or licorice-y flavors but I seem to recall it tastes more basil-y when cooked. Any suggestions? Sliced in pasta sauce is about all I would do otherwise.

It's about the same temperature here. That's not quite summer in Chicago, though. That'd be more like 33°C.

A restaurant I used to go to in Bristol - run by an Israeli guy who'd grown up in Beirut - used to cook it slowly in their wood oven with goat's cheese. You could reproduce that without the cheese...

Slice in two. Casserole dish. Olive oil. A couple of whole cherry tomatoes. A couple of garlic cloves. A couple of shallots. Salt. Bake slowly for a long time.



(the cheese was kept in chunks - didn't make a sauce or anything)

Sounds good, and I can pick up some cherry tomatoes on Tuesday. Sounds like it might go nicely with some farro or something?

Well they basically served Lebanese-style mezzes. And they had *excellent* sourdough, baked in their wood oven. So I'd say just bread.

It became a regular haunt. I stumbled on it one night when I was in a foul mood following a phone call with my of a boss. There was a lovely waitress who I befriended who'd keep me plied with large glasses of red wine.

They also had a bar that could hover.

It's changed hands now and isn't nearly as good.
http://www.shedrestaurants.co.uk/

We usually use fennel for making a risotto in this family...

Oooooooh!

I haven't quite got the hang of getting the texture *just right without adding any cheese, so any excuse to try again. I'll keep that in mind!

I've got an idea for a farro salad with garlic, peas, fava beans, Roma tomato and arugula. Once again trying arugula raw- haven't been impressed with it raw before but it's too good for me to write it off completely just yet...

Hmm, we never add cheese and it works just fine.

I think it's just that I'd always had creamier risotto, and now it seems "different".

Made a risotto of sorts for lunch, using the fennel.

I used farro, and cooked it in the rice cooker, with olive oil, salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar, a splash of red wine, a diced red onion, the fennel bulb (sliced), half a diced red bell pepper and a handful of shelled edamame (fava beans would have been nice, instead of edamame, but I don't have any at the mo). When it was all cooked I stirred in a dollop of earth balance, drizzled with olive oil. Yum!

We're having fennel and potato gratin for dinner

I was thinking of making some sort of "gratin-esque" thing with sunchokes and potatoes, but it's too hot to make anything in the oven.

Oh, it wasn't fennel we ate, it was kohlrabi.

We went to pick elderflowers today, to make jam and cordial and things.