The Charmed Kitchen

I’ll be at the First Baptist Church this Wednesday for their farm market . The market runs from 4-7 pm. The church is located at 3630 Fairmount Blvd.  I’ll be there this week with my cookbooks, herb seasoning  packets and an ever expanding assortment of jams, relishes, pickles and more. New this year are Hearts and Flowers Pickles ( really cute) and Spicy Bread and Butter Pickles. There will be food for tasting.  Stop by and say hello.

I will also be returning to Blue Pike Farm on Thursday. Blue Pike Farm is located at 900 E. 72  Street just 1/2 mile south of the Shoreway. Blue Pike market hours are also 4-7 pm.

Hands down this is one of my favorite tomato recipes. I make a batch every year when I have a supply a garden tomatoes. The tomatoes have to be peeled so I plunge them in boiling water for 1 minute then let them cool a little and remove the skins. Except for that there is no cooking so the relish maintains that fresh tomato flavor and the house stays cool. It will keep for weeks and weeks in the fridge. I put mine in clean, hot canning jars to make it easier to store and easier to give as a gift.

Tomato Relish

12 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 cup diced celery

3‑4 medium onions, peeled and sliced thin

1 green sweet pepper, seeded and chopped

3 red or yellow sweet peppers, seeded and chopped

3 T. canning salt (or non‑iodized)

1‑2 T. prepared horseradish

1 1/4 c. sugar

1‑2 T. whole mustard seed

1 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. fresh grated ginger

1/2 t. fresh ground pepper

1/4 t. ground cloves

1 c. cider vinegar

Combine vegetables with salt and horseradish in a stainless steel or ceramic container. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove from fridge and drain off all liquids in a colander. Discard juices. Return tomato mixture to bowl and add remaining ingredients, stirring to dissolve sugar. Chill several hours before serving. Adjust seasonings to suit your taste. Re-package in sterile canning jars for easier storage in refrigerator, or for gift giving. Keeps for several weeks in the fridge. Serve with crusty bread or crackers. I also serve it on the side as a salad.

Zucchini breads

It’s that time of year. August is upon us and so are the summer squashes. In August there are more zucchini than there are people in this country. I love zucchini but a person can only do so much.  I have been shredding and freezing extra zucchini for later use. Dehydrated a bunch, too. But enjoying any fruit or vegetable fresh and in season is always best. Here are a few more recipes for zucchini that I love and I hope you will, too.

Zucchini Rice Casserole

1 c. water or broth

½ c. raw rice

Salt and pepper to taste

2 T. oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 lb. small to medium zucchini, about 3-4, sliced

1 sweet pepper, seeded and diced

8 oz. tomato sauce

1 c. shredded cheese, any type you like

¼ c. freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

Bring water or broth to a simmer and stir in rice. Cover and cook over low heat until rice is tender, about 20 minutes for white rice and 40 minutes for brown. Season with salt and pepper to taste, using less salt if cooking in broth. Meanwhile heat oil in a skillet and cook onion until wilted and tender. Add zucchini and pepper and cook until both are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Combine vegetable mixture with the rice and tomato sauce and pour into 1½ quart casserole. Sprinkle with cheeses and bake in a 350 degree oven until heated through and cheese is bubbly, about 20 minutes. Serves 6.

Quick Corn and Zucchini Sauté

2 sweet peppers, seeded and cut into strips

2 medium zucchini, sliced

Oil

2 c. corn kernels cut from cobs, about 4 ears

1 t. garlic salt

½ t. Italian seasoning

In oil cook peppers and zucchini until crisp tender, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook 4 more minutes, or until heated through. Serves 6-8.

Fresh Summer Squash Relish

2 c. shredded summer squash, any type, peeled if desired

1 c. finely diced sweet onion

¼-½ c. bottled Italian dressing or other vinaigrette, I make my own

Combine all ingredients and chill until ready to use. Nice on cold and hot sandwiches and in tuna salad. Keeps in fridge for a couple of weeks.

Multi-Grain Zucchini Bread

1¼ c. whole wheat pastry flour

1 c. wheat germ

½ c. sunflower seeds or chopped nuts

1 T. baking powder

½ t. salt

¾ c. shredded zucchini

1/3 c. honey

¾ c. milk

1 egg

Grease a 9-inch cake pan and preheat oven to 375-degrees. Combine dry ingredients and set aside. In medium bowl combine remaining ingredients and stir in flour mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 30 -35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean. Cool in pan ten minutes then remove from pan and cool on a rack.

I had a request in tonight’s class for some eggplant  recipes. So here a a few of my favorites.

Caponata

2 small eggplants, unpeeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces, about 5-6 cups

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 c. olive oil, or a little more

4 celery ribs, sliced

2 sweet peppers, seeded and chopped

1 heaping tablespoon chopped garlic

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 c. sliced black olives

3-4 T. red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste.

Soak eggplant in salted water for at least 15 minutes. Rinse, drain and pat dry. Set aside. Meanwhile in skillet cook onion in 2 tablespoons of the oil until tender. Add the celery and cook until the celery is tender-crisp. Place mixture in a mixing bowl and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons more of the oil and cook the peppers until tender. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Add the tomatoes and cook 1 minute longer. Add this mixture to onion mixture and return skillet to the heat. Add remaining oil to skillet and cook eggplant until golden brown and tender. You may have to do this in 2 batches. Add remaining ingredients to bowl while eggplant is cooking. When eggplant is done add it to the bowl and mix well., Season to taste. Serve with crusty breads cold, hot or at room temperature. I like to top a pizza crust with caponata and some cheese. Serves 10-12.

Ratatouille

 1 large onion, sliced in thin wedges

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 T. oil

1 15-16 oz. can tomatoes, cut up

1 1/2 t. dried thyme

1 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

1 bay leaf

1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed

2 medium zucchini, cut in chunks

1 sweet green pepper, seeded and chopped

1 sweet red pepper, seeded and chopped

Heat oil in Dutch oven and cook onion and garlic until tender. Add remaining ingredients, except peppers and cook until vegetables are tender and sauce is thickened, about 30 minutes. If stew is too runny, remove lid and cook 10 minutes longer. Add peppers and cook, covered 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Serves 8-10.  In crock-pot combine all ingredients and cook on low 6-8 hours.

Herbed Grilled Eggplant

1 large or 2 medium eggplant, peeled and sliced into 1 inch thick slices

Salt

1/4 c. olive oil

Pizza seasoning

Minced garlic

1/4 c. Parmesan cheese

Marinara sauce

Place eggplant slices in bowl and sprinkle with salt. Let stand 30 minutes, then drain and rinse the eggplant, patting dry. Brush slices with the oil on both sides and season to taste using the pizza seasoning and the garlic. Broil or grill the eggplant, turning often until the slices are browned on the outside but tender. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese near the end of the cooking. Serve on a platter with the marinara sauce on the side. Eggplant can also be served on rolls or buns like a hamburger, with onion slices and the marinara sauce. Serves 6-8.

So many people have been asking for food preservation classes and I have a bunch coming up. This Saturday, July 28th, I’ll be in Shaker Heights doing a workshop on canning for Food not Lawns. I’ll be doing the same class for Shaker Lakes on Wednesday August 1st. I also have pickling classes on Monday and Tuesday this week. The Monday class is at The Wellness Center in Rocky River. The Mentor pickling class on Tuesday is sold out. Additional Mentor food preservation classes have a few spaces left. For details, cost and times please  go to my website. wwwTheCharmedKitchen.com and look under classes.

Rainbow ravioli cooking

We are having a great time. Today the kids made ravioli from egg pasta but we made things more interesting by also making pasta from beets, spinach, broccoli, carrots, concentrated grape juice, curry and fresh mint. A couple of the girls wanted smoothies so this morning we also used strawberries, bananas, milk, vanilla and ice cubes to make smoothies this morning. we went through 3 pounds of berries!!  One of the boys had asked about making curry pasta and mint pasta. I brought both curry powder and fresh mint with me. In the end he made five different kinds of pasta-curry, beet, broccoli and grape, mint and carrot. He saved it all for dinner with his family tonight. As I said the kids are just great. Creative and a lot of fun  Here is some of what we did.

Grape juice pasta

ravioli and spinach pasta

pasta with basil and tomatoes

ravioli to be cooked

Cole’s 5 five pastas

beautiful cookies

and more cookies

Smiley faced cake

Promised the kids I would post pictures of their food today. Been super busy tonight- butternut squash in the canner even as I am posting this. They did a great job today. We made bread and calzones and decorated cakes and baked dozens and dozens of cookies will will decorate tomorrow. Also making pasta tomorrow.

I love these pickled green beans. Made a batch last night. The hardest part is waiting a couple of weeks for their flavor to develop. I want to eat them now!

Dilly Green Beans

4 lbs. table‑perfect whole green beans

1 3/4 t. crushed dried hot red pepper

3 1/2 t. dried dill seed or seven fresh dill heads

7 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled

5 c. vinegar

5 c. water

1/2 c. less 1 T. pickling salt

Wash beans thoroughly.  Remove stems and tips, and cut them as much as possible in uniform lengths to allow them to stand upright in canning jar, coming to the shoulder of the jar.  have jars clean and very hot, and lids and sealers ready in scalding water.  In each jar place one dill head or 1/2 t. dill seed, add one garlic clove, and 1/4 t. crushed hot red pepper.  Pack beans upright in jars, leaving 1 inch of head room.  Heat together the water, vinegar and salt.  When the mixture boils, pour it over the beans, filling each jar to 1/2 inch from the top.  Run a plastic knife down and around to remove trapped air.  Adjust lids, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, after the water in the canner returns to a boil.  Remove jars.  …Wait at least 2 weeks for these beans to develop their flavor.  Yield: 7 pints

“Pizza” cookie

Well we started off great in the second Beachwood cooking camp. Older kids this week, well for the most part and I have a volunteer this week.  He has them cleaning up right away and as a result we got so much done today. We made pizzas- large and small, giant pizza-shaped  cookies, 2 types of cake, 5 batches of cookie dough to bake tomorrow, strawberry soda and Snickerdoodles . If that is just day 1 it is going to be a VERY productive week. Here are some of the things we did today.

Here is the recipe for the cookie.

Peanut Butter Pizza

½ c. butter

½ c. peanut butter

½ c. packed brown sugar

1/3 c. granulated sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

1 c. flour

1 c. chocolate chips

Toppings can include  mini marshmallows, peanuts,  M&M’s

or whatever you like

Beat together butter, peanut butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour and press into ungreased 12-13-inch pizza pan. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 15-18 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate  chips. Let stand for 1 or 2 minutes than spread over crust with a spatula. Top with remaining ingredients. Cool and cut. Makes 12 servings.

Making design in cake batter